COMPlLATION CD LAUNCH SUBLIMINAL SESSIONS ONE Erick Morillo is one of those canny dance music types who manages to have his finger in a whole bakery’s worth of pies, balancing DJing with production, and somehow finding time to run his label, Subliminal. Morillo is also that rare thing, a commercially successful artist — notably with the Reel 2 Reel project - who has managed to retain his credibility in underground circles.
‘I would say that it’s always been a philosophy of mine to be cool, credible and underground but have the kind of success you need to generate income,’ he explains, ‘I
mean, if you really believe being underground and unknown is cool — get your head out of your ass! I mean, it’s not all about money, but at the end of the day if I can make money doing the things that I love, I will.’
These days, Morillo’s main focus is Subliminal, the highly regarded house label that’s home to the likes of Joey Negro and Harry ‘Choo Choo’ Romero, which is fast turning into an empire of inter-linking offshoot imprints. ‘With Subliminal we’re doing two records a month,’ says Morillo, ‘and any more than that would saturate the market and start to harm the artists. Subliminal will still release anything from techno through to really vocal house stuff, but DJs can go to the other labels and know what they’re going to get. Subliminal can’t be the label for everybody, so you have the others - Subliminal Soul for funky garage stuff and Sondos for the
darker stuff I’m getting into.’
To showcase the efforts of his artists, and give a taste of Morillo’s current shift towards a harder, darker sound the label is set to release Subliminal Session One. ‘ It’s a damn good compilation!’ he says, ‘We’ve made an outlet for our DJs to inform people of the Subliminal sound. I’ve done various compilations in the past with other companies, but this is the beginning of Subliminal in the UK.’ (Jack Mottram)
I Subliminal Sessions One is released on Mon 28 May. Erick Morillo will be promoting the launch at Colours, Glasgow on Sun 27 May.
I Tap-Moi-La at The Tap. 9pm—midnight. Weekly. A pre-club from. in their words. ‘just two more blokes playing their records in a pub.‘ Fortunately Hush Puppy of Divine fame and Chris ‘Beans‘ Geddes (he‘s in some indie band. apparently) have corking collections taking in 60s pop. Wigan- centric soul. mod jazz and Latin grooves. I Paddy Power at The Variety Bar. 9pm—midnight. Free. Weekly. The astoundineg eclectic DJ Paddy powerfully plays everything from Brain Eno to Underground Resistance.
Club
I Adaptor at Ad-Lib. l lpm—3am. £8 (£6). 1 Jun only. Stucee and Metronome supply a blend of what they call precision beats. clunk-click rhythm modulation and deep funk penetration methods. which sounds rather sinister. and therefore rather good.
I The Ark at The Tunnel. |0.3()pm—3am. £7 (£5). Weekly. The mighty triumvirate of Scott Mackay. Michael Kilkie and Zammo keep the crowd on their toes with top quality hard house. while Simon Foy' kicks out smooth vocal house and garage in the back room.
I Buddasole at Club Budda.
l lpm—3am. £5. Weekly. Solemusic head honcho Stevie Middleton mans the booth at his seriously high calibre soulful house and garage night.
I Bump ‘n’ Hustle at Babaza. 6pm—3am (DJs from I lpm). Free before I lpm: £5 after. Weekly. Paul Traynor and Raymond Woods with fine and funky R&B cuts. hip hop and some classic soul and funk thrown in to keep the capacity crowd going. Arrive early to avoid disappointment as this is one of the busiest regular Fri nighters around.
I Callente! at Havana. 9pm—2am. Free. Weekly. Loco Latin action courtesy of George and Andreas from 9pm through to the wee small hours.
I The Cathouse at The Cathouse.
l().3()pm—3am. £l before I lpm; £4 (£3) after. Weekly. Rock. grunge. indie and a dash of breakbeat across three floors at Glasgow‘s top venue for rockers and alternateens.
I Club Migration at Woodside Social Club. Monthly. Next date 22 Jun. I Ethos at Q. Spin—3am. Free before
I lpm; £5 after. Weekly. New face at the decks. Dominic Martin. supplies the soulful Latin house and garage grooves. I EuPhonic at The Temple.
1 lpm—3.30am. £6 (£4). Weekly. Trevor Reilly. Billy MacAtee and Paul Mendez spin trance and hard home with a funky edge to a packed-out club of up-for-it kids.
I Fresh at The Polo Lounge.
1 lpm—3am. £5. Weekly. Michelle provides a loose mix of house and indie classics downstairs. while Andy rocks the Trophy Room with 80s and 90s hits at the top gay venue.
I Fuel at Mas. l lpm—3am. £6 (£5). Weekly. On 25 May. Touche. Fabric resident and founding member of Wall of Sound breakbeaters The Wiseguys pays a visit to Mas‘ guests-a-go-go Fri nighter.
I The Funk Room at The Arches. Next date tbc.
I G ‘n’ D at Archaos. l lpm—3am. £5 (£4). Weekly. Dress smart and prepare to party in the main room with David Gilmore spinning dance classics. garage and house from the commercial end of the spectrum.
I Goodfoot at The Riverside Club. Midnight—3am. £tbc. 1 Jun. Monthly. The city's formemost exponents of what may well be the best music for dancing ever to be pressed onto (impossibly rare) vinyl. Northern Soul. belt out the stompers and. foregoing the irritating purism that marrs the scene. spice things up with a dash of Latin. classic soul and jazzy soundtrack offerings.
