HOUSE EDINBURGH ROCKS Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, Sat 26 Nov
It’s nice when the clubbing community bands together to give something back and there are many great nights across Scotland that help raise cash for charity. Now Edinburgh Rocks (in association with Leith FM) are planning something rather special. ‘We managed to score the Botanics which they’ve been kind enough to give us for free as we decided, for this event, to give all the money to the Sick Kids Foundation,’ explains one of the organisers, Leith FM presenter Niall Auld. ‘A few of the DJs have had kids at the hospital and they were well looked after and we also liked the idea of keeping the money in Edinburgh.’ Corralling DJs from some of
Edinburgh’s most respected house nights (Musika, Luvely, Ultragroove, Heavy Gossip, Taste and more) the club’s organisers are proposing a ‘dress to impress’ policy with guys in black tie and girls going glam. ‘I think the whole event has been shaped by the venue. It’s why we’ve gone down a certain route with the music, the DJ policy and the dress code, because we want to show respect to the venue and with it being for charity it’s nice to dress up and do something you wouldn’t normally do. We’ve gone for a slightly more sophisticated sound, house and funk but more soulful and disco orientated.’ Auld also promises cabaret acts, an Elvis impersonator, magicians, three casino areas and ‘the Vegas! showgirls collecting with Sick Kids buckets. We want everyone to leave with nothing, we’re hoping to hand over a big cheque at the end.’ And that’s even before we get to the official afterparty at Heavy Gossip & Ultragroove (featuring Todd Terje). ‘We’ve done a deal with the Green Room, because we finish at 1am, if people keep hold of their tickets and they’re still sober they can get discount entry,’ laughs Auld. (Henry Northmore)
Clubs
FLIGHT OF THE HAWKE Hudson Mohawke is one of the most startling electronic producers to come out of Scotland in recent years. David Pollock talks to him about beats, LuckyMe and his new EP on Warp Records
A t last, the world seems to be catching up with Hudson Mohawke. It’s been two years since the Glasgow-bred, London-based producer released his debut album Butter on the mighty Warp Records, largely to recognition only from listeners of a truly underground sensibility. The hyperactive combination of hip hop, electro and synthetic 80s soul was fiercely challenging, and perhaps took a bit of getting used to.
Fast forward to 2011 and 25-year-old Ross Birchard had made enough of an impact to appear on the cover of the Guardian Guide a couple of months ago, around the time of his Satin Panthers EP release. He’s also been producing for a number of high- profile clients in the US, although he isn’t at liberty to name many of them. And now, ahead of this rescheduled date with old collaborators LuckyMe in Edinburgh, his thoughts are turning to the next record. ‘I think it’ll be a more succinct album,’ he says on the line from a hotel room in Europe, ‘because last time I didn’t set out to make an album from start to finish, it was more a compilation of tracks picked from the back catalogue. So this one will be planned from start to finish.’ Satin Panthers was Birchard says, a departure into a more club-oriented sound, but for the new record he wants to make ‘more of a listening album.’
As far as possible collaborators go, he’d rather not spill the beans until nearer the album’s planned release towards summer 2012. ‘I’m not discussing anything about it in interviews,’ he says, ‘because I’ve done that in the past, announced stuff and then it hasn’t happened.’ Will we be hearing big names or up 56 THE LIST 17 Nov–15 Dec 2011
and coming artists? ‘Big names to me,’ he laughs. Fortunately the roster of Birchard’s production collaborators isn’t entirely a closely-guarded secret. He produced the debut EP by Manchester band Egyptian Hip-Hop last year, and since then he’s worked with members of Lil Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment collective and the notorious Chris Brown. ‘That came from a weird connection,’ he says of the latter link-up. ‘Steve Beckett who runs Warp, his wife is friends with two choreographer guys who’d done videos with Chris Brown, so they came to see me in New York and word got back to him. It’s not the kind of thing where I was sitting in a studio with him, but it should open doors – it seems to be already, actually.’
Despite the growing international recognition, though, the move to London has been the only major life change since the release of Butter. ‘All I want to do is make music,’ HudMo says, ‘and as long as I can sit in a room on my own and do that, then that’s enough for me. Nothing’s changed, I’m not living in a mansion or anything like that. I’ve got a slightly more professional studio, but even that’s still really basic.
‘I’m just not big into self-promotion, you know? I just like to do my own thing, and hopefully people take notice and it can grow organically from there. That’s how I want it to be, I don’t want to spam people or force things on them.’ At this rate, as he’s proving, the world will come to him eventually. Hudson Mohawke plays LuckyMe at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Sat 26 Nov.
‘THE NEW RECORD WILL BE
MORE OF A LISTENING ALBUM’