The Red Bull Music Academy‘s culture clash at the Roundhouse in Camden last night wasn’t your average event. So it deserves a different type of review.
For those with a twitter-like attention span you can view all my tweets from the night in this screenshot or using the # I used http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23soundclash (but that’s got other stuff in the stream I think). Wasn’t planning on a blow by blow account but soon enough I was dancing like a madman beer in one hand, phone in the other. Battery died sometime in the 3rd round, so if you want the full, reasoned argument read on.
1st disclaimer: I’ve had 4 hours of (bad) sleep, I’m hungover and I’m still aching from the dancing.
2nd disclaimer: I’m biased (more on that in a min).
EDIT: 3rd disclaimer: as a friend (who shall remain nameless) just pointed out while we were talking systems clashing last night, the reality is all 4 of these sounds aren’t ‘proper’ system, both Soul II Soul and MHZ are well past their prime. Not to take anything away from any of them but it should be said. Real systems like Shaka, Aba Shanti and Channel One should have been there. God knows it would have been so much more entertianing to see DMZ clashing those guys. I guess though the PR machine had to take the better, friendlier acts.
Despite all this allow me a ‘reasoned look’ at what happened last night and especially the final decision. After all it was a clash so while it’s true that we, the public, were all winners because of the event’s quality and the mere fact it happened, there is a result and it can be contested, especially after what happened.
Now I’d hoped the night would be many things but until I stepped into that round hall at around 10 I wasn’t sure it would be done ‘right’. As it was though, RBMA had the setup as it should have been: 4 systems next to each other, one room, 4 rounds, 15 minutes each and the public decides winners. As my mate remarked it did feel a bit like history in the making. I was just happy that my hope of a proper soundclash, or at least what I’ve always imagined one to be, weren’t dashed from the beginning. Full compliments to RBMA on their setup and execution, truly a memorabe event, already my year’s best and quite possibly the best dance I have ever been to.
Back to the point. I don’t think anyone could have predicted what would happen or just how symbolic this set up would become during the night as four of the city’s biggest and baddest systems, Soul II Soul, Metalheadz, Trojan and DMZ, clashed over 5 hours. 4 systems, 4 sounds each representing a generation of bass music and culture. Every time Don Letts came on at the end of a round to ask the audience for their ‘vote’ I kept thinking just how memorable this whole thing was. For the first time in the history of sound system culture we’re at a point where it’s possible for something like this to be happening, for four generations, four evolutions and mutations of bass and sound system culture to come together and clash. It’s really quite an amazing thing.
EDIT: as Wrongtom rightfully pointed out none of them are really systems in the purest sense of the word , apart from Soul II Soul I guess, but you know literary license and all that. Let’s say 4 of the town’s biggest and baddest labels then.
Now out of these 4 systems, Trojan, Soul II Soul and MHZ represented in many ways the past for me, so to speak. I have love and admiration for each as a label and a sound but I didn’t grow up with any of them, I was a ‘late’ fan – I discovered their sound then went backwards through their catalogue learning the history.
DMZ on the other hand I have a link to them as a label and a sound that I have with none of the others. Just like my UK friends grew up with MHZ and jungle and so felt an attraction to the label last night I have that same link with DMZ. I was fortunate enough to be around and see the ‘sound’ evolve and reach where it is today. I remember the first proto-dubstep tunes Steve Kode 9 played me in 02/03, I remember him taking me to FWD in like 03 (which was already ‘late’ to a degree) or discovering Mala at the Old Blue Last back in ’05 (with Don Letts ironically) and being left speechless at what I was hearing. I remember going to the last few Third Base sessions, and when I moved to Japan in ’07, I was blessed to work with the first dubstep crew out there (out to Goth and my BTC family) and see the sound evolve in a new country. All of which is a long way of saying why I’m biased. It was always gonna be dmz for me unless someone brought something serious. But ultimately no one else did.
Now for the review. It was a clash and I don’t know what the judging ‘criterias’ were beyond crowd noise, but for me there were four things last night that mattered: the weight of the sound, the system’s stage presence, the selection and the crowd support.
