More Fyah! Ras Tinny sending blessings - Trenchtown, Electric Picnic - Production Blog

MC Ras Tinny says "link"...



Fronting up on the mic for Alpha Steppa at the Fort Stage soundclash at Outlook Festival, Croatia, on Thursday night is quite a warm up for Ras Tinny! He'll be jumping into a car straight from stage and making a four hour dash to Venice, Italy to catch a plane back to Ireland where the Surinamese MC is set to appear on Trenchtown's Yard stage with Dub Investigation. This giant of the local scene is starting to stretch his considerably long legs and make some outernational moves, with a UNOD 2014 appearance on the cards. On Saturday night you'll catch Tinny again at The Yard with World Bass Culture's ManG Killamanselecter, and I'm sure countless other times, including with the bredren at Revelation Sound. Busiest man around right now...as I've said, he'll be hitting the stage first as part of the D. I. Crew, so here's an introduction to Dub Investigation, for those not already acquainted with...



Incidentally, I ran into both Lariman and D-Snipe around da town on Monday, and they're hyped about this show...it's gonna be one SERIOUS weekender!! :-)

IRIE!

Weekend line-up for the Trenchtown area, Electric Picnic 2013 - Production Blog

Here's the weekend line-up for the Trenchtown Yard stage, along with the two all-day system session style stages, Kingston 12 with Mr.Whippy and the Jungle, with Revelation Soundsystem. For families, below you will find the child friendly events programme. Stage times to be released shortly! :-)

IRIE

Blackout at Electric Picnic - Blessings and all tings Trenchtown! - Production Blog

Greetings once again! Preparations continue on site, and we are blessed as you can see from the above, as Squigley has produced this work of art to onward beckon migrating festival goers over the bridge, through the woods, and into the One Love Vibrations of Trenchtown... Cheers to BigShow (Da Trenchtown Mafia!) for the constant stream of pics from site, and to Doc and The Cap for the same...the rest of the crew are getting itchy to get on site at this point too... Technical load in has been moved forward to Wednesday, due to logistical practicalities, so there'll be a lot more time to tweak and tinker before Friday.

The Jungle soundsystem shelter, to be inhabited by conscious roots Rastafari warriors Revelation Sound, is being built next, beyond the walls of the yard, among the trees, designed - rather aptly - on an Etheopian Coffee house. At the head of this project is the wonderful craftsman Mr. Christy Collard, well known for his work creating stages and structures for Body & Soul over the years. We are really stoked to have the opportunity to work with Christy, and can't think of a more fitting alignment, with Revelation holding residence there for the whole of the festival weekend.

Returning to things musical, Blackout J.A. has been in touch, with a few words for the Massive...



Back almost six months to the day since his first Irish appearance, Blackout hits the Trenchtown Yers stage at EP on Saturday night.  Since his hugely successful March show at Twisted Pepper in Dublin  with Irish Moss Records, Blackout has been busy, teaming up with reggae, breaks and junglist artists like Dirty Dubsters, Bluntskull and Run Tingz Cru, and slaying all before him.  To celebrate the Jamaican MC's return the Jamaican/Irish lable AYA Productions are releasing "Dancehall Emperor", a version on the AYA/Dirty Dubsters "Summer OF Dub" Riddim as a limited free download to fans and friends of Trenchtown E.P. Grab it while you can! If you miss it you'll be able to pick it up as part of the Summer Of Dub Riddim E.P. (also featuring Sista Quanna and Clinton Sly), due out on AYA later in the Autumn. Just download from the AYA Soundcloud page via the Soundcloud player below...



Trenchtown Saturday night headliners 'Dirty Dubsters' are giving Electric Picnic goers the chance to win signed copies of their album. 1 lucky person will win a limited vinyl edition while 4 more people will be chosen at random to win album on C.D. Visit Irish Moss label page 'Like' and post 'Fire It up' on their wall. Winners will be announced Thursday 29th.

Another post to follow very shortly...;)

IRIE!

Irie Ireland in the mix for Trenchtown E.P.2013

Late post here but seeing as the track is public now I can drop this one on you... ;-)

Yes, We're throwing out this little bootleg to celebrate Irie Ireland hitting Electric Picnic again this year. A tribute both to Bob Marley and to our beloved Trenchtown in the woods....big up all the Trenchtown Crew! We can also announce that Johnny Pluse (Bulabeats Records) will be joining Irie Ireland as a special guest for the Sunday night slot, as well as MC Dewe and you never know who else... ;) Check in with us on Facebook for futher tings and all...

Love & Bless  from Aunty Shimmy & Carlos Irie, RASpect to Mr. Marley and to The Cap, see you in da lights!

IRIE!

