Deadboy - Brock Lee Riddim

Deadboy is a South East London bassnik who has put out some great tracks over the last couple of years including If U Want Me and U Cheated. As an oblique tribute to SE4 he has also made Brock Lee Riddim. Extolling the local area in an interview last year he said: 'it’s lovely here in the summer, there’s something tropical about it, probably the amount of trees and the parakeets.

MC Eksman - Ruff Neck Cockney in Brockley

MC Eksman (real name Kevin Forrester, born 1980) is one of the world's foremost drum and bass MCs and he comes from Brockley (he is also a University of Greenwich graduate). Not only that but he has a great rhyme about driving through the streets of SE4 and in that familiar 'young black man in decent car' routine, getting pulled over by the police. Herbz mentioned here is another South London MC.

Too much undercover police on the streets
On the beat, stopping me, giving me bare grief

I'm a Ruffneck Cockney
Driving through Brockley
See a police car
Policeman want stop me

regular stop and search
step outside your car please
turn the ignition off
give me the car keys

police officer, woah that's harrassment
where you coming from, I said a Drum and Bass bashment
where was the bashment? Down in Stratford,
where you goin now I'm droppin Herbz back to Catford...

Joy Orbison - Ladywell

Joy Orbison (real name Peter O'Grady), in case you don't know, is a cutting edge producer operating in that sonic world where garage, dubstep and all the other offspring of the hardcore continuum interbreed with interesting results. Intriguingly his latest release on his own Doldrums label features a track called Ladywell.



So wonder why this track seemingly references part of Lewisham? In interviews Joy/Peter is sometimes described as living in South London, but in this one he says that he lives 'not too far from Croydon

James Blake - New Cross 'post-dubstep wunderkind'

New Cross-based James Blake - an ex-Goldsmiths student described recently in NME as 'London post-dubstep wunderkind' - has had two EPs out on R&S records this year - CMYK and the new Klavierwerke. With snatches of melody appearing and vanishing and beats emerging in the fog, comparisons with Burial are inevitable - but he has a very distinct sound of his own.



Courtesy of a Radio 1 appearance and a cover of Feist's Limit to your Love he now looks set to cross over big time, with this beautiful song due to be released next month.

Margins Music at the Albany

Good night promised at the Albany in Deptford on Saturday (5th June), with Dusk & Blackdown presenting their recent album Margins Music live for the first time. The album could loosely be described as an aural portrait of contemporary London life, encompassing dubstep, grime and South Asian musical flavours. To make it work live, they will be working with a band including British Asian musicians and singers and grime MCs (including Durrty Goodz and a special guest). All this plus some specially commissioned film.

Details here.



They have been in rehearsals at the Albany for the last week or so, as Martin 'Blackdown' Clark writes at his blog: 'I didn't know Deptford before... but it's an amazing place in the epic sunshine, as it has been this week. Bowling past the African shops selling snails as big as a grapefruit or through the bustling second hand market full of clapped-out guitars, piles of shoes and busted stereos on a Wednesday, makes me think I couldn’t have found myself in a more suitable place to try and build a Margins Music Live project'.

Woofah Issue 4

The fourth issue of Woofah, the UK's premier reggae, grime and dubstep magazine is out now. I can't do justice to its 92 pages so you'll have to get your own copy here, but there's a couple of articles of particular interest to South Londonists.

In the First Cut is the Deepest, Emma Warren explores the hidden history of UK dub cutting houses - a key part of reggae sound system culture and other subsequent bassist developments. She tells of the unsung engineers, often operating out of suburban houses, who cut the dub plates to be played out by sound systems. A few South London places get mentioned - Transition Mastering (still going with a studio in Kemble Road, Forest Hill), Pablo in Lewisham (operating from his house from early 70s), and 'Stingray in Perry Vale that's still running. It's in a very respectable semi-detached street but you go there at two in the morning, there are all these cars parked up. He's go a small studio and cutting room in the shed in the bottom of the garden' (Lloyd Bradley, quoted in article).

Then there's an interview with Joe Ariwa and Young Warrior, the sons of Jah Shaka and Mad Professor respectively. They have teamed up to record an album together - 'Joe Ariwa meets Young Warrior', recalling their dads' earlier collaborations, particularly 'Jah Shaka meets Mad Professor at Ariwa Studio' (1984). We've mentioned Shaka and the Prof's New Cross and Peckham activity here before - and indeed will be posting some more about this shortly. Joe Ariwa & Young Warrior have been using the current Ariwa Sounds studio in White Horse Lane, South Norwood, but the studio was at one point based in Gautrey Road, SE15.