DMZ had the bass weight by a mile. During the third round I was a good 20 meters from the stack and my whole body was rattling. Considering the space and its acoustics, the guys won that hands down. They destroyed all other sounds. DMZ also had the jokes. And while some of these jokes seem to have stuck in the throat of certain other sounds, fact is they were jokes. Fair game. It’s a clash, like Pokes said they didn’t come out to make friends. There were no insults, just jokes. The only insult of the night came from the system who seemingly couldn’t take the fact that they were being schooled by others. First it was Pokes ripping into Goldie for playing Caspa (‘next time you’re on celebrity who wants to be a millionaire, are you going to call Caspa when you need to call a friend?’ – line of the night), and later on the way he pulled up Jazzie B for playing a CD after banging on about dubs all night was priceless. Harsh maybe, but all done in good taste and in the real spirit, or at least what I always imagined the real spirit of a clash to be like.
Trojan had the stage presence. Their first two rounds weren’t all that but then their singers came out and took it to another level. They were great, they had the whole peace, love and respect vibe but ultimately they didn’t cut it. Wrongtom tells me the blind singer is called Supa4 and he is definitely my new favourite – they had great presence and when they versioned lots of reggae classics the crowd rightfully went nuts. Soundwise though it wasn’t that. Great selection still.
Soul II Soul had the selection. Jazzie B showed why he is the legend he is today and why Soul II Soul carries the respect it does. MC Chickaboo was a great frontwoman. She also had jokes, so it makes me laugh that Pokes was pulled for ‘joking’ when others did too. Also at one point Soul II Soul sounded ridiculously big, but then DMZ came back and out-weighted them.
As for MHZ, well I’m not quite sure what they had to be honest. There seemed to be their fan club on stage which wasn’t a good look. I don’t want to see 15 year old girls shaking it. I want to see a show, this is a clash. They had 3 MCs, 3 DJs, a lot of empty boasting and about 10 mins worth of quality tunes in the whole night. Also the mixing was shoddy at best, the only one who saved it was Kemistry EDIT: Storm not Kemistry. RIP. I should hang my head in shame for that mistake, but I’m tired so I’ll use that as my excuse. Still big up Storm, she was the baddest MHZ DJ no doubt. with her last set, dropping Pulp Fiction and Nitrous remix, tunes I’d been wanting to hear all night. It was too late. Same with dropping Valley of the Shadows, in the second round I think – 31 seconds too late lads. Nice effort and all but you got schooled, by DMZ and by everyone else. It’s just a shame that it seems you couldn’t be graceful in battle.
Out of the 4 systems, DMZ and MHZ had in many ways the most to battle for. DMZ have never shied from admitting MHZ’s influence on their birth and growth. So it was like the young lion vs the older lion who’s been chilling on the savannah while everyone else does stuff. Ok enough of the animal analogies. For me it was that competitiveness, which was so apparent in DMZ’s sets and presence (in a good way) which made the clash between those two sounds so amazing to witness. But it seems it was also why MHZ couldn’t take being schooled by the new kids on the block.
Ultimately, and no disrespect (you need to have been there to get that line), MHZ made a mockery of what the label stood for, for me anyways. It was like watching that video of David Hasselhof when he’s eating a burger in his underpants in his bathroom. Overweight, coked-up celebrity losing the plot in front of everyone.
As the night ended Don Letts called for a winner and somehow MHZ took it. Twilight Zone steez. Now like I said I don’t know the criterias, but if we’re talking crowd support, it was DMZ all the way. Anyone there can attest to that. Even Trojan and Soul II Soul had more support. MHZ were the only system to get booed in the last 2 rounds. You don’t win if you got booed. Standard. And also there was a small matter of Bailey shooting at the mouth at the beginning of the last round and calling Pokes a certain something, which just felt like one of those really awkward and painful to witness moments, when someone has the piss taken out of them (justly, it’s a clash after all) and can’t take the fact that they aren’t the better man. The crowd flipped on them at that point, so for them to be given the crown at the end of the night was just that much more painful to witness.
