and gurtar bands, wh:ch rs great? ldlewrld are now preparing to play therr largest Scottish grg yet, so what can fans expect from the forthcomrng Glasgow show? ’Well, there’s nothrng worse than watching a band play the same set over and over agarn. That way, thrngs Just become stagnant. So, at the Garage we’ll be playrng qurte a few new songs, most of whrch are slower and more melancholy. It'll keep us rnterested and on our toes. We're movrng thrngs on.’ lSarah Dempster)
ELECTRONIC Beeezeblock
92, Mon 31 May.
As Radro l's current champron of Cuttlng edge sounds, Mary Anne Hobbs has been canrng beats and breaks musrc rn her late nrght show, Breezeb/ock. It seems her persrstence has frnally pard off as she presents an evening of three of her own personal favOurrtes - The Jungle Brothers, Freddy Fresh and Les Rythmes Drgrtales. New Wall Of SOund hrp hop collectrve Ugly Oucklrng erI open the show
The Jungle Brothers headlrne the event wrth what rs sure to be another blrndrng lrve set. Rap legends, they appeared rn 1988 wrth Straight Out The Jungle and eleven years and a thousand hrp hop fashron fads down the lrne, they are strll here, proclarmrng posrtrve messages over the frnest of good vrbe beats. If therr recent stormrng show supporting the Beastre Boys at the SECC lespeoally new srngle ’VlP’r was anythrng to go by, thrs should be magnificent.
lvlrnneapolrs DJ Freddy Fresh has been a regular vrsrtor to these shores of late Hrs turntable tncks are rn great demand followmg a crrtrcally acclarmed album The Last True Family Man and a collaboration With Fatboy Slim on ’Badcler Badder Schwrng' Wrth a seeming allergy to DJrng one krnd of rnusrc at a trme, Fresh effortlessly Cuts up hrp hop, funk, drsco, house and whatever else takes hrs fancy wrth the greatest of ease.
The sprrng chicken of the Breezeb/oc'k grg, Jacques Lu Com rs the brains behrnd Les Rythmes Drgrtales. He brrngs a lrve show to Scotland rn trme for the release of hrs second album Darkdancer. A heady mrx of 70s electronrcs, funk and hrp hop, garnrshed with a dollop of synthy pop, Darkcianc‘er features contrrbutrons from 80s stars Shannon and Nrk Kershaw, and rs an object of great prrde for thrs 21-year-old from Readrng Wrth outrageoos harr and gallrc pretensions
'!t was my concept to make a really 80s, poppy, commercral sOundrng album and I thrnk I've succeeded,’ he explarns 'I wanted It to be ciurte drverse, to
be more than Jast roping rn my 80s heroes It's a current thznc;, not Just a retch thrng ’ rMark Robertson
Darkc/ancer rs released on wall 0/ Souncl, Mon 24 /"//a‘,/ ".//P’ is released on Gee Street, "vlon lzi Jun
ELECTRONIC Ster‘eolab
Cottier Theatre, Thu 27 May.
Tun Gdltt‘, the rnarn rnan beh'nci Stereolab's advanced progranm‘e of futurist avant pop, rs fried up and babbling 'lxlarnstrearn ll‘rt.Sl( :s Jast gettrnc; more and more boring" he rants ‘lt's the same thrnc; again and again and at rast people are "ealrsr'tg ti‘a‘. other kinds of rnus:c not just the stu‘f that's shoved don." your throat by the r‘iusrc papers l'te'e \.'r.'ere sr'nrlar tie-res t“e past the late 70s/early 80s \.'.as a good
there's
now its havrng another renazssance, \nxrth people clzscoverrng stuff Irke OS Matantes and Nurse \l‘v’lth Wound.’
Cmne is renowned for hrs encyclopaedrc knowledge of obscure r'tusrcal mrnutrae and Stereolab, With their wrldly divergent musical strategies, are a scl‘l/c);)l‘.renlc reflectron of thrs obsesslon They're one of the few UK panch to successfully bridge heavrly theorrsecl (‘XDOF'mc‘l‘idl moves \\'lllT a pop'a'a." front that takes In everything from French femrne- pop to naive exotica
Gane strll secs Stereolab as l)(‘l'l()l'lttll‘.(] a delicate balance 'The problem :n our music rs the may rt leans towards academia and has a slrghtly studied thrng about :t People accuse us of that a Eot and they may be v‘rc;ht,' be acl'rnts ‘l'rn very aware of rt and I really try to make the music as
Deadly synth: Stereolab
possrble. When we’re recordrng I'm Just reacttrng to the exotement of a partrciular thrng I try to put across a krnd of confusron, but rf what comes out of rt rs cold or Lin-engaging then that’s just the way these varrous elements have been fused together'
Lrve, Stereolab are a drfferent proposrtron altogether - a vrsceral, exhrlaratrng rrde through ramshackle improvrsatrons and power-drrven electronics ~ and Gane rs enthusrastrc about therr forthcoming Glasgow date wrth fellow synth-fetrshrsts Add N To 1X and Momus,
’Lrve its more prrmrtrve because we don't bother wnh all the strings and brass A lot of people prefer us lrve because :t's‘ really Ioucl and dynamic. We play up rn Glasgow a lot - | always end up havrng real good conversations wrth people there They Just seem much more aware of our stuff,’
period for rnclependent "TLlS‘( spontaneous
and open as
«Davrd Keenanr
ELECTRONIC Fabio 8 Geooveeider‘ Glasgow School Of Art, Fri 28 May.
While 'junglist supremo' Goldie can be relied upon for effusive ramblings on any subject after a night of Moet with Meg 'n' Noel in London's Trendy Met Bar, fellow drum & bass originators, Fabio and Grooverider are men of very few words indeed. They can afford to let the music to do the talking.
Both DJs work incessantly, and their weekly shows on Radio 1 and a hectic touring schedule aren’t the half of it. Fabio runs his own record label, Creative Source and Grooverider’s 1998 album, Mysteries Of Funk received huge critical acclaim. It is now regarded along with Roni Size and Reprazent's Mercury-winning New Forms and Goldie's Timeless as one of the definitive drum & bass albums. This month sees the release of a new single, 'Where’s Jack The Ripper’, with remixes from VIP, Tipper and Carl Cox.
It is at the turntables however, where the two truly shine as masters of their art. Their styles are different but complementary. Fabio opts for a fluid, jazzy sound, with dancefloor-orientated chopping breaks and funk bass. Grooverider, meanwhile, plows an altogether darker furrow — thick, molten bass wrapped around staccato beats, interspersed with horn shrills, vocal snatches and otherworldly sounds. Playing back- to-back in Glasgow, their DJing sets will have to be heard to be believed.
Their last Scottish visit together in November saw an ecstatic crowd at Glasgow's Arches treated to a display by men at the very peak of their powers. It was a night where even some of
the house music dedicates dancing in the next arch squeezed through to see what all the fuss was about. With a recently installed, improved lighting set up and a huge new sound rig at the Art School, anyone attending this evening is sure to be blown away. (Mark Robertson)
3. ’I/L/here's Jack The Ripper’ rs released on Higher Ground, Mon 24 May
Give us a breakbeat: Fabio 81 Grooverider