HoldBox55 weekender

Relax Yourself

Ramadanman - Humber (Apple Pips Recordings)

gorgeous tune, heavy video.... B I G U P the Ramadanman

cop it NOW at Sounds Of The Universe

check Ramadanman on Myspace

Day Three - Saturday daytime @ WF Sete

Another beautiful day in Sete, so decided to walk over to ACD beach today.... ended up taking well over an hour, but the sun was blazing, and the walk is along was the coast so all good. Excited to catch the bPm's set this afternoon at the beach, know he has the killer selections, man's ready to bogle!

When I got the beach, Aline & Da Vince were in the mix - really nice set, dropped a very sneaky downtempo house remix of Busta Rhymes & Missy Elliot's Touch It, loved that one, need to find it... anyone?!

Must have been around 5:30 when the bPm stepped up - no need to tell you he smashed it as always! Nice mixed bag from the darkness, had me and many others grooving from the get go. Highlights for me were Suges' We Belong To The Night, and Heatwave's Boogie Nights (a bit of a bPm signature!?)... yeah, loving the selections, hardest I've got down so far....

So after the ACD party, I walked to the Theatre De La Mer - once again, stunning backdrop, probably the most gorgeous music venue i have had the pleasure of being at.... nice food backstage too! oysters, great salads, fresh bread, pasta, couscous, rose wine.... Sophie dem arrived today - with the exception of Chif (missed you man), the crew was now complete

First of the two live music acts scheduled for tonight was Mocky - didn't know much about Mocky apart from what it said in the programme, but took a seat midway up, and tuned in. If asked to categorise the sound of Mocky, I'd have to say hip-hop / experimental / with a touch of folk?! What i loved about his set was the fantastic blend of instruments used for the performance - a sumptuous pallette of sounds, that compliment each other so well, it gives you a sound on the right side of sickly sweet - Upright Piano & Fender Rhodes (mk1 i think?), Flute & Vox, Viola, Upright Bass & Percussion (looked like Giovanni Congas...), and Drums (lovely 18" bass drum) & Vox... yeah, a perfect sonic to the visual backdrop.

After Mocky was the band I'd come to see - the wonderful Jimi Tenor live - rude, rude, RUDE!! A very close call against Soil & "Pimp" Sessions for the top show!? Three piece brass with Jimi going between keyboards and sax... killer bass player Patrick Frankowski with the most beautiful, warm sound.... Drummer Ekow Alabi Savage from Ghana, & percussionist Akinola Famson from Lagos, Nigeria - KABU KABU IN THE HOUSE, afrobeat, K I L L E R grooves, man these guys can play!

The floor in front of the stage quickly filled up, great energy, definate good times vibes, loved it. Special shout to the rhythm section on this one for playing the groove C O L D A S I C E !!! Highlight was the afrobeat laced Global Party from Jimi's latest release 4th Dimension. A really cool bunch of cats, had a long nater with the Eko (the drummer) backstage after the show, real real cool.

Again, as after the Soil & "Pimp" Sessions, I could have gone home a happy man, but there was Jazzanova followed by Laurent Garnier to come. I'd heard backstage that there were a few problems - Laurents gear didn't turn up, nor did Alex's records - apparently Alex was sat in his hotel frantically burning CD's trying to put his set together, whilst a mad scramble around Sete for wires for Laurent ensued....

LINKS

who is the bPm?
Suges on myspace
Chif Music
Mocky
Jimi Tenor
Kabu Kabu
Ekow Savage
Akinola Famson

Video from Friday @ Worldwide Sete 2009

Theo Parish and Diplo @ Phare Du Mole, Sete

First night of Worldwide last night, so i'm bit fuzzy today... walked down there with The bPm, and Naomi, about half hour from the hotel... beautiful venue right by the sea, backstage up by the lighthouse... real cool.

On to the tunes, on to Mr. Theo Parish - some gorgeous music, Detroit in the house! Just a shame that the sound wasn't tumping as hard as is should have (man bought his own mixer, but didn't get to sound check it...). But some heavy tunes, nice to hear a 2 hour set played off vinyl... really great energy from Theo, deep stuff man, feeling it!!

After the Parish came Diplo.... if I'm being honest, i don't know how hard i was feeling his set? Don't get me wrong, there were a few killer tunes, but overall, wasn't really FEELING it if you know what i mean. Whole set played off Serato too.... hmmmm!??!?

But yeah, a nice little opener, nothing too mad, setting the tone for the rest of the weekend. Don't think i'll be saying the same about tonight - Dorian Concept, Martyn, and Carl Craig - for me, it's all about Martyn right now, loving his sound... Just hoping there's not another four in the morning walk home and realising The motherf*cking bPm had lost the hotel key moment....

Nuits Sonores // Carte Blanche // Worldwide // 2009

Recently went with the bPm out to Lyon for an 8 hour Nuits Sonore session at le Piscine du Rhone alongside Gilles Peterson, Phil Asher, Ashley Beedle, Motet, and Shea Soul...

video and music by neel d // the bPm for Hold Box Flat

download a sneaky half hour mix from Nuits Sonores by the bPm here

the bPm // Nuits Sonore 2009 // Tracklisting

Francesco Trsitiano - The Melody (C2 beatless edit)

Floating Points (feat. Fatima) - Peroration

King Midas Sound - I-Dub

Digital Mystikz - Anti War Dub

Calibre - Stolen Shadows

King Tubby & The Aggravators - African Roots (dub)