This Friday I’ve been out to two really fantastic events. First stop was the Mad Hat Rave hosted in part by Birmingham uni’s 1210 Dj society. They always get a real good crowd down, and everyone made an extra effort with the hats! The fact I graduated just over a year ago is starting to show, as I’m starting to recognise less and less people at these student events, a new crowd is moving in, and it won’t be long till I’m the odd “oldie” graduate who won’t let go of their lost youth! I’m not quite there yet though, and it was great to catch up with a few people I did know, and listen to them spin up on the decks. Hats of interest included an acid man, a tesco bag, and a hat made from flyers to for the event.

Round the corner EarDrum and Breakthru were hosting a spectaular combination of Drum and Bass and brilliant Dubstep. A great friendly crowd skanked and shimmed their bodies through earth shattering bass. The sound set up in the medicine bar is awesome, and the Djs were certainly making use of the weapon grade bass.

Full galleries: Mad Hat Rave and EarDrum

9th October 2008

Wax:On @ The Rainbow Warehouse

Wax:On have been have been running successful nights in their hometown of Newcastle, as well as Leeds for sometime now. MixMag were nice enough to award them 2nd best nightclub in Britain in 2006, beaten only by the mighty Fabric (London).

It’s about time then, that they brought some of this magic to Birmingham, and with a huge line up of quality and genuinely “Live” acts booked, there was no doubt that this launch was going to be a big one.

Headling the night were the mighty Late of The Pier, and with recent NME front cover features, are certainly a band in the spotlight at the moment. No surprise also then, that Late of the Pier’s producer, Erol Alkan was in tow to provided Dj support (and who knows, maybe to be fiddling all the EQ’s behind the desk?).

This in its own would surely be enough of a line up to ensure a mob of neo spangled ravers raising the roof all night, raising some dust whilst sporting the most retro of all Nike High Tops. All that’s left to do is chuck in a few a few hardworking resident Dj’s to provide some fill before the main acts? Not likely, as this really was a “presents..” night worthy of the description. In support we had such fine acts as Midnight Juggernauts, Michachu, Simon Bookish and Wax:On residents People Get Real.

In essence the night ran more like a miniature festival, with 4 quality full live acts on the main stage in the warehouse. The stage was covered in a mass of undulating wires, synths, miniKorgs, guitars, drums, odd boxes with many a blinking light, and of course the sort of uber stylish hip ladies and gents (artists) that would make even the most hardened Hoxton resident feel like he’s not making an effort.

I get the feeling the set times were jiggled around a bit for various technical reasons, as Erol Alkans set, which was slipped in just before Late of the Pier graced the stage at a very *yawn isn’t it bedtime?* 2:30am, seemed a little out of place.

The crowd were up for it though, and both Midnight Juggernauts and Micachu were very well received. Late of The Pier were a climatic end to an action packed night, and despite following on from very strong support sets, still managed to set themselves apart and set the crowd alight. Plenty of people knew every single word of every song played and were happy to sing along, which shows a pretty dedicated fanbase.

In the beach garden area of the rainbow warehouse, Bigger than Barry played host throughout the night. I couldn’t quite grasp the style of things out there, as the music seemed to be going for an all round party medley than focusing on any particular style. Nevertheless, the area is always a very welcome break for chilling out and relaxing under the arches, and is a real winning feature of the club.

Wax:On will be back in Birmingham in the new year, next time for something a little more Dj / Nightclub orientated. They’ve made a big splash in Birmingham, and we really can’t wait for the next one!

Words / Photography :: Tom Horton

Those Ballsy heroes!

Covered for BrumLive and Whats On In Brum

See the two reviews along with my photos at:

BrumLive by George Flemming

WhatsoninBrum by Adam Moffatt

Not for the faint hearted, these guys ” roam the land, righting wrongs and inspiring the masses with musical interpretations of ancient Austrian folk tales. Such stories as ‘Terminator’, ‘Predator’ and ‘Total Recall’ have for too long been exploited for commercial gain by the Hollywood film industry and a certain unscrupulous actor.”

Bit of strobist info for those wondering: Flashgun off-shoe wireless + built in flash, both manual. Go get creative with your lighting!

You can find the whole gallery in the galleries section

On the 10/06/08 I went along with Whats On in Brum to the launch of Taste of Birmingham at Brindley Place, where top chefs Surachet Patpun, Aktar Islam and Chris Duffy from Thai Edge, Lasan, and Falini cooked up a storm on a BBQ in front of Thai Edge. Each prepared a dish, whilst explaining to the gathered crowds not only the ingredients and recipe, but also the reasons behind their choice and combinations. It was all very much in the style of any good television cookery programme.

Celebrity chef Atul Kochhar was present to have a taste and judge between the three prepared dishes - although when it came down to making a decision as to a winner he was diplomatically vague, saying that they were all fantastic.

I was a personal fan of Chris Duffy’s Sea Bass, not least because there was a decent amount of it to go round for tasting - though be wary of bones, as they are sharp enough to pierce your lip.

