Tony Lionni
Clubs
HOUSE HEAVY GOSSIP & ULTRAGROOVE Below Stairs/The Green Room, Edinburgh, Sat 24 Sep
As two of Edinburgh’s best house clubs join forces we find out why and what they’ve got in store for us: Nick Yuill (Heavy Gossip): ‘Myself, [promoter] Paul
[Cunningham] and Gareth [Sommerville] first got together to discuss doing one-off events and we realised we had the exact same aims and goals and it kind of rumbled on from there. ‘My first club gig DJing was at Ultragroove. I’ve played there about
20 times, so we all knew each other and respected each other in terms of the parties we threw – and Gareth’s a phenomenal DJ as well. What Ultragroove brings is a seasoned experience to clubbing, whereas Heavy Gossip, while very serious about our love of music, offers a more light-hearted approach. One of our biggest assets is having 6th Borough Project’s Craig Smith on board as resident alongside myself. Craig is completely on point at the moment in terms of production and his DJ skills. ‘I hope people understand how excited we are about it. We didn’t
need to merge them together – other than because of our own excitement at the possibilities.’ Gareth Sommerville (Ultragroove): ‘It’s that idea of
something being greater than the sum of its parts; Ultragroove’s got a really strong back-story that goes back almost 12 years and Heavy Gossip has just been smashing it the past 12 months. Musically, both Nick and Craig [Smith] are really good DJs – and I’m half decent as well [laughs] so the resident line-up is really, really strong.
‘For our opening night we have Rahaan, a Chicago native who’s got a huge disco collection and great technical skills and knows how to rock a party. Downstairs, Tommy Lionni from Freerange Records plays melodic deep house, someone who both myself and the Heavy Gossip guys have had an eye on for a while. It’s a good summation of what both clubs stand for and it’s a good starting point for what we have planned in the future.’ (Interviews by Henry Northmore)
Brian d’Souza
TECH-HOUSE MAYA JANE COLES Muzika at Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sat 8 Oct INTERNATIONAL DANCE MUSIC HIGHLIFE Stereo, Glasgow, Fri 7 Oct
She’s been producing since she was in her mid-teens nearly a decade ago, but for young Londoner Maya Jane Coles, the years since have provided a steep learning curve. Her real breakthrough track was last year’s ‘What They Say’ on Real Tone, a song which married a techy minimalism with a stark, whispering drum machine click and a garage-style vocal groove, but that’s only one element of a career which spreads itself across multiple genres. ‘Highlife started with a conversation about the mass of fantastic music being made outside of the normal Western club genres, of things like house, techno and dubstep.’ That conversation was between Brian d’Souza (speaking, above) and Andrew Thomson, both of whom started Highlife 18 months ago almost as a side project to their respective regular nights Slabs of the Tabernacle and Huntleys & Palmers Audio Club.
Of mixed British and Japanese descent, and with a set of influences which ‘The advent of the internet means it’s so much easier to find out what’s going
stretch from hip hop in her early teens to drum & bass, electro and finally house and techno, Coles’ tech-house solo work (she’s a big fan of Radio Slave and Steve Bug) has included some high profile releases, among them this year’s ‘Focus Now’ on Ralph Lawson’s 20:20 Vision and ‘Beat Faster’ on Anja Schneider’s Mobilee. It’s also earned her a bunch of best breakthrough artist nominations and the like. More than this, however, she’s also one half of electronic dub outfit She is
Danger alongside musician and singer Lena Cullen, with whom she’s produced and remixed the likes of Massive Attack, Gorillaz and Ellie Goulding. Then there’s her other project, dubstep guise Nocturnal Sunshine, a gig which has seen her earn praise and plays from the likes of Joy Orbison, Skream and Scuba. It’s a workaholic’s CV, but one which suggests Coles is an artist who knows what she’s doing, and in whose hands we’ll be safe. (David Pollock)
on with music in South Africa or South America,’ says d’Souza. ‘An early influence on us was Comeme, the label run by Matias Aguayo, and it’s a perfect example of what we’re about. It’s a continual battle to explain that we’re not a World Music club, in the sense that World Music has very traditional, localised roots.’ While Highlife plays sounds which exist outside the Western genres, they reflect a form of musical globalisation in which kids from Tanzania or Mexico might well have drawn influence from Chicago house or Detroit techno.
The night’s already earned such a reputation that it’s been asked to fill a monthly Sunday night slot at the Sub Club, while Auntie Flo, d’Souza’s live and recorded project, will become the house band as of this date. Returning to Stereo, Highlife welcome Argentinian duo DJs Pareja. ‘We don’t want to get pigeon-holed,’ sums up d’Souza. ‘We want to create a party vibe which stretches across the board and across genres.’ (David Pollock)
48 THE LIST 22 Sep–20 Oct 2011