Upcoming gigs & last weekend’s Free Rotation…

For a blog not exactly known for constant upkeep we’ve been especially slack of late. I can only blame simple procrastination on my behalf really, it’s not like I’ve been outside soaking up the sunshine as there’s been fuck all worth talking about here. But anyways, following on from Gmos’ latest mix I’m gonna give a lil round up of a few things of late. I’ll get around to doing a small record round up soon enough, but for now here’s the run down on a few gigs happening in Ireland and also an over view of Free Rotation ’11, which I attended last weekend.

First off, this weekend is a busy, busy time. Most notably (for many) Prince is rolling into town on Saturday, but alas, the e100 ticket price has put me off going. I know this is going to be an amazing gig but the asking price is far above anything I’ve ever paid to see a single artist and money is just that lil bit too tight at the moment for me to be able to justify it – esp as it’s a big ass outdoor gig. But fear not, we won’t let it overshadow a couple of our own gigs. As mentioned in my last records post, Lerosa had recently completed his 2nd album (and debut on vinyl/cd) for Uzuri, the sublime “Amanatto”. The vinyl of this has just dropped at your local (er, online at least) record emporium, so we insist you go out and get that wax, you won’t be dissapointed. To celebrate this Leo is gonna be performing a rare live set this Saturday in Twisted Pepper here in Dublin. He’ll be taking to the booth long after Prince has finished poncing around the place so you’ve no excuses. I’ll also be on warm up duties if you fancy popping in a lil earlier. I might play some Prince; it’ll be dependent on how many drunkards ask me to (this will work inversely by the way 😉 )

While we’d like to stay up all night celebrating and toasting Leo’s album launch the pair of us will be hopping on a train on Sunday morn’ to travel south for our return to play the wonderful Sunday Times party in Cork. This all day party is rather inimitable and we are rather excited to be getting a chance to dig deep into our shelves for a day of eclectic anything-goes-especially-disco djing. As the poster above details, the guys are holding a lil weekender with Tr-One bringing their SUPERB new live show to the south for the first time. Eddie and Dean will also be joining us in the hot-seat (it’s really more of a stool; sitting down djing is the order of the day at ST and I love it) along with John and Barry on Sunday, who run the party. It’s a Bank Holiday so no one has to worry about getting up the next day and it’s all free, hopefully see some of you along the way…

Free Rotation ’11

In terms of the ol dance musaks festivals I decided to give Bloc the heave-ho this year after it’s bookings and what not fell out of flavour with myself and my mates. Having known about it for a few years it was the turn of the tiny Free Rotation festival to see what fun and frollicks it could throw at us. Based in and around Baskerville Mansion in Wales the reputation this shindig had gave it a lot to live up to and generally, it did a pretty good job. We we’re blessed with a dry and sunny weekend which made the camping and outdoor element  easy going and on arrival one was quickly able to pick up on the rather unique atmosphere contained within.

The day time activities took place in a small outdoor tent where acts who’d also be performing in the 3 indoor stages at night got to spin for a 2nd (or in Move D’s case what seemed like 42nd ) time. From roughly around 8 or 9pm things then kicked off in the 3 rooms inside the mansion, going on laaate into the night. Acts I was interested in were a lil thin on the ground on Friday with Surgeon stealing the show, his set a masterclass in building tension on a dancefloor. No one else really plays like him and we were treated to everything from John Coltrane to AFX to Steve Poindexter and Kraftwerk along with his usual intense techno selections. Earlier in the evening Cosmin TRG played a nicely wonked-out techy influenced set while local guy Sam Watson delivered an excellent, throbbing deep techno set earlier in the 3rd room; which seemed to double as the mansion’s sitting room, fireplace n’ all. A lot of Friday night was spent meeting folk – the invite system of ticketing means you were constantly meeting someone who knew someone else and so on and it really added to the the warm, friendly atmosphere throughout the weekend. It being a festival, the partying went on very late after the music stopped and I missed quite a bit of the Saturday afternoon music due to me finally catching up on some much needed sleep.