Mr.Whippy arrives at Trenchtown, E.P. 2013 - Production Blog

Mr.Whippy

Mr. Whippy has moved into Trenchtown today, pulling into his new spot at Trenchtown's Kingston 12 Cafe, where he plans to chill the minds of the massive with his island life discotheque "Club Tropicana". This is Trenchtown's "Night Club"...a killer crew of selectors and live jamming, as the weekend goes off on the covered dancefloor. Here's all the info and ting for all those fans of Mr.Whippy's trademark top rankin' world-of-grooves musical experiences. For the ice-cream sound virgins, you should check out the vibes AT LEAST once over the weekend, and no, there is no actual ice cream in the van, just dj's (which in my opinion is cool enough as it is). Best DJ Box on the road by miles!

Joining Mr Whippy each night on board his lovable 1970's Ice-Cream-Van-turned-DJ-booth, will be long-time Whippy collaborators, Dublin party DJ Lex Woo and Paris's Superfly Records main-man Manu Boubli, along with long-time musicial and record production collaborators Professor Toner, Kunle and 'aul Harri, and exotic tropical dancers, the Tropicana Coconuts.

Friday: Mr Whippy Soundsystem featuring Lex Woo and Mr Whippy flexing their considerable joint vinyl muscle over a 6-hr pan-african musical journey, a seamless sonic adventure from the Carribean to Brazil to Columbia to West Africa and back to the Tropical Discotheque spiced up with Saxophone solos from Dublin afrobeat pioneer Kunle and exotic dance-moves from the Tropicana Coconuts.

Saturday: Mr Whippy Soundsystem featuring Manu Boubli and Mr Whippy with guest selections from Professor Toner. Back in the 00's, Mr Whippy and Professor Toner brought Fela Kuti's drummer and co-creator of afrobeat, Tony Allen, to play his first Irish show. Tony was living low-key in Paris at the time and was rediscovered by club promoter and record store owner, Manu Boubli; the man who brought afrobeat back to the global dancefloor's attention ever since, re-launching Tony Allen's recording career, and with his own consistently excellent compilation LPs and legendary DJ-sessions. Manu's Superfly Recordstore in Paris is recognised by top-respected worldwide DJs as one of the last resorts for rare, original, funky african vinyl: - Quantic and Gilles Peterson go to Manu when they want to find freshly rediscovered and mind-blowing tropical records for their playlists that no-one else has heard of yet!! This is a SERIOUS Trenchtown treat tonight to have Manu Boubli select from his vast knowledge and record collection of music of the African diaspora - at a special Club Tropicana Trenchtown party with his old pals Mr Whippy and Professor Toner on board the Mr Whippy Soundsystem.

Sunday: Mr Whippy Soundsystem all-star show featuring Manu Boubli, Lex Woo, Professor Toner and Mr Whippy with special guest MCs and musicians joining the jam, including afro-drummer 'aul Harri accentuating the party riddims with live percussion overdubs, Kunle on sax, and representing Drogheda's External Sounds crew, guest selections with Emmylou and Andrew K, with dancefloor inspiration from the Tropicana Coconuts. Let these vinyl record collectors take you by the hand, and welcome you to dancefloor wonderland on a Club Tropicana sunset cruise with music from sun-drenched places; tropical-disco; original afro-beat; carribean ragga-muffin biznezz ...an' Ting!


Catch you there, under the neon palm trees.... IRIE!

Stage goes up at Trenchtown, Electric Picnic - Production Blog

Wall and Stage construction. Photo - Doc

The stage is up people! This will be where you can catch most of the live action at Trenchtown over the weekend. As you can see from the pic work is well under way, and the walls are about to go up around the Yard, all the better to build the heat and fyah inside...

Megahertz Audio will be the PA supplier for 2013, with lighting also from Megahertz and from LiteFX, who are the ambient lighting guys for the Trenchtown area, and no strangers to the woods at E.P.

Across The Yard...View from stage position. Photo - BigShow

Check back for more on the Trenchtown build as it happens, and words from the artists as they send their shout outs to the Electric Picnic Massive!!

IRIE!

Breaking New Ground at Trenchtown E.P. - Production Blog

Everybody is asking what's going on, and I've obviously been too busy to blog (again), so DJ Carlos is going to have to stand aside a bit for the next week and a half, because this is where you'll get the scoop on the preparations for Trenchtown, in the run up to Electric Picnic 2013. For festival goers, it'll give you a little taste of the treats in store, and for artists, you'll get to meet the crew and see how everything is shaping up as we roll out the green carpet for your arrival. I'll be blogging my own journey to the festival as area production manager, as well as the Irie Ireland build up, and all the buzz from the performers as the biggest gig of the year rolls around again.

Yes, it's almost time to load the wagons and hit the road to Stradbally Estate again, as Trenchtown gets ready to open it's gates for the fifth year. The site crew moved in and started the build today, by Thursday most of the staging and structural work will be completed, and next week will see the artistic team sprinkling ragga-dust across the forest before the technical team arrive to light it all up and make the trees vibrate to the sound of the bass. Then it's showtime! Back in 2009, the show consisted of 2 live acts, and a Dj/MC line-up curated by Worries Outernational, who also brought their whopper Void rig. I remember it well...Myself, Aunty Shimmy and Mark Megahertz arriving drenched in sweat late Friday evening, (with Mark due to leave for New Zealand half way through the weekend), carrying crates of gear from the main gate in the pissing rain. Fun times! We all got a bit of a tingle walking into Trenchtown that Friday, and still get it, as every year the area and vibe grows bigger and brighter. Many of the artists also speak about the unique buzz of Ireland's biggest reggae showcase as being like a feeling of being "home", something even more true for the crew who have grown with the village. So home we go...

