SIXTIES’SOUL MODERN LOVERS Ego, Fri 26 Oct.
The fortunate few that have already experienced the eclectic, but supremely danceable fare on offer at Edinburgh’s Modern Lovers will be in no doubt as to why it’s come so far in such a relatively short space of time.
The first birthday party later this month represents the second major milestone in the life of a club that was originally conceived as a small-scale fortnightly residency at WJ Christie’s by Craig'Jamieson (formerly known as Micky Global), who had’just returned to his native Scotland from a period in London - where he spent time behind the decks at clubs like Blow Up, Trash and Alan McGee’s Radio 4, amongst others - and was really just looking for a way to meet musically like- minded people in the city. One of these turned out to be James Maxwell (Jimmy Mac), whose own CV includes London’s Mousetrap, Manchester’s Hideaway and also various American soul clubs. The pair hit it off immediately and decided to pool their time and record collections in order to make the club a going concern.
‘Essentially, there isn’t one single club in Edinburgh where you can hear all different types of soul music under one roof,’ points out Maxwell, when asked about Modern Lovers’ allure. ‘Don’t get us wrong, Edinburgh’s
BREAKBEAT/HIP HOP
Soul boys James Maxwell and Craig Jamieson
got a lot of really good Northern Soul nights as well. But these are very specific types of club, whereas we try to take elements from all of these so it has a broader appeal.’ The pair are keen not to align themselves completely with the more rarefied Northern scene, though, which is only right considering this is a place where Latin and big beat rub shoulders with soul and Hammond jazz. ‘To me, it’s a dance club’, says Jamieson, before Maxwell points out, ‘You can’t use that term in a contemporary sense, or people will imagine we’re playing techno and house. You just can’t completely pigeonhole the club, because it’s diverse enough - we hope - to mean different things to different people.’
For the birthday party (as well as a limited edition CD for early punters) 60$ aficionado Rob Bailey - who runs Mousetrap and organises The Untouchables rallies around Europe - will be appearing. In fact, guest DJs are also a regular monthly attraction, as much to keep things fresh for Jamieson and Maxwell as for the regulars. Future names are hush-hush, but previously featured have been Yogi Haughton, Mel McKellar of Dr No’s and Chris Geddes of Belle And Sebastian, who will hopefully return after unfortunately pulling out of the birthday party to go to a music festival in Brazil. According to Craig: ‘He wouldn’t have bothered, but he can’t get the deposit back on his float!’ (David Pollock)
SOLID STEEL TOUR
Midi Hi-Fi at Glasgow School Of Art, Fri 19 Oct. Live Solid Steel - www.bbc.co.uk/londonlive; Archived Solid Steel - www.ammocity.com
In the short but sweet history of British breakbeat nothing really comes close to Solid Steel. Not only has this radio- show kept the airwaves crackling with a weekly burst of innovative. everything-but-the-kitchen-sink style DJing from some of the world‘s true innovators. but it‘s preserved the eclectic philosophy at the heart of Ninja Tune from the birth of the label over ten years ago.
Now. as reviewers of the first Solid Steel album (by DJ Food and DK) rack their brains to remember a better mix since Coldcut's Journeys By DJ. the weekly programme floats out across London's air waves and around the
world via internet radio while DJs Strictly Kev and DK Iimber up for the launchtour
Strictly Kev. the freshest face in the ever-rotating DJ Food line-up. compares DJ sets to radio shows to the album: 'I suppose the album does sound deceptively simple but we've worked on it to sound like that. It's full of things that we've tried out on the radio show; the junglist version of ‘Mirror In The Bathroom“ and Leonard Nimmoy's reading of the Ray Bradbury story but it's about 50% of what we do in a live set and only about a third of what we do on the radio.‘
With the multi-media sawy of Ninja Tune. it‘s getting harder and harder to avoid Solid Steel. And those with any doubts following DJ Food's comparatively laid-back Kaleidoscope album of last year can rest assured that these boys still know how to strike a unique balance between joy and
PC, DK and Strictly Kev
aggression. 'Kaleidoscope sounded so chilled and odd because we'd been touring our DJ set for five years all over the world. explains Kev. 'I thought at the time it was because we'd grown up a bit and our sound had matured but if you listen to Solid Steel it's clearly not the case.’ (Tim Abrahams)
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The latest club news...
INTERNET DANCE MUSIC station Radio Magnetic will be extending its programme over the coming weeks to include contributions from Dundee club night Homeless and Edinburgh record shop/DJ hub, Underground Solu ‘shn. The Glasgow-based station currently includes live shows from the likes of Soma, Fenetik, Manga and The Sub Club and is now working with a number of highly respected UK record labels (including Rawkus, Pork and Warp) to bring you the best in new music. Check it all out at www.radiomagnetic.com. METALHEADZ, THE
legendary London drum & bass night/record label will be holding the first of its monthly Scottish sessions at The Honeycomb this fortnight (26 October). To coincide with this happy turn of events, the promoters would like to offer List readers the chance of winning a tidy little bag of swag. This includes the last 5 releases on the Metalheadz label and a pair of free tickets for the launch night. Simply apply your brainpower to the following question and send the answer to:
metalheadz@differentclassdjs. com, no later than Tuesday 23 October. The question is: ‘Name f0ur artists who have released material on Metalheadz', and please remember to include all y0ur contact details.
BOOGIE MO DYNAMO WILL be staging a massive event in November in association with Finger Lickin’, the highly acclaimed London breakbeat label. Finger Lickin’ boss and all-round remix genius Lee Coombs will be joined by Dreadzone and Soul Of Man for an unbridled evening of breaks and beats at Ego, Edinburgh on Friday, 23 November. Finger Lickin’ artist Jessica Joy will be staging a one- week exhibition of her work at The Outhouse Bar to run in conjunction with this event
18 Oct-l Nov 2001 THE LIST 81