Ultimately the night itself was amazing. I don’t want any negativity anyone might read in this to overshadow that. Like I said, best dance ever by a long mile. The kind of thing I’ll never see again probably, or not for a while. History in the making, and I don’t think that even with all the preparation and care that obviously went into it anyone could have predicted how the clash between MHZ and DMZ would turn out or just how symbolic the night would become of which sound was today the ‘biggest’.
4 generations of bass culture, and one clear winner. If it hadn’t been a clash then it would have just been a poor showing on MHZ’s part, but it was a clash and like the football games I remember as a kid (Mexico 86 crew stand up) that meant 4 of the best of the best, and so contesting is part of the game. Just like when a certain Argentinian frontman stole the victory back in 86. End of.
I agree with Pokes when he said ‘I want to see this again next year’, though I’d rather wait another 5 or 10 years. You got to give those who got buried time to fix up their game after all.
EDIT: RBMA have posted an edit of the night, and it looks amazing. I really hope they do a DVD of this, it so deserves it (as long as you got the subs to go with the home entertainment system). Without putting fuel back on the dormant fire, imho the ending says it all.
absolutely on point review
felt like the whole thing was a bit biased towards Metalheadz from the start though!
Caspa – wtf?! – dunno why they had to rope him in to it, shows how much confidence Goldie has in his label these days
Poax was immense – and Chickaboo too – and they showed the other MCs how a clash should be done
btw – it was Storm (not Kemistry RIP) – who was repping Headz
great night overall although a slight shame that it took massive corporate involvement for something as momentous as this to be done – would be great to see the next culture clash without sugary taurine drinks branding evrywhere
thanks. Feel exactly the same re. brand involvement, but these are the days we live in I guess. Still the music was the winner which is the main thing.
As for the Kemistry hick up. FUCK ME. I should hang my head in shame, editing now.
You must of been really really drunk! Goldie dropped pulp fiction and you though Kemi RIP was still alive. Do your homework !
We bring the vibes!
Chris
Dude I was drunk. I was covered in sweat. I was on the floor in between speakers for 5 hours. MHZ got owned. no amount of picking at my hungover mistakes will change that. I got love, a lot of love, for MHZ. But nahhh. There’s grace in defeat. That’s a standard of any form of battle. You guys didn’t show any I’m sorry. Still like I said, the night was pure vibes. Best thing I’ve been to in times. Now we can all continue to argue about this like some schoolkids or behave like adults. Considering how you guys comported yourselves last night, it’d be nice if you showed some grace, considering you’ve ‘won’.
I think this just proves you review wrong!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2XriA9HPo
you are not trying to argue me with mobile youtube videos surely? look I was one of the ‘judges’ yeah. I am entitled to my opinion, and like I said no amount of childish picking at my so called ‘lack of knowledge’, will change what I think. My review is fair and I put my bias on the table first things first. I’ve worked for ATM for 8 years running, im the only dude that hasnt left. I have seen dnb go a way I didn’t want it to. I’ve had been with other big names. I don’t care. I love the music. I always will love the music that has made you what you are today. But last night you got buried. And that is my last word on it. Much love to you and the MHZ family, but I’m sorry this one head won’t change his mind. Let’s do it again but this time let’s bring some real systems to the party as well.
Lo
what a load of RASSSS! metalheadz got served. grace in defeat u dibby soundbwoys!!! TIN PAN METALHEADZ SOUND.
That should have read ‘ive had beef with other big names in dnb’. sorry. hungover steez
Great review. I couldn’t attend yesterday but it sounds like a great night (despite some negative aspects
)
cheers for the review L.
my opinion DMZ owned it. they had the biggest, clearest, purest sound by a long way. their sound filled the room.
MHZ had a 10 min bit where the records or CDs were skipping… not once, not twice but like 3 or 4 times!! come on! seriously. you don’t win a clash with that kind of display, not to mention the boos.. man.. weak. and nirvana? nah nah.
Soul2Soul were the most entertaining, best MC, best to dance to. what killed it for me was Jazzie B not allowing ‘back to life’ to drop after the vocal intro.. come on!
Trojan seemed a little slow, not heavyweight enough to compete, but entertaining for sure.
so yeah, DMZ did get robbed. bring on more of these.. I agree one of the proper dub systems should have been in there to give DMZ some competition on the earth shaking front.