Moving in

Five years on Trenchtown 2013 consists of three stages, hosting over 40 acts. Never happy to stand still, Martin Hickey (aka The Captain/aka Our Man In Jamaica/aka Mr. Trenchtown) has stepped things up again, secured more woodlands to fill with sound and dancers, and is busy with the Site Crew working on the new layout. It's one of the very few places at the festival where you can actually find seats and benches and take the weight off and chill for a while, so as part of the expansion we've created an new "Ambient Jungle" area where you can crash out and recharge, while a magical soundtrack from the trees transports you to Jamaica's "Cockpit Country", and distant transmissions bring you through the Island's history, and Ireland's 18th century links to the Caribbean (subliminal education kids...). This area will host the family activities during the afternoon, with drumming workshops, children's yoga and juggling/pyro shows to keep the younger ones entertained. Will Softly will be showing his gentler side, with his Sundance Kids disco, providing the soundtrack. We' are also very very excited to welcome back Revelation Sound, not for a DJ set, but to take up full residence for the weekend, this time with their stacks of Jah Tubby's high power! Hot from a string of Uk and Ireland festival appearances, Revelation will bring vital (and Ital!) roots, dub and concious vibes to the woods, along with a host of friends and special guests. Highlights will include a FOC187 DJ set, and the mighty Worries Outernational, Junior Spesh, Pressure Drop Soundsystem and World Bass Culture Crews.

Moving back in to more familiar territory, The Kingston 12 Cafe will host the Mr.Whippy Soundsystem, complete with 70's ice-cream van, chilling those minds with a tropical musical adventure, as Whippy and his team of crack collector selectors jamming with live musicians from early til late. The village streetscape and wall of fame will take you into the Trenchtown Yard, newly redesigned to ensure a pressure cooker atmosphere, with a second stage which puts the DJs in the crowd, and the live stage packed with much loved home grown heroes, and outernational guest MCs Soom T, Blackout J.A. and Mystro. You's truly will have the honour once again of opening the Yard with a DJ set at 6pm Friday. It's an honour that doubles as a sound check, and this year I'll be trading places halfway through as head noise-boy Mark Megahertz DJs his Picnic Debut. At this point we'll have had a good tweak at the sound, should be completely happy with all things technical, and it's time to unleash the beast upon the massive... More details on the goings on in the yard to come in a later blog!

Last year's cinema is gone from the Kingston12, moving outside the walls of the yard, in the form of a junkyard-drive-in. You'll be chillin' like a villain sitting in the back of the brand new second hand salvaged fleet, with a Jamaican Cinema programme running through the weekend.  The Jerk Shak (where the whole Trenchtown story started) will of course be back serving jerk chicken, rice'n'peas and the all important Blue Mountain coffee.

While on site the work order gets shorter as jobs are ticked off the list, back here in Dublin the pre-production has almost finished, with most of the performer passes having being delivered by The Cap this evening and heading out in the post tomorrow. First issued performer ticket for the whole festival went to Bevin Rimson, our youngest artist,  who'll be performing her public debut this year, having delighted crew, artists and VIPs alike with a wonderful private Sunday afternoon gig with house band T.T. Love in the green area last year. Not every day you get ticket number 000001, so here's the photo for posterity! This year you'll be able to catch Bevin with Count Ozzie's Ragga Children. It's not just pure luck either that the first batch issued ended up on our desk, as Shimmy has taken her military stage management approach to the accreditation game, and along with Artistic Director Donna managed to beat next of kin names and contact details out of all those otherwise engaged in and distracted by artistic pursuits, to get the dreaded paperwork over the line.

I have an assistant PM this year, with Dolly jumping out of her usual role in artist crew to ensure that I get a coffee break this year, woo-hoo! Dolly has spent the last year honing her event skills, and will be forever in my debt for ensuring that 22 hour shifts for Moi are a thing of the past. (Don't worry Dolly, I'm always on call, I got your back!) The main-stage team is back together again, with a few small changes... Dylan is taking on the lead Stage Manager post, and making sure that the no-late-starters record remains unbroken (no pressure). Also handling stage traffic will be the man who made us laugh the most at Body & Soul, the legendary Mr. Glenn Brown.  Front of house sees the ultr-calm Taran back again to join Mr.Megahertz behind the desk, bringing Mozy from the Energy Collective team with him for added calm efficiency. Vetran Picnic-er Emma will hold things down at back of house, handling the weekend's admin with new recruit Amy, and Rory takes to the road again, as the friendly face of artist logistics. A big thanks goes out to all the crew for their work so far through the year, Dawn for all the killer ninja PR moves, and special Big Ups also have to go to the Festival Republic Crew for all their love and support in the run-up...we're feeling it!

