Like all my greatest music festival reports, it’s late

The trouble is, where do you begin with Glastonbury….? The huge international guests? The breaking bands playing in every nook ad cranny? The sheer size and scale of one of the UK’s largest music events?

From the off, the atmosphere was electric. We arrived a day before the acts officially began to settle in, and every hour or so a wave of cheering soared across the campsite. I never realised that people enjoyed pitching tents so much. That certainly set the pace, and the exploration begun. The first official band was Massimo Park, and they kicked off the proceedings with a combination of their hits to get everyone in the mood. Moving on, the Greenpeace Airport made me feel slightly guilty about my June/July schedule (ORD – LHR – ORD – SNA – SFO – ORD), but I soon (kinda) forgot when I realised there was entertainment (and cider) available there. The Little Tremors had a great intimate crowd with them, and their lively music aided a summery afternoon perfectly. Heading over to The Park we found an explosive Zane Lowe vs Mike Skinner set that even an impossible to enter tent and the first drizzle of rain failed to dampen. Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex is on Fire’ and Switch’s ‘A Bit Patchy’ being two major highlights. We then went to catch a friend-of-a-friend recommendation, The Gentleman’s Dub Club, who served up tight grooves, big bass and a party atmosphere with great crowd control, completing a fantastic opening day of music.

Friday kicked off with breakfast at The Whip, although I felt they failed to recreate the energy of their dance-rock-hybrid hits as a live act. Heading over to meet Deepgroove and Paul Woolford, the audience was a bit sparse in the various dance tents (it was still only 1pm), and so an early lunch and a walk over to the Pyramid Stage ensured we had a great spot for N*E*R*D. This is where the unbiased report wavers, as I’ve been a huge N*E*R*D fan since their first album, and consider their songs inspiring for some of my own projects. In other words, they were one of my highlights. The whole band was tight, people were up on stage busting out their best MTV moves (apart from one guy who thought the music was perfect to can-can along to, hugging with Pharrell). A short (wet and muddy) walk to peek in at Skream and Benga totally destroying a now packed Dance Tent was swiftly followed by a memorable performance by Crazy P in the Guardian Lounge.

The class acts are so diverse and in such quick succession, it left a great impression on me as Glastonbury being a very complete festival. I somehow managed to get a great spot as Jason Mraz in the Acoustic Tent, in amongst the screaming 13 year-old girls, and along with very talented supporting musicians, he moved the crowd along very well. A short stroll via the Glade Tent to check out the live electronic dance grooves of the Bays (this time without Jimpster, but with the added vocal magic of Beardyman), and I was ready for my Friday night highlight. Q-Tip. Being 20ft from the front was a great help, and the latest album never leaving my playlist meant that I had a fantastic end to a hectic day. Inspiration overload was complete.

VV Brown and Watermelons. Not her new band, but an unexpectedly satisfying start to my Saturday morning, my hunger filled (for both new music and breakfast respectively). It’s not that I was expecting little of VV, simply that I had only discovered a track of hers accidentally about two weeks prior, and I didn’t know what to expect from a new, young act, and was pleasantly surprised. Failing to get anywhere near the Rolf Harris tent(!), we went back to see Dizzee Rascal at the Pyramid Stage. Having been around for a while now (we were discussing if he was past his best. Your thoughts?), there were many a shout-along lines we could join in with. Another venture to The Park on a friend’s recommendation brought me to the sounds of the Beatbox Orchestra, doing battle with DJ Yoda, supplying backing for Jarvis Cocker, and a whole number of crazy things I never thought I’d hear!

I decided to get some rest, before a sunset show with Bon Iver, surrounded by campfires and enjoying every second of their acoustic folk-rock soundtrack. Refreshed, fed and watered, I headed over to explore Shangri-La, the after-hours crazy dace village of Glastonbury. Small streets and stalls fought for my attention, and provided all kinds of weird and wonderful Glasto moments, whilst meeting new friends and failing to find old ones (James! Buckers!) in the Mad Max mirage.