Big up Yesh! good to see you. Saw you again during Trojan’s last round then lost you and had to shoot.
Laurent its called being blinkered.
What pisses you and all your fans off is the fact you got buried by a dnb crew. The crowd were going mental when Metalheadz were on, its was pure electric vibes. Yes we didn’t have the best sound and the vinyl was jumping all over the place. But we made up for it in vibes and the atmosphere we created. This was a culture clash and we won! But you wouldn’t find us bitching if we hadn’t, because we respected the night and the other crews.
Chris, as i said no disrespect but you are going to have to come with better arguments than what you have so far. I couldn’t care less if DMZ or Trojan or Soul II Soul had been buried by a calypso/carnival system. Which part of I’ve been working inside your ‘scene’ for 8 years hasn’t been clear? Which part of the article where I explained the love and enjoyment i’ve taken from discovering the history of your sound hasnt been clear?
You’re entitled to think that your vibes and atmosphere were the best. For real. But as far as i’m concerned it wasn’t. Like i said we can argue this like kids all day long, on some ‘my dad is better than your dad’ tip or we can be adults and agree to disagree. So far though I’ll repeat my first comment all i’m getting from you even now that you’ve won is BS attitude on some ‘we were the best’ tip. You haven’t been bitching but I still havent seen anything online about holding up your hand for the one fuckery your crew did put across when Bailey’s tongue slipped. That was a poor show man, drunk or not. Everyone there knows that. You know that. You won, big up but for me it was a robbery, like others think Maradonna robbed the germans or whoever it was back in the days. Like i said there is grace in defeat, and in victory. And that video you posted, that line about Trojan originating dubstep sounds? like someone else said on twitter today, give me 10, hell even 5 tunes from Trojan that pioneered dubstep. go on.
It was a culture clash, and for me despite the love I have for your label and sound and for jungle/dnd, that culture got buried. Soul II Soul alone had you. Llow DMZ and my bias if it makes you feel better. Jazzie B and MC Chickaboo schooled you in round 2. Thats all there is to it for me. Like i said. No disrespect as your crew put it. To the contrary much much love. This was a soundclash so arguing is as much part of it as the 5h i spent sweating my nuts off and shouting and vibing.
Lo
Big up laurent – great review. Really enjoyed it.
DMZ should have blatantly won. Big respect to MHZ but firstly you were booed and secondly you ended your set with Skream’s remix of La Roux?!?!!?
How can you come to a sound clash boasting ‘your’ sound and end with a Dubstep tune? So many Goldie tunes you could have finished with. That is what killed it for me. Extremely disappointed to say the least.
I don’t need to argue, the crowd voted and they made us the winners. I wouldn’t of cared if we hadn’t, but that’s my point. It was about being part of something, that felt truly special. I just think this opinion of yours is bollox and written in a bitter way, which isn’t in keeping with the spirit of the night.
Yes somethings got out of hand i.e. Bailey & the DMZ mc’s comments about the other sound systems. But other than that, it was a great event!
http://www.metalheadz.co.uk/Drum-and-bass-news/Metalheadz%20Take%20The%20Crown
Chris, like i said i’m happy to agree to disagree – that is in keeping with the spirit of the night. Shame you feel my opinion is bitter but really I’ve made my case a few times over while I’m still waiting for yours beyond the obvious we won. I was part of the crowd, i was one 1000th and I’m sure another few hundreths share my tip so all good.
You’re totally right when you talk about being a part of something truly special and it being a great event. If you re-read my piece that’s the first thing I said.
Anyways like I said bless. Look fwd to seeing the proper footage and I guess we leave until the next clash.
Lo
It was a great night all round…The crowd selected the winners…nuff said come back next year! Game over.