Stay tuned for updates as the big weekend draws closer, along with some little treats and teasers from the talent, and if time allows I'll be dropping a special Irie Ireland ting here, with a little of what to expect as we rock out a midnight show on the last day of the festival...BOOM!

IRIE!

Trenchtown News & Crazy Bald Heads

It's very difficult sitting on news until the official press releases go out, but all good waits come to an end and I can now let you know about a few of the new announcements for Trenchtown at Electric Picnic. Here's what all the excitement at Trenchtown HQ has been about...

London's MC Mystro aka Mysdiggi will be joining us to bring a little UK urban flavour to the late nite reggae jamz. I caught him a few years back (2008 I think??) appearing with the Yesking crew at Chai Wallah in the early hours of the morning and what a vibe!! Followers of the local scene will already know that Mystro has collaborated with Dirty Dubsters on their album "Fire It Up" and will make a guest appearance with them, in addition to performing his own show. On Mystro's last visit to Ireland, he caught up with Enda Kenny for a chat about Ireland's current policy on Marijuana, and met with a Garda Community Policing representative to the discuss the startling rise in breakfast roll addiction in Ireland.


Like a small but incredibly powerful detonator, globetrotting Glaswegian Soom T is dropping in from a busy touring schedule to join the Trenchtown Party, having blown away crowds in Dublin during her recent appearances. The list of artists the Scottish MC has recorded with goes on and on, and her Jekyl & Hyde vocal styles will have you soaring sweetly in the skies one moment, then double timing around a parade ground in an instant. Killer skills are Soom's lethal weapons, and she is sure to scorch the trees with word power, rhythm and melody. Driving the riddims for Soom T at Electric Picnic will be Madu's Mr. Upfull, as the pair get set to re-ignite the fyah of recent collaborations.

Mega-Hair-Tzzz

In other Trenchtown related news, Noiseboy Mark "Megahertz" will be losing his trademark lions mane, which he's been cultivating since E.P. '09. Trenchtown's Front Of House Man is shearing his locks today to raise much needed funds for local Dublin girl Robyn, who is in need of expensive life saving cancer treatment, only available to the 8 year old and her family outside Ireland. If you can make it along to The Autobahn, Glasnevin Avenue tonight (details of event HERE) you can witness the grand skinning event and donate in person, or you can visit the WEBSITE set up for donations. There'll be food, drinks and music with the Irie Ireland crew for the night. I guess just about every reggae musician in Ireland should know Mark at this stage, but I'll post a Crazy Bald Head photo at a later stage in case you don't recognise him with his new slick dome! ;)

Irie!

P.S. Just got back from the head shaving, so here is the result :

Well done man, it suits ya... ;) People can continue to donate to the fund by visiting the WEBSITE. Not sure of the figure raised, but it was well over 2K from what I hear. Big ups!

Electric Picnic goes Dirty

Dirty Dubsters come again to burn down the dance with this rework of Freddie McGregor's "Born a Winner". This Electric Picnic special features Blackout J.A. on vocals, and is surely a taste of what to expect when the Dubsters take to the Trenchtown Live Arena Stage, alongside Blackout, with a full live show. Dubbing out with live percussion, brass and scratching, the lads are promising a party storming reggae melt down, with more surprise guests to be announced...

Keep your eye on the Trenchtown Facebook Page for fresh announcements regarding Electric Picnic. I just realised that it's only about two weeks away, which is the equivalent to standing on a rake. Ouch.

Irie!

Beats from the Ford Of The Elderflowers

This is Johnny Pluse, Bitches

Trim. It's name derived from Baile Átha Troim, or "Ford of the Elderflowers". I'm no toponymist (I just googled "Trim" purely out of idle interest), but back in my childhood I'm sure I'd have seen the link, incredibly clearly. Every year we would make two visits to Trim, to visit an elderly great aunt, who, being a nun, lived in the Mercy Convent in Trim, and indeed all I really saw were Elders, going about in quiet institutional fervor. Aunt Kathleen, or Sister Raphael as she was known, took holy orders close to the age of 40, having served as a nurse with the British army, mostly I believe in India. She smoked her last cigarette as she walked in the gates of the convent all those years ago to begin a new life, and became both a nun and a music teacher. I think music, along with my Father's sympathetic distraction techniques, helped get me through those visits, as there was a rather nice piano, and on a few occasions I got to sneak a shot on the chapel's organ. Apart from that, it was pretty dull to a kid, despite the genuine kindness of the nuns to visitors (ie. Jelly & ice-cream/biscuits etc). I never really saw any other part of the town, so my only perception of the place was based on a huge dark stone building populated by mostly elderly ladies, around whom you had to be on your best behavior...