Sunday I wanted to explore more of the site, and may have missed the wonders of Status Quo in doing so, but I wanted to see more of the Glastonbury spirit, so I wolfed down a veggie breakfast from a Juke Joint with people passed out in the stall next to me, and headed over to the Green Fields. Free fruit, A Wishing Tree, pedal-powered music machines, and a general explosion of creativity was on offer to keep us entertained. The sun even came out to grace my shoulders with a (still visible) tan-line. A short walk through the Circus area, full of (psuedo)naked art classes and 1920s boxing matches, and we were ready for our next music fix, that being The Destroyers. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a 15-strong group of musicians charging around to gypsy-folk-fused-with-samba, but I strongly suggest you do. Mr Scruff over in the dance tent helped things get moving along nicely into the evening.

Our final night was yet another memorable one. The anticipation of the big finale was so huge, that we got to the main Pyramid Stage for Blur very early, leaving me with enough time to try and finish all my whisky so as to not have to carry it home (I succeeded). I had missed out on seeing Blur in my high school years, and having only recently re-united, this was a great opportunity that I didn’t want to miss. Much singing along to Girls and Boys ensued, followed by much jumping along to Parklife, and an emotional Damon Albarn taking charge of the crowd, tens of thousands strong, and leading them into a non-stop A capella of Tender, prompting two deserved and appreciated encores.

To sum up, my first Glastonbury was a real eye-opener, and I’ll make sure that it won’t be my last.

Lee Jarvis.

To celebrate their only live club performance of the year at Eddy TM’s  Remix All Nighter @ Matter on July 17th, we have an awesome Vector Lovers remix of Ladytrons single Tomorrow to give away.

Download link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/cmcyb3BHSysrV3dLSkE9PQ

On Thursday 12th March 2009, UK Music Jobs hosted their 2nd Oxjam event at East London’s legendary venue 93 Feet East. Over 180 people turned up to see the brilliant performances, enjoy a few beers and do their bit for a great cause.

First on stage were the scorching hot electro/pop band My Tiger My Timing, playing a full set including debut single ‘This Is Not The Fire’ produced by Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club fame. Oozing charisma with great tunes and and more musical talent than you can shake a stick at, MTMT kicked off proceedings with a bang.

Next up we had DJ/Musician Butcherd Beats, featuring guest vocalists Kelli-Leigh & A_Jazz, Mobo Award winning rap artist Wizdom from Green Jade, world class percussionist Beats De Vyne and European Break Dance Champion Bboy Jjui. The Butcher brought a touch of old skool Ibiza to 93 Feet East, mixing R&B, break beat and classic house along with dropping a pretty astonishing drum n’ bass track ‘Blind Reality’ which sent the crowd wild and confirmed Butcherd Beats as an artist of incredible range and talent.

Headlining our event were three sexy, sassy electro pop princesses, Red Blooded Women. Showering the adoring crowd with their trademark quips and banter, the girls launched into a stonking set including their single ‘Enjoy The Silence’ currently at number 12 in the UK commercial pop chart.

The total amount raised from ticket sales was a whopping £722 so thank you to all those who came down and supported the night.

See you next year!

The UK Music Jobs team.

Photos – Kate Khullar © 2009

It has just been announced that London clubbing Mecca, The End, is to close it’s doors for the final time in January 2009. Known and loved by many all over the world, The End has been a true pioneer of underground dance music over the last 12 or so years, hosting groundbreaking nights across house, techno, drum&bass, breakbeat and much more.

Director Layo Paskin states “Even though the past few years have arguably been our most successful as a club and as a business, I don’t particularly believe that there’s anything more that we can achieve”, and I have to say I’d find it challenging to think of how they could continue to top their record, especially with some key members of the team eager to try new things. It’s not as if the club were over the hill, far from it, but that almost makes it even greater, to go out on a high, and be remembered as outstanding.

Built by Layo (as in ‘Layo & Bushwacka’) and Mr C (as in ‘Ebeneezer Goode’), The End was often seen as the perfect club in many ways for DJs and clubbers; that circular DJ booth in the middle of the dance floor, the incredible sound system, and the friendly and diverse crowd.