I Kinky Afro at Substitute Venue (Planet Peach). l lpm Sam. £5. 25 May only. Robin Murray. Matthew Bennet and the six-piece Ayawara drum crew are playing host to the last Sub Club Fri nighter until the long-awaited return to the Jamaica Street venue. .-\s ey er. it'll be a line night of tribal techno. afro— electro and good ol' deep house.
I Life at Life. l()pm 3am. £5. Weekly. Stuart McCallum and Wayne Dixon man the decks with a funk and soul
s ‘lcction.
LIVE at The (ilasgow School of Art. l()pm—3am. £tbc. I June. Monthly. The audiovisual experts celebrate their first birthday this month with a guest appearance from ()ptical. one of the country‘s foremost proponents of nasty - style drtun and bass. As ever. the l.l\'li residents will be on hand. merging dark détb with equally spooky visuals. See llitlist.
I Loose Joints at The 13th Note Club. I lpm 3am. Free before I lpm; £4 after. Weekly. Resident l)eecee is now flying solo and alternating his broad mix of tlttlicelltitir classics on an upstairs/downstairs basis with the Stiletto
I Mad Dog at The Sotintlhaus.
l lpm --Iatc. £tbc. Weekly. Two rooms of electro. tech and hard house from Nik Craig. McLeod. 1)] Real. Trace and Borg.
I Manga at Substitute Venue (Planet Peach) has now finished. Manga will return to the Sub in September.
I Media at Media. I win-Jain. £4 (£3). Weekly. Media abandon their mainstream dance policy in favour of 70s and 80s classics. so grab your shoulder- padded suits and get on down.
I Midi Hi Fi at The (ilasgow School ofArt. l().3()pm—3am. £6 (£5). 25 May. Monthly. Downstairs in the Vic. The Alphabet Crew aim to ply the history of modern music in alphabetical order. which should be something of a
' challenge. Upstairs resident Noj isjoined
by that stalwart of the [K hip hop scene. DJ Skitz.
I Mystec Beat: at Rocksy‘s
Basement. Next date 15 Jun.
3 I Octane at Alaska. I lpm—3am. £8
(£6). 25 May. Monthly. Derek Wallace and Steven McReery provide the progressive house action we all crave. I PH at Ad-l.ib. llpmr 4am. £5. 25 May. Monthly. Quality deep house from the Phonic residents »- Steven Reilly. 'ordon Logan and Mark licavenor. Pressure at The Arches.
' 9.30pm—4am. £15. 25 May. Monthly. It's
Gene Farris‘s birthday (he‘s not saying which one) and to celebrate. he's wisely chosen to man the decks at Pressure. Helping to blow out the candles are San Francisco's latest export. Halo and Hipp- li. old school SF maestro Doc Martin and Cajmere. who isn‘t from San Francisco at all. See llitlist.
I Radar at Glasgow School of Art.
Next date 8 June with (iigolo Records.
I Reds at Reds. l lpm—3am. £5
(£3.50). Weekly. Club classics and commercial house sounds from Alan Ronald.
I Reform at Yang. l lpm—3am. £4 before midnight; £5 after. Weekly. All change at Yang because local deep house hero Kushi is now the main man. managing the decks in the main room. Through the back. Bernard McKeowan samples more laid-back vibes.
I Relief at Alaska. l()pmr—3am. £8. Weekly. Silicone Soul and Laurence Hughes providing the best house in town.
I Sabotage at Glasgow School of Art. Next date tbc.
I Stiletto at The 13th Note Club. l()pm—3am. Free before I lpm: £4 after. Weekly. Sadie and Anna J. play a freeform selection of pop. electro. hip hop and eighteez favourites. rotating the upstairs and downstairs of the Note with the Loose Joints lads week up. week down. so to speak.
listings Clubs
HITLIST
Colours Colours pull out all the stops when it comes to provnding a hangover to nurse on Bank Holiday Monday. This time around. Paul Van Dyk. the trance DJ who doesn't like trance. headlines. with support from Jimmy Van M. Erick Morrillo has the second arch to himself for a marathon five hour set. See Preview. page 73. The Arches, Sun 27 May.
Let’s Go Back, Way Back The acid revival is one year old this month, as the night devoted to reminiscmg about nights spent Ill muddy fields sporting a fetching pair of baggy dungarees celebrates it's first birthday with a little help from the Utah Saints. The Riverside Club. Sat 2 Jun.
LIVE The audio-visual experts celebrate their first birthday this month with a guest appearance from Optical. one of the country‘s foremost proponents of nasty—style drum and bass. The Glasgow School of Art, Fri 1 Jun.
Pressure Gene Farris (pictured) celebrates his birthday (21 again, we're told) in the company of his old buddies Stuart and Orde and his new chums Halo and Hipp—E of H Foundation, old school maestro Doc Martin and wig—wearing kook. Cajmere. The Arches, Fri 25 May
Subculture While the Sub gang prepare for the relaunch ot the beloved Jamaica Street venue they are bidding a fond farewell to Planet Peach and this is the last chance to catch Harri & Domenic in their (almost) natural environment before the cold turkey hits until Sep. Substitute Venue (Planet Peach), Sat 26 May. Sunday Shelter Martyn Jengahead. Harri and Oscar have teamed up for a series of parties devoted to showcasing the records that don‘t fit their usual sets to create a more intimate vibe than the normal full on main-room action they provide. The Riverside Club. Sun 27 May
Vapour This month the Vapour crew have teamed up with hip-hop and breaks specialists Midi Hi-Fi. represented by resident N01, for an evening of head-nodding, funked up beats. Unkle headline, with a DJ set spiced up with live electronics. The Arches. Fri 7 Jun.
2A May—7 Jun 2001 THE LIST 75