Johhny Pluse vs Trim Castle

Flash forward, and imagine my amusement and delight when I find that Trim today is a hotbed for bangin' beats and thundering bass! No longer is it the bubble of boredom I experienced as a child, but the vibrant home of Bulabeats Records. Yes Massive, County Meath is kickin, and just to prove the fact, Bulabeats Bossman Johnny Pluse

is back with another EP, "The Big Sounds & Noise" (Cat No. BB0056), the promo blurb of which reads (rather honestly!) "This Might be Moombah or Dancehall was not sure...But These Tunes have been Tried and Tested and they go off!!!". The 4 track E.P. is a slight departure from his usual style, with the press release further explaining, "JP has infused some dub Inspired Sounds over Tight Drums and Speaker Shattering Bass to create some original 110Bpm club friendly Floor Smashers". My fave so far (due to my love both of reggae and mid-tempo breaks) is the The Sunshine Skank, which in celebration of the E.P.'s release is available for free download from Soundcloud for a limited time (I imagine). Check it out:

This is in fact the only track I've been able to play out so far, but below you'll find the complete E.P. preview, and you can go get it from JUNO on Monday 12th August. While you're over there getting "The Big Sounds & Noise" you can check out Mr. Pluse's impressive discography, along with previous Bulabeats releases, including all that tasty Nu-/Ghetto/Bass Funk (whatever-ya-call-it) from the very talented Dusty Tonez. Let me know how you get on, or better still, let Johnny know! You'll catch him on Facebook, or curating the Bulabreakdown blog.

That's all for today, gotta hit the town and do a little planning for an October event (still under wraps for the moment, but you'll hear about it soon right here!), then on to Doyles Bar for a Thursday night session...

Irie!

Rebel County Fyah

Independence and unity...two concepts or states of being that would at first seem to be at odds with each other. However in a great display of unity last weekend a crew led by Revelation Sound pulled off one of the most memorable independently produced weekenders in the history of reggae music in Ireland. It's taken me til today to catch up with life sufficiently to sit down and write something, but let me say from the outset that I personally (and I think I can speak somewhat for Shimmy here too) left Cork with a feeling of inner well being that was thanks in no small part to the vibe with all the crew involved...

A bus journey, we thought would provide a wonderful opportunity to drink in the countryside while flicking through tunes and dubs, and we did a little of that, but mostly it was laugh and banter. Traffic heading down to Oxegen and Castlepalooza caused slight delays but we were well on track to hit Cork for showtime. We stepped off onto the quays and were quickly joined by Shimmy's sister, who quickly started employing some Jedi mind trick that thickened up my partner's accent to the point where she could pass for a local again, and with that done we were straight up to the venue to take a look. This is in no way Revelation's first event at The Pavillion, but we'd never had the pleasure of visiting before and I immediately loved it! We were met at the door by Jeremiah Revelation (with hugs) and after stopping for a quick look at the bar level where the all day session would be happening on the Sunday, we went up to check out the venue upstairs where the main Sound System sessions would be taking place. With ornate ceilings and tiered layout it's an incredibly nice room. I'm not sure of the history but as you may see from the photo's it resembles an old dance hall or theater, kitted out with a pretty hefty house PA (props for the analogue Midas console at FOH). This however was not going to be switched on (apart from the stage mons). There were bigger plans for the weekend. Already set up and  being warmed before doors by Benji, was a big stack of Revelation sound, while the I Kingdom Sound was also already set up for the Sunday night clash. The little green room was buzzing, and I hope that by leaving all our stuff piled up in there for the night we helped bring everyone a little closer (by being forced to stand so). Mind you they may have been cursing us! :D

Jah Shaka

Ras Tinny and Bibi Ewa arrived with Doc Inity (Kebra Ethiopia Sound S.A.), and soon it was busy with Cork crew arriving as time to doors got closer. VJ Present was onstage to provide visuals, which were looking sweet. Jim is also the visual artist with local psychadelic dubbers "Wiggle" and World Bass Culture. Know's his onions. We nipped around the corner to The Roundy for a quick drink and when we got back the session was in full flight. Revelation were pumping out the dubs on high power, in Roots & Rastafari style, as Fyahred's voice swooped and soared around the conscious chant vibes from Ras Tinny and Benji, who run the sound with Miah on their new or fairly recently acquired Jah Tubby's preamp. If you've never seen one of these they're a slightly confusing piece of equipment at first glance, usually because they are a rack unit covered in knobs and toggle switches, with no indication on the face panel as to what anything does. However they basically provide some amount of dynamic control in the form of basic channel EQs, and a ten band rotary graphic, along with a filter section and a couple of effects sends. They allow you to run your system four-way, with corresponding kill switches for the top, mids and bass sections. There is no visual feedback from LED strips or meters, so you gotta fly one of these by the ears, and not forget which knob is where. I got to twiddle with their other Preamp on Sunday, as that was running Revelation wall-of-sound number two which we played on, and I found it rather nice experience! It was time for a lesson from a master as Jah Shaka stepped on stage, with Revelation having decided to move over and give the Zulu Warrior as much time as possible. At this point I wasn't feeling very motivated to charge my phone so one picture is all I managed before the dub made me forget... I wasn't aware that local laws in Cork meant a two o'clock curfew, and too early the dance was at an end, but what atmosphere. It was Shimmy's sister's first full on Dub Session experience, and she was mad for more reggae as we left. "Soon come," we said as we ate our chips and discussed fishing and trekking in the Russian wilderness with strangers in Burger King, as the Ital way of life had not quite rubbed off on us during the night.. After two offers of places to stay in the city from some more strangers, we eventually cut a deal with a taxi driver and drove out to Whitegate for the night.