Layo continues, “It’s partially a circumstantial decision, and partially a decision of choice”, adding, “We’ve had offers for the club before, and yes, this was the best one. But I wouldn’t say that it’s so good that it makes this a purely financial issue … If it was seven or eight years ago, an offer like this wouldn’t have been accepted. It’s a lot to do with the timing.”

On a personal level, I know I will certainly miss the club; my first ‘proper’ night clubbing was about 7 years ago to see Steve Lawler play a 6 hour set in the main room, and I’ve been hooked ever since, returning for the likes of Jeff Mills, Layo & Bushwacka, Chew the Fat, and the infamous Jaded after-hours parties. I know I will not be alone, judging by the eleven pages of comments on the website since yesterday’s announcement!

On a business level, add this to the other superclub closures of 2008 (The Cross, The Key, Canvas and Turnmills), and clubland has been well and truly shaken up. What will the future hold for the likes of a newly refurbed Pacha, a re-launched Bar Rhumba, and new-kid-on-the-block Matter, opening any day now from the people who brought you Fabric? Stay tuned for more news and interviews

Lee.

After missing the actual Space Opening Party yet again this was always going to be a big one. My pal Dave Phillips was playing his usual set in the Discotec but the big news this week was that my best mate Andy Baxter was playing his first set for We Love; and he was doing it on the sunset terrace. We normally don’t make it into Space until after we shut the beeZwax shop (at 11pm) but this was no ordinary day so afternoon entry was a must. I got in about 15min into Andy’s set and the dancefloor was already packed even though the club had only been open for an hour. Unusually for the summer time we had a big gang – seems like everyone managed to skip work!

I pitched up to the right of the booth with my posse and we watched Andy absolutely smash it – literally the whole dancefloor was jumping for most of the time and it was not even half past six in the afternoon!

Jonathan Ulysses came on after Andy to a great reception as usual and soon after that I went for a wander in my massive sombrero.
I’d heard that one of my other mates was playing on the Premier Etage so I went upstairs for a butcher’s only to find out that it was someone else playing. That someone else turned out to be Mat Playford who I went to school with and hadn’t seen for years. After a quick catch up he told that me that he’d been both elated and deflated halfway through his set. If you’ve ever been on the Premier Etage you’ll know that it’s very chilled up there and the music is not exactly loud. Whilst Mat was up there playing quietly he heard the sunset terrace going right off downstairs – to one of his own remixes! He was pleased that it got such a good response but absolutely gutted that someone else (Andy Baxter) was the one that dropped it.
I think I headed straight to the discotec after that and that’s pretty much where I stayed – Dave Phillips, DJ Pierre, and Felix Da Housecat were all excellent and the atmosphere was awesome. Managed to squeeze in a bit of 2manyDJs near the end as well and all things considered, I reckon it was my best party in Space ever – which is no mean feat!

I know it was last month now, but I do have a very good excuse. I’ve been on holiday pretty much since then, lapping it up in the Mediterranean sunshine (still reading?). In fact, then location of this festival must account for part of its success. I’ll explain…

As a punter, the fact that you can fly to Spain cheaper than the cost of a cab home across London, is a big draw. Then the fact that, although I can be spoilt for choice with superstar international DJs and bands at home, I almost certainly can’t watch them in 30 degree heat with a nice COLD beer (and one that costs less then £3). The result of this feel good factor? I spent the whole long weekend with a huge smile on my face before I even heard a single beat! So by the time the music started thumping, it was like our own clubbers’ paradise.

Thursday, Sonar by Day. An essential meeting point if you hope to find anyone sober and having slept the night before. I was very impressed with the space they put together there, and the two outdoor sound stages didn’t clash at all. From the chilled electronic funk of Little Dragon, to the grimier hip hop beats of Chacos Brodas, this was perfect sunshine listening. As the evening drew in, Bass Clef put on a fantastic show, epitomising Sonar’s theme of genre bending by fusing his bass, beats and breaks with a, erm… live trombone! It worked though, and you can find some decent video clips knocking around t’interweb of all these guys.