Hi i’m charlie aka Orlando. Laurent, man, you’re first in the blogosphere to get your review across, but mate it don’t make pretty reading honestly. Especially for somebody who loves a diversity of bass culture such as myself. Some of what you say appears to be biased, lol, just a tad! I mean, if you were next to the DMZ rig, sure you would have heard lots of booing after Headz’s third set for example. But the loudness of the crowd didn’t go that far back from the rig during DMZ’s sets in general, and I thought easily their best stuff was when they stuck to the older DMZ tunes, especially the first half dozen releases on DMZ, during which that quietness took on a deeper, dubbier atmosphere and you could tell that all crew in the house were feeling it. When DMZ played bangers, they looked a bit scrappy doo (“let me at him!”), and they stuck far too rigidly to a narrow range of tempo, structure and harmonic progression CONSIDERING IT WAS A SOUNDLCASH, and most of all, the hooks were of similar timbres. Their jungle selection was interesting but very poorly mixed and they were showed up because the second track was so completing missing an MC who could chat on that riddim.
But that’s DMZ for you, and then i kind of feel that they’ve dropped the ball a bit as the dubstep scene has become rather diverse and interacted with the mainstream. DMZ are legendary for 2005-2007, always will be. Therefore to view Headz as a past crew that doesn’t exist now just shows that you don’t know. Every DMZ follower in the house yesterday was doing their “i was at metalheadz back in the day” line but headz is more than just sunday nights at the Blue Note, it’s connected to the rest of the scene. They didn’t stop putting parties on when they left Dingwalls! And yes, Andy C has played at Metalheadz more than a few times during the last ten years of Metalheadz history.
At this point, i feel like i’m arguing with Pokes and not his supporters. Pokes made some funny jokes it’s true, but he also demonstrated his ignorance at several points in the night, particularly his assumption that Headz are an old crew who were coming out of retirement for the clash as — no disrespect intended — Soul II Soul obviously were. I’m not going to talk about Trojan, they looked out of place and they did their thing and it seemed somewhat irrelevant frankly to me, but that’s just me, anyhow. Worst of all was Pokes’ jibe about Headz playing Jungle Hits volume 1. “Can you feel it?” by School of Hard Knocks, sure that’s all over the compilations, you never even heard it before. Even classics like “Spirits in the jungle” on Whitehouse, well it’s not exactly an anthem. The most famous oldskool jungle tracks played by Headz were maybe Dark Stranger (origin unknown remix) and The Licence. Which frankly is fair game at the soundclash and got great response from all sections of the audience.
Headz won because they covered a diversity of style, from upbeat to deeper grooves, MCs tracks and instrumentals, crowd pleasing surprises (Smells like teen spirit, which was massive!) and sample sources (Mademoiselle by Foxy) and some kicking oldskool (Total Confusion, nice one! And Voodoo Ray, which though really famous was actually a very very very challenging selection at that moment in time, and pushing the crowd to listen keenly). Lots of different tempo, texture, and not one kind of hook (vocals, dubstep distorted mid bass, guitar riffs, rave techno stabs, i could go on and on…)
So Pokes was talking about Dubplates. This from a label with how many releases? I mean, honestly, if Headz had just played headz tunes they’d have still won. And they only had to play a few…
Headz proved that they’re not gone away by playing only a few tunes from the supposed glory days of 94-97, avoiding the deeper sunday side of tings like Scott’s Unofficial Ghost or Ed Rush’s The Raven (amazing as they are), and instead showing off the diversity of headz, from Pulp Fiction to John B’s Up all Night, and demonstrating a connectedness with other scenes through tunes from across 20 years of jungle culture in this country. Plus Headz had Andy C, who was by far the most technical DJ of the night, playing amazing teases and so on… but did you notice that he didn’t strictly play a RAM style, dropping a darker streak and making that connection with GQ on the mic that reminded me of AWOL. There was a lot of interconnected ness in the scene back then, too, think of Randall as AWOL’s resident longside GQ and you are thinking of the man who taught Storm and Goldie to mix. I agree it’s a shame they had Caspa, it was a good idea to ask him to show the diversity within dubstep playing a far more instrumental side of things than DMZ, which fits with the headz philosophy. The shame of it is, he’s not so great really at mixing, just a kid compared to DJs like Storm, trying a bit too hard on the up faders and generally quite loose in the blend. And you can bash Goldie all you like for not being as good as Andy C at mixing, but he’s done amazing sets (for example the easily available Radio One Essential Mix from 96, if you need to start somewhere) and only occasionally clangs it, for which he has a rather unjustified reputation. If anyone clanged it last night for headz, sure it was Caspa. But at least he tried some interesting mixes. Mala and Coki were tight but you know they only have a few moves on the decks and can’t really tease and cut and fade like the Drum n Bass DJs.