Hyperdub at Corsica Studios

The Hyperdub night at Corsica Studios (Elephant & Castle) was excellent on Saturday, with two awesome live appearances. Kode9 and Spaceape were intense, but due to moving around, saying hello to folks and then being squeezed to the back, I only caught the latter half of the set. I was luckier for King Midas Sound - squeezed at the front instead - and they were outstanding on their first London gig. The project is a collaboration between Kevin Martin (of The Bug fame), Roger Robinson and Hitomi.

Must admit I did think of early Massive Attack when they were playing, something which Jonny Mugwump has already criticised (see link below). It's not so much that they particularly sound like Massive Attack, but in some ways there's a similarity of approach. On the first Massive Attack album they magnificently filtered the then current state of dance music (including hip hop) through a UK reggae sound system sensibility. King Midas Sound do something similar, except in the interim there's a whole lot of other stuff that's been added to the mix, from techno to dubstep. The KMS album is out next week, and not having heard it I don't want to overdo the hype, but on the evidence of the live show there is potential for it to have a similar impact to that first Massive Attack album as a sonic landmark that crosses over to a wider audience.

There's a couple of good new KMS interviews out there - John Eden at FACT and Jonny Mugwump at The Quietus).

(photo - Roger Robinson under the spotlight on Saturday)

Corsica Studios and La Provincia

Corsica Studios is located in a railway arch directly underneath Elephant and Castle station so joins the list of great railway arch clubs which I will eventually get round to writing about. Two good-sized rooms with nice sound system plus a bar overlooked by a picture of Dickie Davies (yes really). At the back there's a covered outside area shared by the other railway arches, including La Provincia, a Latin America club frequented mainly by Colombians. Thanks to a Spanish speaking member of our party we ended up in there for a while too.

As someone who is always as fascinated by the crowd and dance styles as the music when I go out, it was interesting to compare the two. Dress codes weren't that dissimilar - jeans and t-shirts predominating, though a bit smarter in La Provincia. Gender balance was similar too - fairly evenly matched, but with more men than women. Hyperdub though was very crowded, whereas in La Provincia people were sitting round tables.

And the dancing was very different - in La Provincia it was exclusively salsa dancing couples, whereas in Corsica there wasn't room for much more than nodding heads, shuffling on the spot, and hands in the air for the more enthusiastic. At Hyperdub a lot of the dancing was in rows facing the front, which means people are mostly looking at the back of the person in front of them. Understandable for a live performance, but something I have never really understood when it's just a DJ. I don't think I ever saw this before the 'superstar DJ' boom in the late 1990s, in fact I distinctly remember noticing it for the first time at the famous 1999 Armand Van Helden vs. Fatboy Slim clash where they DJed in a boxing ring in the middle of Brixton Academy. Not proposing that people should start trying out strict tempo Latin moves to dubstep - though that might be fun - but there is something to be said for shifting the balance back from the DJ to the dancefloor as the centre of attention.

Anyway just some thoughts rather than criticisms, it was a good night enlivened even more by this sense of these different dance worlds coexisting in time and space in a corner of South East London.

Some more reviews of the night: Uncarved, Yeti Blancmange, Vice Magazine (from where this Moses Whitley photo comes).

(cross posted at History is Made at Night)

Nail the Cross

Didn't make it down to No Pain in Pop's Nail The Cross the weekend before last, an all day and all of the night music festival spread across various New Cross/Deptford venues. There's a good review of it though in this week's NME, which starts off: 'Nail the Cross is a mini festival. In the south London hinterland of New Cross. In October. Limitations aside, it boasts a line-up so ahead of the curve that most of these artists – from dubstep’s new blood to the more esoteric fringes of indie – could look over their shoulders and thumb their noses at the zeitgeist trailing wheezingly in their wake'.

Trailer Trash Tracys are great by the way - the NME review is not far off in describing them as sounding like 'Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell slurring over JAMC guitars', which couldn't be more me unless they also had Frankie Knuckles remixes. As far as I know, they are not from SE London, but they have manifested on the earthly plain via the New Cross portal of No Pain in Pop so can we count them as part of the Transpontine Great Work?

New Cross Hip Hop and Grime

Google doesn't always give you what you want. Searching for some recent urban music from this part of the world threw up some strange results. I searched under "New Cross" grime and google came up with 'Did you mean: "new cross" crime ' (no, cheeky bastards). Deptford threw up Lewisham Deptford Conservatives (not linking to them on principle): 'We need to tackle crime, grime and litter', as well as a reference to the 17th century indictment of Sir Thomas Grime of Lewisham (good MC name, someone should use it).

Still did come across this, Destination Deptford (via YY Dexter):

.

Also this, Monson Bloodset - New Cross:



Like this one musically, and extra points for it being about New Cross, not sure about some of the sentiments - 'Hld tite all da Monson Soldiers'. Does the world really need any more soldiers, official or unofficial? Increase the peace people, make music not war.

