Clubs PROFILE
DOC DANEEKA Also known as: Mial Watkins is his real name.
Occupation: Producer and DJ of what many might call UK funky, but what he prefers to refer to as ‘basement house’. ‘Endorsed by Marcus Nasty, L-Vis 1990, Gilles Peterson, Kode9, Martyn . . .’, says his MySpace. He’s also released on Ramp Recordings and remixed Delphic and Oneman. Where is he from? Swansea. ‘It’s like an old shell of an industrial city in South Wales,’ he says, ‘kind of like a small Detroit by the sea. That’s not meant to make it sound glamorous, it’s quite ugly in places. I like it, though.’ He’s staying at his brother’s in Berlin when The List catches up with him, though.
How did he get started? ‘It was a constant progression. I started off playing in punk bands when I was younger, about 16 or 17, then moved on to making trip hop, listening to a lot of drum & bass, then I got into broken beat and made that.’
How would he describe his sound? ‘I’ve always done exactly what I wanted, never really fitted into a style. When I started out I was making pretty basic music and . . . well, it’s still pretty basic, but I express myself better now. It’s more aimed at creating a vibe than reflecting a style, for example my favourite place to play is a hot, sweaty basement. We had a great house party scene when we were coming through and I want to recreate that in my music, so my set’ll be mostly house music and it’ll change rhythm a lot, from colourful, synthy house to bongo- driven tribal sounds. Always energetic, always designed to get people dancing.’ (David Pollock) ■ Doc Daneeka plays StepBack at the Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh, Fri 19 Nov.
36 THE LIST 18 Nov–2 Dec 2010
DUBSTEP/DUB FORTIFIED PRESENTS SCIENTIST VS THE UPSETTERS Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Sun 21 Nov
Capturing the sounds of the studio and helping to commit them to wax while preserving and, if possible, enhancing the essence of the performance, the studio engineer is a conduit between the art and physics of recording. In many respects the process is an alchemical one, but in others it’s profoundly technical. It was in his Kingston studio watching the young Hopeton Brown’s rigorous approach to recording King Tubby uttered the words, ‘Damn, this boy must be a scientist.’ Brown’s imagination was captured when he started
experimenting with studio equipment. ‘I noticed the different effect reggae would have on an amplifier,’ he explains. ‘It needed much higher fidelity and a
wider frequency range than any other music.’ Thirty years later, Brown (better-known as
Scientist) will tour the UK as part of a project with Pinch’s Tectonic label. For this very special show he will perform live with brothers Aston ‘Family Man’ and Carlton Barrett – original members of Lee Perry’s Upsetters – providing the raw material for his live remixes and over dubs.
Brown takes great pride in the resonance his music has with younger producers. ‘Influence is a very important thing,’ he says. ‘It’s always good when other people admire what you do and want to create something of their own with it.’
He also maintains resolute faith in the art of the dub engineer. ‘Let me tell you man, reggae is the hardest music to engineer, when you can master reggae everything else is lightweight.’ (Colin McKean)
SOUL & HIP HOP SOUL KITCHEN Medina, Edinburgh, Fri 19 Nov
Edinburgh’s club scene isn’t as bad as its detractors might make out, but it isn’t thriving. Fewer good venues have been taking up the slack over the last decade, which is why anywhere that’s trying to do its own thing should be celebrated. Take compact basement venue Medina, for example, which is starting to shift its programme towards promoter-led parties.
‘I ran Booty there every Sunday for six years,’ says Dale Lush, co-
promoter and DJ of new Friday-nighter Soul Kitchen, ‘but that stopped when I began getting other gigs through the week. Meanwhile Isla [Blige, his partner in the Kitchen and formerly a DJ at Medina’s Get Funk’d] and I had been talking about running a club together for a long time, because we’ve known each other for ten years. Eventually we made the decision to start a night playing really good music that we love for people who want to listen to it.’ Simple, really.
Although it’s pitched as a soul night, Soul Kitchen will have a broader reach. ‘It’s the music of black origin thing,’ says Lush, echoing the MOBO awards’ credo. ‘Anything from 60s soul through to deep hip hop – it’s actually Isla who plays the hip hop stuff, I’m more into soul and soulful house, but neither of us are afraid of floorfillers.’ There are plans to bring in guest DJs and to introduce Blige’s female vocal group The Soupremes once the night is up and running, which all points to a club with more of a sense of fun than much of their competition. (David Pollock)