Interestingly headz made no excuses about their skipping needles, just got on with it, even though it must have been a technical nightmare. That’s the way they fight.
The only point in the night when there was a significant negative reaction to headz from anywhere other than the DMZ “corner” (it’s a round room but nevermind…) was after Bailey called Pokes a “Pu**y Hole”. Personally i didn’t think that was a smart move by Bailey but i don’t see it as an illegitimate move in a soundclash to play psychologically. To entertain the notion that this particular comment was an “insult” whereas Pokes’ comments were “jokes” is, at best, guess work. We can’t know exactly what people are thinking. But if you saw how the headz crew reacted to Pokes’ taking offence, they look genuinely surprised and a bit upset cos after all of Pokes’ big talk, you’d have thought he could take a joke.
It’s bollocks to say that everyone thought headz looked the cringe at that point, some of the crowd saw it that way, but a lot of the older crew (not just dem junglist) looked at the floor a bit, feeling a bit bad for poor pokes, who’d set himself up for a fall, because he didn’t know that Bailey was playing the dozens with him. When you see a man take a blow below the belt then walk out of the ring, it only makes it more of a shame because (a) he shouldn’t have been standing there in the first place to take the hit and (b) he should have fought back properly and stood his ground, instead of shaking his head like he’s conceding defeat. From where i stood, it looked like DMZ were looking for an excuse at that moment. Trying to win crowd sympathy for being bullied at a soundclash…. not the way to play.
But for the record, yes i thought what Bailey said was (a) not really that nice and (b) wholly unecessary. Slip of the tongue, heat of the battle, not a big deal really and the headz MCs did well to get everyone back to the music.
None of this has anything to do with the battle. Headz won it because they got the biggest cheers all night. You maybe were standing right next to the DMZ rig, Laurent?
The DMZ corner wasn’t especially open minded to the rest of it. That’s why they booed the other team. The (large number of) people who didn’t cheer DMZ didn’t boo them, doesn’t mean they thought they were good, does it?
Sorry for you that Metalheadz didn’t play the game you thought they’d play — what did you expect? Sunday sessions style at a soundclash, nah… I felt headz struck a decent balance between working the crowd by using the system to its fullest and reprasenting their still classic style, and Goldie clowning on stage was just as infuriating and entertaining was just a part of that too! Pokes, i felt, let DMZ down.
One ting tho…. the DMZ sound was the heaviest bass. Agreed. Not the loudest though, Soul II Soul were practically cheating with their vast Funktion One rig, really loud and not that “weighty”, it’s bass was still more visceral than DMZ. Still I preferred DMZ’s bass.
But Headz played the best tunes and they won fair and square. The DMZ supporters may say otherwise, but it is hard to hear the relative noise for each system if you’re in one place all night, which i’m guessing you were.
And since when did Booing have anything to do with a soundclash? Bad losers, DMZ, imo…
Who the fuck does this MHZ label manager think he is? all the hype is saying DMZ were robbed, and there was nothing bitter about this article at all, infact it was written as respectfully as it could have been. no system should ever win a clash after being boo’ed, thats low as hell. sending a mobile phone vid from youtube is just stupid. dont know how you can be so fucking ignorant as to suggest that people were pissed about being beaten by a dnb crew, the scene has much respect for you…well not sure if that will be quite as intact after all the shit from this clash.
ahh well, at least they might bring in some bigger systems next time, give DMZ some real competition, blow MHZ out the water!
Out. AndrewBlackie
right quick ting cos im dead out and need sleep.
@chef – word. despite any opinions, bitterness whatever it was first and foremost a great fucking night, and that’s what it should be remembered as.