Saturday  meant a trip to Middleton to pick up some of Green Saffron's spices from the farmers market (oo-arr), and some family visits. Being out of Dublin was nice, and we were kinda winding down so by the middle of the day we'd decided that we'd skip the trip back into Cork that night. Shimmy doesn't get down to Cork that often so it was really nice to hang with her clan, in the still relaxed tone which the weekend had taken on, but with lots of laughs and a fair sprinkling of lunacy. Highlights included a wonderful Indian curry from the aforementioned market stall, looking for mad stuff in second hand shops, and Shimmy's three year old nephew pissing in the little tray in the car between the gear stick and the handbrake when his mother wasn't looking. Awesome little dude! Speakers were got, a party convened and at 5 that morning we were having a Dub session with some local teenagers, banging out their own dubstep tunes from the loops loaded up on the F1. Have to say it doesn't sound easy to grow up there these days...seems to be a lot of trouble and strife a gwaan, but despite that the kids all seemed pretty clued into life, and were facing up to the future with a bit more drive and direction than a lot of my generation ("Sure it'll all be grand!" we said). Great bunch, tight crew, and not afraid to say they love each other. And no, they weren't on pills...

I Kingdom, Revelation & Rootical Sounds setting up.

Sunday was battle stations.  While I was standing on a hill at the back of the house with my phone held in the air trying to get my emails, Emma Revelation (aka Fyahred) called Shimmy to ask could we cover an extra slot, and we said of course. The slightly laissez fair attitude we'd fallen into in preparation for the gig was paying off in spades. If we'd had a plan it'd have been the wrong plan now, so we we're in good shape. It's hard to tell what an "all-day-ting" with lots of crews will turn out like. We'd originally been looking at a more roots & dub set, with a bit of live dubbing with Traktor's Remix Decks, but  the atmosphere and the chat on Friday night, along with a phonecall with Ras Tinny during which he reported on Saturday night's success, were all pointing us a little higher in energy. We'd received a special to drop, which has a nice light steppas vibe, and there were people chatting about playing ragga jungle and stuff so we left things a bit open til we saw what the vibe was like. Goodbyes were said and we hit the road for The Pavillion again, arriving in time to catch Jason Rootical and his crew getting their sound ready for the clash. Great to see the three sounds ready to rumble...sadly not a sight you often see in Ireland. That might change though... It was at this point that I got around to mapping the VST siren to the Kontrol F1. Finally. Downstairs the sound was running and Rik Appleby's "Lionheart" were rockin' the bar. Party time we decided...tempo up a little and keep it phat and bouncy. I was still line checking and getting a helpful run through from Rik and from Benji (who was on hand if I was muddled by the JTS Pre, or tried to blow the shite out of his sound) when Shimmy launched in with Luciano's Rub-A-Dub Market and it was on...the place continued to fill and there was a good party buzz building. We had that Dirty Dubsters "Summer Of Dub" track to drop, and when it did I could see grins on faces that were bouncing up and down all around the room...big ups lads, and big ups to Sista Quanna and rest of the AYA Crew in JA...(Blessed LOVE fi di dubplate. Give thanks!) Shimmy had also gotten something nice from Steppa Style, and we'd a couple of our own edits, so the set ran through everything from steppas to dancehall and ragga flavoured breaks touching on d'n'b before we handed over to Spetz and Man G Killamanselector (of World Bass Culture renown).

We'd never played a gig in Cork before so our collective cherry was now in tatters. We chatted a bit with peolpe who were there, stripped out the equipment and hit the venue upstairs to catch some of Pressure Drop Soundsystem, and Professor Ruff Chuff, before falling prey to the munchies and heading out to find food. We bumped into MC Cian Finn a few streets away, returning with noodles, which was tempting, but we stuck it out and stumbled upon a little diamond of a place called ORSO, which sells top notch food at kebab shop prices. If you are ever in Cork I recommend a visit if you like fusion type fare. Posh meal over, we strolled back in a quickly figured out that jumping around in front of a soundsystem would have to now wait a bit and grabbed a couple of comfy chairs down in the bar while Bellyman played a wonderful selection which kept us there til Worries Outernationl selecter Andy Culture took over to close the night, dancehall guns ablaze, firing from their awesome collection of dubplates. By that point we were a bit more digested so the soundclash was attempted again, this time successfully. I can't tell you who won, or if there was a winner, or if there was ever meant to be one, but it was really going off up there. Sadly I Kingdom's Sound had failed to fire up, but were accommodated by the ever loving Revelation. These things happen, and tomorrow is another soundclash. The Rootical Sound System was as enormous sounding as ever, and made me wish for the days of Mantua again...


