Roots, Revelation, and a Traktor trip down the country

A blog written before midnight! That'll be a first. Juggling a few things today including a logo redesign for Trenchtown and some stuff for the new website. Also it's Wednesday which means a midweek gig in Doyles in Dublin tonight. Nice spot, you'll have to come...

Right now though, to help me focus, I'm playing a few tracks Shimmy has brought to the table for a session we're going to be playing this coming August bank holiday weekend in Cork, which I did say I'd tell you about today, but the tunes are rockin', so not helping with the focusing. Better that I turn the music off for a few minutes...grrr

Reggae one offs are great. Three day sessions are even better. Enter the "Irieland Roots & Reggae Festival" which is taking place in Cork City  on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of August. Yes I, Irie Ireland are leaving babylon for the weekend! This massive event has been put together by the (very) good people of Revelation Sound (via Revelation Promotions), and the hosting venue, The Pavillion. The line-up is stunning, and while I'm reading it here again I realise that I've probably got another blog post here, purely profiling the artists. Dis a BIG sound ting Massive... Jah Shaka, Iration Steppas, Alpha & Omega...and a lot of local crews represented too, from the wholesome homeboys Revelation Sound in command, to the mighty Rootical, the dancehall champions Worries Outernational, and the legendary Firehouse Skand Soundsystem. Vocal talent will flow, with Fyahred, Ras Tinny and Cian Finn being three deserving special mention. Sunday sees an all day Jamdown (we fit in there somewhere as far as I know), with a soundclash that night to wrap up the weekend in top rankin' fashion. Dance a run red!


*now for the technical bit*

Irie Style

We've been reviewing our set up for the next few shows, and are going to run this out in Cork for the first time live. Basically we both run through the same instance of Traktor, with Shimmy taking Decks 1&2 and me operating 3&4. We'll use a Native Instruments Kontrol S2 and there'll be extended control of loops/FX units via a Kontrol X1, and an F1 will run Decks 3&4 as remix decks. We're working a little live dubbing into the show, so the F1's come in very handy, allowing you to perform "APC style". Also, We've been using a VST Dubsiren for the last year, and my plan this week is to MIDI map an F1 to run the siren when flipped into MIDI mode. It all makes for a nice, tidy set-up that only requires one laptop. Which is where the fun starts. Shimmy has a bright pink laptop. Bright pink lads.

Irie Ireland alongside Revelation Sound

As I've said, Revelation are a great crew, and this year will be bringing their beautiful Sound and roots Rastafari vibe to Electric Picnic where they will host the Jungle Area (not a jungle style music programme!) at Trenchtown. We were lucky enough to work with them at Festival Of The Fires last year and a couple of times as an act at Electric Picnic, so really looking forward to getting down and hanging with them on their own turf. The only downside may be that Shimmy (originally from Cork herself) will have a lapse of accent withing the first day, I will lose my translator, understand nothing anybody is saying, and probably end up being nicknamed "Jah Langer" for the weekend. ;-P

Just as I finish here, I see a message from Emma, aka Fyahred, aka the talented and super-efficient matriarch and undisputed lioness of the Revelation Pride. The news is that a nice little Youtube promo for the weekender has just been delivered hot from D.I. Studios, courtesy of Mr. Dan "Taliras" Rogers. Just as well I didn't write today's blog TOO early, otherwise I'd have missed that...

Irie!