Before going any further, I’m gonna be honest and say the weekend was a bit of a haze from time to time. I spent quite a bit of time on Saturday jumping from room to room, again hanging out with mates, talking bollocks and generally messing around, enjoying ourselves, without a massive amount of music really grabbing me. I caught some of Chicago Skyway who was decent enough but not quite enough to keep me glued to the floor while Levon Vincent was a lil bit too Big Room for me at the time. Around the same time room 2 supplied some excellent deepness – only punctuated by that shitty KDJ sampling track that’s doing the rounds at the moment – from a DJ I never did get around to finding out the name of. For me the night belonged to Uzuri’s Lakuti and Panorama Bar’s Tama Sumo’s b2b effort which really ramped up the energy in the main room late in the night. I was sucked in by E-Dancer’s World of Deep and I didn’t budge from the dancefloor once until they were finished. Yes, it was more house music but it was that bit more varied, rougher and energetic than some other sets I’d come across. After some more campsite messing it was time to call it a night…

Sunday was all about the outdoor stage. Jane Fitz got things rolling nicely with a smooth as you want set of deep house which got the place well warmed up for Move D  (if anyone knows what Jane’s closing track was, I’d really like to know!). One could sense from the moment he took the stage that Move D – amongst others –  and this festival have a certain connection you don’t normally pick up on. For many festivals it’s a case of artists flying in and flying out again, quickly shooting off to another gig over the weekend, but it was notable that many of the acts performing could be spotted in and around the festival site for the whole weekend. It barely even felt like a festival and more like a massive house party, which I loved.

Anyways, the atmosphere for D’s set was truly electric and it was nice to hear someone play a slightly more varied set with his house being punctuated here n there with 80s tinged disco/electro tracks. He was visibly emotional, with a tear or two appearing by the end with Session Victim’s “Good Intentions” sending the crowd – not for the first time – absolutely nuts. Sadly Steven Tang killed the vibe somewhat after with a badly thought out set of deep techier sounds which saw the tent empty somewhat as folk opted to hang outside in the sun. Follwing him was XDB  who was the only artist to play outside that didn’t get the chance to do it inside at night and like Move D earlier he generated  an immense atmosphere. The acts who’ve played here before certainly know how to read the crowd perfectly and while House Music Fatigue was starting to kick in at this stage he managed to quash it for another couple of hours with a note perfect set. He could have easily gone on for at least another hour and kept the energy levels where they were but alas Roberto Ingram followed with some house that was just a bit too more-ish for my liking.

A shorter timetable inside for the Sunday night got it’s highlight out of the way early with our own Jitterbug (he deserves his own sleeveless t-shirt, that lad) stealing the show for me, opening the main room. Like Lakuti and Tama Sumo the night before his rawer and more energetic djing ( obviously combined with some choice cuts, quite a few I didn’t know even though I rooted through his bag the night before to see what might be in store) satisfied me more than some other acts and by the time he was done I have to say I I’d finally had enough of the 4/4 deepness. I went back to wandering around a fair bit, continuing the banter with folk with the likes of Fred P, Vince Watson and Soulphiction not able to keep me on the floor. Split’s Alex Downey was pounding out harsh minimal techno in a nice, pacey 3 deck fashion in the 3rd room and while his permanent devotion to this one style meant I needed a break from time to time it’s where I ended up spending the closing of the festival, and I’m never one to complain when Steve Rachmad’s remix of James Ruskin’s “Work” comes blasting out of a system.

As you’ve probably figured out my main gripe with the festival was the over abundance of house music, and I wasn’t alone in thinking this. Before readers point out that the likes of Hessle Audio had a showcase and Shackleton, amongst a few others, were also on offer I was just unfortunate to miss them due to clashes, chatting and debauchery  when they would have offered some alternatives. But too many sets slavishly devoted themselves to one style. Not enough of the Djs threw in curveballs and the outdoor area especially was screaming out for some disco action along with maybe some more downtempo soul and funk bizness.

On the other hand this party really does generate a special vibe. It is pretty unique from the festivals I’ve visited and bar some grumbling about music from time to time it was easily forgotten amidst the HUGE amounts of fun to be had. You couldn’t ask for a better setting or a better crowd and I hung out with far too many people – some familiar, some new – to list off individually here but I really did have a lot of fun and a lot of  laughs with everyone along the way. Broaden the musical selection a bit more and you could have the perfect weekender on yer hands.

ps – I’d provide some photos but I so far don’t have access to any suited to a review 🙂