So with both rooms exploding with vibes, the night, and the Irieland Roots & Reggae Festival came to a close. Congratulations and respect, and not forgetting thanks, are due to Revelation Sound, and all the Crew in Cork who made it happen. Looking forward to catching up most of you at Electric Picnic. Big ups!


That wasn't all though... We drove out of town with Cian Finn, who told us about his upcoming tours of North America and Asia, (they'll love him...and with his charismatic performances he'll have no trouble!), to a really cool farmhouse where a few of the World Bass Culture guys live, and spent a really nice few hours chilling with music from Scandal Rankin's Simon, and Miah Revelation, and eating blueberry pizza (which I think is patented by Ruff Chuff Laboratories, but I suggest you try it on the sly...). After a couple of hours kip we discovered the River Lee running right through their back garden, which also has lots of fruit trees and a substantial organic plot. Lucky gits can also make as much noise as they want out there, as there's nobody to hear it. The sun was baking so most of the day was spent crashed on the lawn and chatting to the guys. Doc Inity needed to catch a flight back to South Africa so we headed back to Dublin with a very tired Ras Tinny who'd been doing airport runs at seven that morning. Plans were afoot for a quick WBC dubplate session in Dublin before Doc flew out, but I'm not sure if the time gods allowed for that in the end, because once we got into the house I fell asleep for about 4 hours and haven't spoken to Tinny since. Go to the next WBC night and let me know! ;)

Cork, and more importantly, the people that are from Cork (even those who weren't!) thanks for being so warm and welcoming, we left inspired. See you again after The Picnic. Much love x

Irie

Written intent

This is a double first for me. It is both the first time I have blogged from my phone, and my first time blogging while overnighting in a tent. I never saw the need before (and I probably still don't to be perfectly honest, but I did say I would do this every day...ish). I'm not at a festival, or on an important scientific expedition, in fact I'm right outside my house. I don't usually sleep outside the house instead of inside (intentionally), but I'm having a traditional camp out with 6 year old Ryan tonight. Traditional in the sense that there is a tent. The lack of WiFi is probably the greatest hardship we have suffered (must get that other modem out..), and the movie was great. Movie? When I was a kid we couldn't watch a movie in a tent when we were camping. We got to shine a torch a the roof (or the wall...your choice), and if you were lucky there was a ghost story, and maybe even a song about farts. But there were no movies, and if you'd told your mother you'd woken up and found your Dad blogging she would have probably have thrown him out of the house for good...

A rather peaceful end to the day, which saw a little headway made on dubbing out a bit of material for this weekend. Last time out with Irie Ireland I had just picked up a Traktor Kontrol F1, and with very little time to mess around with it I just loaded it up with a few samples. This time however there are two F1s, and we'll work a live dub in somewhere in the set if it fits. I'm loving the simplicity of Traktor's remix decks and F1s together. I'd like the luxury of a few days on Ableton making loops and samples, and I still don't have the dub siren running off the F1 yet, but soon come...

Dirty Dubsters are also running live testing this Saturday night at The Bernard Shaw, playing The Beatyard session before they head to Boomtown for two full live shows. It's a freebie so go check them out as I'm told they've a few new rockets in their arsenal. Info on the event HERE! On the left you can see people queueing to even get a look in at the boys through the window ;) Arrive early.

In other news, details are starting to emerge about another Cork weekender on the cards...a bit broader in musical terms, but in equally good taste. Check out Scandal Rankin' on Facebook...info as it comes.

I'm now starting to go cross-eyed typing on this little screen, so I think it's time to sign off and get some sleep before dawn chorus...

Irie!

Computer says No...Traktor says wot?!

It's taken me a couple of days to get around to this...mainly because I didn't really want to do it! After a year as a "Digital" DJ, I finally met with the inevitable issues that come part and parcel with the format. Two really scary nights I gotta say...so scary I couldn't write a blog about it, or that's the excuse I'm gonna use... There's a new mix posted at the bottom of the page...another little excursion into breakbeat, though perhaps a little more mainstream here and there. Which might be why SoundCloud refused to allow me to upload it...anyway, back to the matter at hand...

Yes, it was that horrible moment when software is crashing and hardware not behaving as it should, soft patches unpatching themselves, and all the rest...and because the chosen modus operandi is digital, there are a lot more places to look to fix the problem. I've seen it happen lots of times at gigs...far too many times to possibly think it wouldn't ever happen to me...but I kind of did all the same. And why wouldn't I think I'm invincible anyway...? Aren't I the guy usually fixing these problems for other DJs when it happens them onstage? In my other life, where I dwell in the realms of live sound and event production I have encountered just about every single technical problem that the Universe has to offer. From simple power cuts, to shit bursting into flame with sparks flying out of it. The number rule is stay cool. The problem might be fixable, or there is always a chance that it's not. From the most humble of audio cables to even the most holy of Midas consoles, stuff will break. It will fail, and even though it was working five minutes ago, it's broken now.