Now in its third consecutive year, Taste of Birmingham will celebrate the very best cuisine the Midlands’ offers in the beautiful surroundings of Cannon Hill Park, from Thursday 10th July to Sunday 13th July 2008. Get down there and get involved with food.

02/06/2008

The Restless Debt of Third World Beauty

Woom Gallery Exhibition by celebrated South African artist Faith47. Her work depicts strong female characters in dilapidated environments. It focuses on the importance and the spirit of the strong female identity through adversity.

A super duper evening : ) Free drinks (check the guy with like 7 beers in his hands), excellent food, and super music all night. Birmingham’s best were all out in full steam.

Lots more photos in the gallery section

This was meant to be a shoot for BrumLive, but the person who had requested to review them somehow forgot to turn up (???) - luckily a cool friend of mine, Sam Barnes stepped in a put together some lovely words. Not sure if BrumLive is going to run it now, so I’m running it here to avoid it all going to waste

The Dodos - Bar Academy Birmingham 01/06/08

Tonight I discovered that becoming too invested in internet hype can insulate you from the reality of a band’s popularity. As much as we may like our city, Brum is never going to be San Francisco. Anticipating a roomful of Pitchfork-reading hipsters, the Bar Academy was, shall we say, sparsely populated on this lazy, non-descript spring Sunday. However The Dodos created some rather wonderful noise in front of this disappointingly empty room. With an unprepossessing stage presence and the mastery of their craft, the trio captivated this reviewer as they flew through their small but perfectly formed back catalogue.

Comparisons to the cult American favourites Animal Collective are probably deserved; they certainly share a joyful sense of harmony and the shifting tribal rhythms, but The Dodos focus these elements into a more direct pop aesthetic. The lyrics flit easily between the personal and the mysterious, just as the percussion swiftly changed from visceral brutality to fragile beauty. (In practice this meant a Dodo going from hitting a bin to playing a xylophone or something, but please forgive me the flowery prose). Songs such as ‘Jodi’ and ‘Red and Purple’ flew past in a blur of smiling faces and nodding heads. In truth it was ultimately the vitality of the percussion that really propelled the essentially folky, homespun tunes forward - the focus of the precise chopping guitar sound a counterpoint to the insistent drums.

The musicians themselves came across as charming, slightly shy souls, with an amusingly shambolic line in encore management. In terms of personality it must be conceded that on paper their lyrical preoccupations are not going to challenge your philosophical foundations - they sing wistfully about love, relationships, loneliness and regret (well trodden ground indeed), offering what the cynical might perceive as little original insight. Indeed, perhaps without the bittersweet emotional force of the music the songs might have come off as indirect and somewhat inconsequential. But here in this bijou venue, having successfully recreated their whirlwind of intense danceable rhythms, jangling acoustic guitars and understated sentiment, the resonance of this band seemed obvious.

Photos: Tom Horton

Review: Sam Barnes

Hooray, that’s Dj Switch winning the Birmingham heats for the DMC Technics World Championships. Hosted by Heducation at the lovely Medicine Bar. Switch’s dad was supporting him all night, taking video footage and stills, and after the prize giving, lugging around heavy bottles of CK One and uge record bags. Props to him, its really nice to see someone have that sort of backing. Big cheers for “Poppa Switch”.

It was more of a stand around and watch event, than a club night -although there was some serious dirty drum and bass going down in the kitchen, and Dj Rafik spun up a  cool set after the competition in the Med Bar.

Had to make do with built in flash all night, due to my flashgun being a bit worse for wear - takes me back, and makes me realise just how fantastic the built in flash on my now ancient Nikon is. Remember kids, its not what you’ve got, its what you do with it.

Many a free DVD, T Shirts, Wallets and stickers were given away Shame there weren’t more people there.

more photos in the gallery section: DMC Championships

A few pics from the bank holiday weekend - theres a full write up over at BrumLive from Adam Moffatt with some of these pics.

Managed to drop and break my Nikon SB-600 Speedlight flashgun during the night, bit of a downer. It’s lasted up to nearly two years of heavy use though, so props to Nikon for getting me this far -any donations to a new flash are more than welcome.

It was pretty busy all night, which was great. The warehouse wasn’t opened up, which is probably just as well - could have been a bit sparse. You could only get pints of cider from the bar or bottles which was a bit disappointing, but the Bacardi cocktail bar made up for the lack of beer in pints with some great tasting (and rather strong) Mojitos.

You can find all the photos from the night in the gallery section of this website.

Like what it says on the tin really - another fantastic night put on by the guys at Ultra+. James Zambiela is a bit of a wizard on the decks, and Ultra+ had the bright idea of hooking up a camera and projecting it on a nice big screen so everyone could see what was going on. One of the most excited crowds I’ve seen at the Factory for a while. There seemed to be an unusually high number of complete nutters (good nutters, not punch your face in nutters), making up an awful lot of high energy in the main room. Something in the water perhaps? I think the photos speak for themselves really. Someone made off with Shiela the Ultra+ mascot, a life size blow up doll of dubious origin who looks down upon the party goes from the rafters. Anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts is urged to keep it to themselves.