@orlando – props for taking the time to write such a lenghty answer, i would reply but tbh any answers are already in my review or previous comments. plus im kinda through arguing this ad nauseam now. it’s been fun because its the day after nad its part of the whole thing for me, but let’s just all move on, we’re adults, we all have our opinions. no offence to you personally mate, you’ve made a v. good case in point for MHZ, props
@andrew – thanks for the comment but please don’t flame this. it’s not about any negative vibe like i said in the original review, despite any ones opinions and passions.
one last thing – one man’s bitterness is another’s passion.
Out.
was lucky to get free tickets to go to last night’s event, which i enjoyed despite the lack of sleep afterwards. nice to see a review here too (as i missed some of round 1 & the warm-up), from a blog whose musical writing i follow.
for me, trojan felt a little out of place amongst the others, but they did have nice vibes though. soul 2 soul’s mc was the best of the night and seemed to reflect the energy of the crowd the best too. poke’s did have his usual killer stuff. shame roots manuva wasn’t there. soul 2 soul probably for me had the best sound in the sense of the variety of stuff they had (maybe i’ve just had too much dubstep recently), though dmz did go deep as usual, even if i was disappointed to hear richie spice twice (i know one was the cokie refix,but still). was puzzled why caspa was on the lineup, and still am as to why he was roped in by metalheadz. a nirvana appearance also seemed odd, as was the fact i didn’t see goldie play (or maybe i missed it?). enjoyable all the same.
hope i’ll see some video and photographic footage from the event too. that would be nice
Cool Andrew – I’m not saying anyone other than the writer was bitter. Anyway enough of this subject its 24 hours after the dance and we’ve moved on. I just hope we get a round 2 next year!
Big up Laurent!
Fair enough :-)
Yeah, we could probably argue all night about this… and no doubt everyone got different opinions, respect due to all the ravers and to all the crews for representing to the fullest. And big respect due to you Laurent for not rising to my passionate response in a negative fashion, everyone got a right to disagree peacefully and every man do his ting a little way different, sorry if i came across a bit full on, but that’s cos the night got me so hyped!
What i forgot to say was that was one of my best nights out in 10 years. I too thought it was historic. Let’s hope we can look back on this event as the first of many soundclash and sound meetups across likeminded bass culture, cos tbh i don’t think we get together enough across different styles of riddim, when we got so much in common and it’s rare person who *only* listens to oldskool 70s dub OR minimal dubstep OR mid 90s intelligent jungle or whatever, i think a lot of ravers like a bit of a mix up and the soundclash format is overdue a come back, the way i see tings…
I can’t believe we not be doing this every week in London! When you go abroad and you find a little scene it’s exciting for sure but often quite small… but here we can get 4 fine and legendary sounds together (i won’t accept the argument that they’re not “proper” system after wednesday) and really push things. I’m tired of people viewing the heyday of sound system as some distant moment in time round Jamaica way, when it’s evident that dub culture has been continually developed overseas since the 1970s, no where more so than in the UK, particularly from 89 onwards… So we might have had a odd bad year (i’m not going to argue about which ones they were, lol!) but basically we’re very fortunate to have sound system culture inna year 2010 style right on our dub step. Give thanks.
Respect. Orlando Raver…
Thanks Orlando. Fully agree about the importance of something like this in the year 2010 despite any arguments about validity or endorsement or anything like that. It was first and foremost a really great and symbolic/historic event imho.
bless
Lo
For those who weren’t there, make up your own mind with all rounds available online at RBMA radio http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/2426 check the related shows under the description. that link is for the final round.
To all of you who have never been to the original soundclash’s in the seventies and eighties with sounds like Jah Shaka, Sofarno B, Sir Coxsone etc; the way Pokes MC’d on the night and the things he said was exactly the way it was done in those day’s, to say that he was disrespectful is crazy!
This is what soundclash is all about not just the music, the MC’s play a big part in it, the way Bailey behaved is unaccepable, because no matter what Pokes said it was in a soundclash context not personal, have any of you listened to the current soundclashes involving David Rodigan? You need to, then you will understand what a soundclash is all about!
By the way I think DMZ won, MHZ did not deserve to win, they were booed on the night and I have never been to a soundclash where a sound system has been booed but were given the crown!
Next time they should have elimintion rounds and have just 2 sounds in the final!
Thanks for the comment. I too thought there should have been some elimination system, leave the best 2 to fight it out. maybe next time if someone from RBMA is reading this.