Anyone got any other local recommendations on a grime, hip hop or dubstep wavelength?

South London Pirates

Pirate radio is one of the often neglected benefits of living in London. There's far too much talk and not enough music on most of the official stations, and a narrow range of music. Outside of London there's even less choice. Over the years, pirate radio has led me to the odd party and turned me on to new music - I can vividly remember the first time I heard jungle, lying in Brockwell Park with my radio. Nowadays many of the pirates have websites where you can download podcasts of their programmes anywhere in the world, but you can't beat coming across something unexpected while fiddling around with the radio.

The pirates are still in a healthy state in South London. On Monday, driving between Sydenham and New Cross I picked up the following stations:

• Metrolove (92.2 fm) - soul, r'nb, hip hop, ragga - back on air despite being raided recently. According to this week's Mercury (13/8), it had been broadcasting from a garage behind the Jasmine House Estate , Wickham Rd in Brockley until Ofcom raided it on 7 August, taking away £5,000 of equipment including a sound system due for use at Notting Hill Carnival
• Unknown fm (90.6 fm) has been going for 10 years, with a diet of every kind of house music. And unlike some pirates which seem to exist mainly to promote events and club night, the focus really is on the music.
• Rinse fm (100.4 fm) has been broadcasting for 14 years and is one of the best places to keep up with the latest mutations in London dance music (grime, dubstep, funky etc.)
• Selectuk (99.4 fm) - more house and garage.
• Xtreme (101.8 fm) - soulful house.
• Freeze (92.7 fm).
• Live fm (101.5 fm) .

I also came across a non-pirate I hadn't heard before, South London Radio (107.3 fm). It proclaims itself as the station for 'Lewisham, Bromley, Croydon and the surrounding areas' . Lots of classic 80s and 90s soul/funk when I was listening (Loose Ends -Hangin' on a String, Incognito - Don't you worry about a thing), plus local news on the hour - they covered the White Hart lap dancing row.

Seven Songs

I have been tagged twice to take part in this (by Andrew and Richard):

'List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to'. A bit slow off the mark, but here we go:

1. M.I.A. – Paper Planes – ‘If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name’ – Clash sampling (Straight to Hell) classic from Kala album. There’s a remix featuring Woolwich’s Afrikan Boy on his myspace.

2. Jonathan Richman – Buzz Buzz Buzz (go the honey bees) – this is an old song that I’d forgotten about until I heard it earlier in the year at the memorial for Paul Hendrich. Despite this sad association this is a spring/summer twee classic.

3. Shortwave Set –No Social – from their new Replica Sun Machine album, they’ve upped the ante since the first album with strings on some tracks arranged by Van Dyke Parks and production by Dangermouse (of Gnarls Barkeley fame) – perhaps they reminisced about South East London with the latter, as they hail from Deptford and he used to live in New Cross. John Cale’s on some tracks too and he also went to Goldsmiths in New Cross. They are playing at Massive Attack’s Meltdown on the South Bank next month.

4. Kode9 and Spaceape– Konfusion – caught some of Kode9’s set at The Amersham Arms in New Cross last Friday. What I like about the stuff he does with Spaceape is the languid MCing, it puts me in mind of the first Massive Attack album, particularly the tracks with Tricky on. Of course both the early 1990s ‘Bristol sound’ and dubstep have in common that sonic collision between reggae sound system culture and other dance musics.

5. Portishead – The Rip – no longer sounding like early 1990s Bristol, this track of the new Portishead album starts off as folky but dark-sounding ditty about horses before driving minimalist synth riff kicks in.

6. Laura Gibson – All the Pretty Horses – more gee gee action, not nearly as creepy as Current93’s version of the same song – well she was growing up in a logging town in Oregon when the latter’s David Tibet was squatting in Vauxhall. Laura’s playing in London next month.

7. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Seafarin’ Song – from their new Sunday at Devil Dirt album. I still miss Isobel from Belle and Sebastian, but her two albums with Mark Lanegan more than make up for her absence from Glasgow’s finest.

See also Baggage Reclaim and Bob's selections. Most people I know seem to already have been tagged for this one, but I will throw it open to the following in case they want to play (no obligation of course): Uncarved, Ruinist, Last Bus Home, Pecknam, Grievous Angel, Dub and Sonic Truth.

Data 70/West Norwood Library

I have been checking out Data 70's gorgeous electronica. So far I've only heard the tracks on their myspace site, but it makes me want to track down their Space Loops Volumes One and Two.

