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Murray Richardson and Stuart Patterson PROFILE
HOUSE TOKYOBLU Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Fri 7 May
Tokyoblu has become one of Edinburgh’s most reliable house nights, dishing out the best in house grooves on a monthly basis. And while some clubs may have crumbled when their eponymous house band called it a day, the resident DJ team of John Hutchinson and Iain Gibson have kept the quality high and the beats flowing. Now they team up with another Edinburgh house club of much repute as Rebel Waltz’s Murray Richardson returns to his old stomping ground.
‘I can’t wait to get back to Edinburgh,’ says Richardson. ‘It’s always great to get back to play at the Cabaret Voltaire which is, and always has been, a top venue.’
Growing up in Prestwick, he started his DJ career after attending Ayr Pavilion’s Streetrave West Coast Jams. ‘I saw lots of great DJs playing there and it got me hooked on house and wanting to be a DJ.’ Richardson went on to win Muzik magazine’s Bedroom Bedlam competition and soon started his own Rebel Waltz night in the capital. From its humble beginnings in the downstairs room at the City Café 11 years ago, the club moved to Nottingham and Barcelona and is now based at London’s East Village, with Richardson and his DJ partner Stuart Patterson DJing round the world.
‘It’s just house music,’ says Richardson of his mixing style. ‘Always deep and always with one or two classic tracks flung in for good measure. That’s always been the Rebel Waltz style.’ (Henry Northmore)
Moon Unit
GARAGE/PSYCHEDELIA HARSH 70S REALITY Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 30 Apr
‘One of the worst questions someone can ask you while you’re DJing is, “Can you play something I know?”’ says John Petrie, promoter of Stereo’s new monthly night Harsh 70s Reality. ‘To me, that just defeats the purpose of this. I don’t want to play the music that people hear on the radio every single day.’ Unless it’s his own show, of course; it’s called Broken Ear and it’s on Radio Magnetic. ‘My favourite club ever in Glasgow was Funhouse at the
Barfly,’ says Petrie. ‘They would play garage and psychedelia, which is music that makes me want to dance. House and techno don’t, they just make me want to go to
the bar, but things like Krautrock – actual Krautrock, not just Kraftwerk and Neu! – tropicalia and Afrobeat are what get me interested and keep me dancing.’
Now in its second month, Harsh 70s Reality (named after the 1992 album from Kiwi noise outfit The Dead C) will be welcoming its first live guests here, Glasgow trio Moon Unit.
‘I’d say we are a bit Krautrock,’ says the band’s Andrea Jonsson, who plays alongside Peter Kelly and Ruaraidh Sanachan (aka Nackt Insecten), and assists Petrie with the club. ‘We want to create something with a lot of energy about it, a show which will give you a feeling of exhilaration when you see it. We use bits of free jazz and of noise music too, all hopefully bundled up into something that’s exciting to play and exciting to see.’ (David Pollock)
RAHAAN Also known as his full name, Rahaan Young
Occupation Disco-house mogul of more than 20 years’ experience. Where did he come from? Chicago, Illinois, where he first became involved with music in 1987 as part of battle dance crew The Chuck Brothers. Originally eight-strong, the Brothers would take their show to venues around the city like the Power House, the Muzik Box and Reactor, where they found themselves turned onto the sound of Chicago house just as it emerged onto the big stage. Among the mixtapes from local DJs that they would use to practice with, those of the late Ron Hardy were a big inspiration: before long, half of the Brothers would go on to DJ themselves.
Where did he go? Around the clubs of Chicago quite vigorously, but only until the year 1990. That’s when Rahaan got married, settled down and moved to Wisconsin, his main musical contribution in this period being the building up of an impressive collection from the local music store. When he split from his partner in 1996, he moved back to Chicago and fell back in with the Chuck Brothers.
Where is he now? Having rebuilt a following around his home city and released a handful of productions over the last decade (on Four Play, Jiscomusic and most recently Stilove4music), Rahaan is gaining recognition around the world as a producer and DJ of uptempo disco-house cuts and edits which retain a soulful vocal style. This will be a repeat visit to Million Dollar Disco, the club which first brought him to Scotland, and they’re a perfect fit for one anther. (David Pollock) ■ Rahaan plays Million Dollar Disco at the Big Joint, Glasgow, Sun 2 May.
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29 Apr–13 May 2010 THE LIST 35