VALVE – They would have destroyed everybody, I cant wait till next time…!
Aba Shanti or Studio One should have replaced Trojan in my opinion. Not as big commercially obviously, but their systems would have outgunned most of what I heard that night. Still an amazing night and one I’ll never forget!!! Peace to everyone who made it happen!!
LOL.. a bit late with a reply for this but here goes anyway..
This argument goes deep and i’ll try and avoid the minefield of politics involved.
In my humble opinion different sounds were good at different things on the nite and the reason Metalheadz won is because they moved the crowd more than any other sound. it’s that simple. No need to make it complicated or get it twisted.
There sound is more versatile, the sound of drum and bass is more versatile and dynamic. Yes Dmz had a better sound system but there beats were a bit one dimensional.
The crowd voted and more people made more noise for Metalheadz.
I tried to be diplomatic with my response to all this hatred on here but at the end of the day you can’t test drum and bass!
it was an epic nite! many people said the best nite they have witnessed for some time.
big up all who made it possible!
thanks everyone for the comments. good to see that really everyone just had an amazing night despite anything else. Really hope there’s another one on a similar scale soon.
(Belated) thanks for the write up Laurent – I read it the day after and really regretted going
The comments are entertaining also. People still have huge rows about clashes from the eighties, so this all very much “part of the tradition” also!
er… “not going” that is!
thanks John! glad to hear the ‘arguing’ bit is as much a part of the tradition as the energy and jokes on display that night. And btw big up on your work with woofah and others, been a fan for a while
I got a +1 down to the clash thing, and yeah, it was a lot of fun. However I’ve been wanting to get something of my chest (glad you brought it up!):
Firstly, the whole Red Bull Music Academy thing sticks in my throat – I hate advertising at the best of time, and the acts did well over the night to shake off the corporate gig atmosphere that red bull’s association brought with it. It wasn’t easy to shake mind. All these young media types trying to film everyone for their promo material (it was swarming with them), a huge camera swinging around on a massive crane throughout – f that. I dont want to be in a red bull commercial thanks.
Yeah, the daily note things are good etc. but I cant bare to look at them, same way i dont watch ads on tv(turn the volume down/change the channel). Im puritanical I guess, but for me the motivation for a night to be put on is a big part of it, same is true for a piece of writing. Its just the next step of companies trying to disguise their advertising as social engagement. Personally it makes me queasy.
Second off: the clash was fun, the banter was fun, the selection was great, but ultimately competition and music just don’t mix in my book. Andy C for metalheadz absolutely smashed it – super fast technical djing, soundclash winning business. But so what? For me music is about depth and journey – in fact it’s the whole This Tune Is the Biggest Tune culture that’s left DnB in a state where there’s no depth or subtlety left. I think dubstep is in danger of going the same way. Your only as Big as your last Big tune.. yawn.
One-off clashes like this are entertaining, but personally i’d rather see less competition and more risk taking amongst djs, and less emphasis on winners and losers.
Okay, I feel better now! Thanks
Thanks Mikus, you some good/interesting point. I’ve no time to reply at the mo tho but thanks for the food for thought.
Hey Lo good write up ( correct you are pretty biased LOL)
interestingly enough there is also a good summary on Soul 2 soul’s site:
http://www.soul2soul.co.uk/news/view/21
It touches briefly on the MHZ/DMZ clash and is worth a read.
Also, sorry for the late response, Japan crew behind the times!
Shannon! long time brother. thanks for the S2S link gonna peep it now. bless!
keep this simple – branding is here to stay and has been around since day dot
like most things in life it’s how it’s exectued.
Redbull music academy completly smashed it, with 30+ events in4 weeks, plus the talks bringing so many people to the table, celebrating London/Uk kbass culture with substance and history!
just like this blog LO-LA is top notch, balanced and well thought
big up RBMA and LO-LA
Thanks for the compliment!
No worries mate, although after I posted that link I realised that it was originally taken from the RBMA site – doh!
rumours of a rematch bubbling (this time, without the fizzy pop!)
if this is true, then i hope Headz keep the REAL people involved – this could be RAW