They record at their self-styled West Norwood Cassette Library studio, which they describe in a Gutterbreakz interview as being 'located in sunny SE27, London, where the streets have no lightbulbs and the pavements are lined with dog excrement and KFC aftermath. The ‘studio’ itself is a cosy basement with everything we need in one room - if you look carefully, you’ll find boxes of old cassettes waiting to be archived on to microfiche.... Inside it's like a big, orange, womb-like bubble with every creature comfort one could wish for. A home from home - if your home is Saturn'.

Reviewing this at Blissblog, Simon Reynolds mentions that 'West Norwood/West Dulwich was where I lived for about a year when I first moved to London from Oxford. And I recall that the local library's unusually good record section was one of the few redeeming things about the area (at least in 1986; maybe it's improved). That and the excellently serene cemetery'.

Strangely enough I actually worked in that library when I first moved down to London (to Brixton in January 1987) so presumably may have crossed paths with Simon Reynolds. The record collection was indeed excellent thanks largely to a librarian called Tad who was a leading authority on English psychedelia and made sure he ordered lots of obscurities in line with his taste. I remember it was well-stocked with all the Paisley Underground bands (like Green on Red and Rain Parade), Nick Drake etc. As for the original West Norwood cassette library - yes they still had cassettes in libraries in those far off days - I think I've still got a copy somewhere I copied from there of the excellent industrial compilation If you can't please yourself you can't please your soul. In the summer I used to spend my lunchbreaks in West Norwood Cemetery - there really wasn't much else to do. There was a bit of excitement that year when a multi-million pound cocaine dealing operation was found to be operating from there, storing the gear in the catacombs.

I had a couple of weird nights out in West Norwood though - in August 1993 I went to a rave in a gym across the road from the library. Then in 1994/95 I was listening to a South London pirate radio station and they put a call out for a party in West Norwood. I phoned up and got the address (and of course 'a big shout out to Neil and the Brixton massive') and ended up with my girlfriend in the basement of a restaurant on Norwood High Street dancing to garage. Still that Norwood/Croydon scene has kept ticking over the years like a musical micro-climate occasionally erupting into wider London nightlife - with dubstep being the most obvious example.

Woofah

Woofah is ‘an independently produced fanzine covering dancehall / grime / dubstep /dub / bashment / roots / and all points in between’. Issue Two is out now, a glossy 60 page number with plenty of South Londonist content.

Most notably there is a good interview with reggae MC Tippa Irie covering his long journey from Dulwich Hospital (where he was born), through his time with Saxon sound system, 1980s Top of the Pops (with his hit ‘Hello Darling’), right up to recording with Black Eyed Peas (he appears on their global smash Hey Mama) and his excellent new album Talk the Truth (I went to the launch at the Albany in Deptford).

Also in this Woofah an overview of up and coming young grime MCs features Lewisham's Little Dee, and there's a review by Neil Gordon-Orr of Linton Kwesi Johnson and Paul Gilroy's recent Goldsmiths/New Cross talk on 'African Consciousness, Reggae and the Diaspora'. You can get a copy from Rough Trade and a few other shops or order online at Woofah's site.

No Pain in Pop

NO PAIN IN POP is a new New Cross-based record label. They've recently put out a compilation CD, available from Pure Groove, which we are looking forward to hearing.

This very Friday (18 Jan 2008) they are involved at the Amerham Arms in 'No Pain In Pop vs Deadly Rhythm' featuring... Skepta (Roll Deep / Boy Better Know), Bass Clef, Ebony Bones, Shitting Fists (Real Gold) plus DJ sets from These New Puritans, Mac 3000, the Cleft Paletteswith, No Pain In Pop and Deadly Rhythm DJs. £6/£5 NUS. Sounds like a very diverse night with a bit of grime, bit of dubstep and a bit of guitar noise.

Croydon Now

Following my recent critique of Croydon, I thought it only fair to check out if there's anything interesting coming out of there now, at least musically.

Well, for a start there's The Noisettes (pictured) who have been making a lot of, er, noise lately - even saw them on TV last week while eating my breakfast. New single Sister Rosetta is a catchy bit of poppy rock, and let's face it not many current bands in their position would take the risk of writing a song name checking an old gospel singer.

I was going to say something about Do Me Bad Things, but they apparently split up last year, leaving the Xfm airwaves without a Croydon 9-piece.

I was also going to say that at least there's still The Cartoon as a venue for up and coming Croydon bands, but then I checked and found out that it closed down last November (read heartbroken Croydonites laments here). Still The Ship is still going, so alternative Croydon has not died a death yet.

Anyway leaving behind the rock scene, we should also acknowledge the contribution of Croydon to dubstep scene in London, hilariously and erroneously described as 'Croydon techno' in the Daily Torygraph. Tracing the South London connections of this is a whole other post, but we will get round it at some point - in the mean time check out Drumz of the South.