Friday night saw the enormous Fira Gran Via complex opened up to host a whole wealth of talent. A live show from Madness kicked the party of to a great start, plenty of silly dancing to Baggy Trousers and the like, and then it was on to catch some of BC & JC vs DE. Jamie’s energy was fantastic; it was great to watch someone have so much fun performing, and completely lose himself in the music… to the point that I started thinking Darren had slipped something in his drink! You could see the kind of live improvisation that you get with The Bays, and the whole ensemble built the tension very well, and the end of their set came all too soon. And so it was on to Diplo, again a perfect example of the cross-genre fusing. Sometimes Hip Hop, sometimes fidgety Switch-esque beats, sometimes booty bass (whatever that is), and sometimes indescribable, but always the kind of tunes that strike a raw chord and make you get up and shake a leg. Following form that, Justice and their usual industrial French funk were great at times, although sometimes it was just too much. A lot of people enjoyed the variation of Diplo, and the dance-ability of his tunes, and some of the flow was lost when you were met with a wall of white noise and distorted guitar loops.

This didn’t disappoint me too much, as in the next arena was one of my personal favourites, Roisin Murphy. Having seen her live a couple of times now, I knew a few tracks from the last album, but still enjoyed the show she put on, and the rest of the band was on fine form too. After a snack break, it was outside for a good couple of hours of the Minus collective. Troy Pierce kept a good groove going, but for me Magda let it down. I know this kind of set is meant to be very subtle and the simple breaks and drops make it, but she hardly ever let a track actually drop, annoyingly fiddling with the EQs. Richie Hawtin was much more up my street, chunkier beats, rolling basslines and tracks that invited you to get your head down and jack your body along. The crowd, being a mix of English and Spanish, were absolutely loving it, both countries currently enjoying a trend of records and DJs of this ilk. Finally, around 5am and pretty exhausted, we thought a round on the bumper cars (!) and a few piano house classics from the legendary Frankie Knuckles would pick us up, and so it did. Nothing like getting the bus home humming ‘Where Love Lives’.

Saturday night started by meeting up with some DJ & producer friends for a dip in the pool and then on to dinner. My main focus at Sonar By Night was to be Freerange Records, pioneers of UK deep house. Arrinving early, I had a bit of time to check out French DJ, Chloe. Although there was some great melodic stuff going on, it was far too laid back for me, and too slow for a night time vibe I thought. So I went to see Yazoo for a short while. Having refoprmed after 25 years, maybe I was expecting too much, or maybe we are so used to the way that music production has moved on since, but the songs didn’t do it for me, bar ‘’. Maybe I was just fidgety and waiting for the Freerange guys to start. Cue Jimpster back outside to give my night a kick up the arse. Still deep and lush, but with a real chunky groove and a definite ‘sound of now’, I knew what to expect, but it still delights me everytime I hear it. Jimpster passed the baton to Milton Jackson, with a live show of his forthcoming album tracks, and the time flew by.

Tonight, I had to leave around 3am to head over to the OM Records party at La Terrazza. Unfortunately this means I didn’t get to stick around for Jeff Mills and his Rings of Saturn experiance. That’s the thing with the whole sonar weekend – there’s barely a chance to see all the acts at the official shindigs, without the endless offerings of other parties, beach gatherings and label clubnights! On the plus side, I arrived at OM to the last couple of Mike Monday tracks, and then Jesse Rose jumped on and destroyed the place. Every tune was driving along with just the right amount of funk, pinned together with squelching beats and an Unhealthy dose of bass. Closing the party would be Justin Martin, all the way from San Fran, and yet more house music of the highest pedigree. After that, well, let’s just say it was one of those special afterparties that you don’t always get to hear about

There are certain things you can do in Barcelona that you can’t get away with at most UK festivals; dance on the beach with friends and muchos sangria; dine on amazing seafood paella and wine opposite the festival and spend just £8; Too hot at Sonar by day? Go dip in the Sea, just 15 mins walk away. As I said, this makes for such a different atmosphere to English festivals, but I also realise that they have the absolute cream of European and US artists, and seeing any one of about 25 headliners is special in it’s own right. Combined with some fantastic home-grown talent (and the ice cold beer), it’s easy to see why Sonar is such a success every year. I know I’ll certainly be back.

(pls note, the sonar by night pics are from the official website // www.sonar.es)

Lee Jarvis.