Thursday night's gig had to be abandoned due to repeated software failure. It Luckily there was a background music system that could be pumped...and Stretch opening his "Juke Box Selection" with Frankie Paul's "Worries In The Dance" didn't go unnoticed ;)

Some overnight agonising over software settings and swearing at pieces of hardware ensued, followed by a day testing stability. Happy enough (but with a back up plan in place), I headed off to Wicklow with Jay to wrap up the night at a wedding for some friends of mine who have an incredibly good soul/funk/disco covers band. Sometimes they give me a call for gigs where they need an engineer, or an event where a top40 jock wouldn't go down too well. Just as we leave the city I get call from the lead singer Amy wondering if we'd a couple of spare cables with us, which implied we really needed to be there asap. So we rocketed down the motorway chatting about dogs and music and festivals while I didn't have a look through my collection or make any sort of rough plan in case things got out of hand like the night before, like I had said I would when I was leaving the house.

We were there in no time and within a minute the band were playing and all was good. We had a second PA in the van, with a couple of 18" subs so they came in and we rigged while the band blasted out motown classics and seriously funky numbers. Half half the crowd were from New York and The U.S. so by the time I was lining everything up to go I had a pretty comprehensive catalog of old school East Coast anthems screamed in my ear, which was all good. That's when it happened again. Total freeze of the hardware controls, audio drop out. Won't reconnect. The band are almost finish, and when I'd asked if they'd be playing an encore Amy smiled and shook her head. The pressure was on...there was at least a minute to go before everybody would find out...I could make it to the van, but I'd have to leave the gear, so on to the back-up plan. Straight out of the headphone jack and into a small Yamaha mixer that Jay uses for mixing his percussion on stage, and into the graphic EQ. Switched the soundcard option on and hey presto, there's audio. Bam! The band finish and I hit them with some Beastie Boys and eveything is good - except for the fact that I am stripped of all my DJ superpowers. Twice before I've had to get through a whole night in a club with no headphones, using the BPM readouts on cdjs, and the VDUs on the mixer, and I once mixed a radio show listening to the hi-hats sizzle off the needle in the almost silent studio. This time I fell back on the controversial "Sync" function, using loops and the small amount of credit I still had in the Bank-Of-Good-Luck. I never want to have to do that again. Ever. Had I taken my six year old to work with me things would have been a lot easier, as he knows all the keyboard shotcuts, (which he's learned as he patiently waits for Dad to pass him down a MIDI controller) but there are laws against child labour, no matter how much fun they're having.

It took me a long time to trust that newfangled CDJ technology, and a LOT longer to trust the software option, and for a moment there I was nearly going back to the old ways, for peace of mind, but I don't want this digital adventure to end here, so I just gotta get over it and move on. I have now re-installed everything and it's all working fine, but as a precaution I think it will definitely have to be Shimmy's pink laptop powering the Irie Ireland set-up for the Roots & Reggae Festival...lol. To celebrate the successful repairs and reassert my manhood in a future of pink computers, here's a follow up to last weeks "Breakbeat Booty" mix, which was a dedicated special for DJ Mixes Now. SoundCloud has issues with it, saying it contains copyrighted material, so I've uploaded a 320 kbps MP3 to Mixcloud instead. Enjoy!

Irie

Breakbeat Booty 2 by Dj Carlos Irie on Mixcloud

Soggy bottom story

Something happened during last night's gig, and Doyles made every national RTE TV news bulletin today...and it wasn't my fault. Honestly. And as P.T. Barnum is reputed to have said "There's no such thing as bad publicity..."

First let me paint you a background. I suppose it would be over a year now since a promoter friend of mine asked could I cover a gig in Doyles Pub in Dublin city centre. Although I'd never claim to have been a regular at any point in my life, in fact I think I could count my visits over the course of my life on two Simpson hands, I still had a fair idea what the vibe of the place was, and generally had been for years. Slap bang next to the offices of The Irish Times until a short while ago, and within spitting distance of the main gates of Trinity College, it mixed crowds from both with cops from Pearse St. Station, nurses (because of the Gardaí*), and of course tourists, because it's a very fine example of what people might expect an Irish Bar to be like. There is a ground floor bar, a lounge on the first floor (which hosts the Ruby Sessions), and a smaller basement bar, all housed in two (or three) old buildings which, when knocked together and joined with higgledy staircases and even more piggledy corridors, serve to enhance the drunken experience by a factor of ten. I distinctly remember getting lost in there myself years ago, and I think ordering a pint when I gave up trying to find the way out. So it works. I like having meetings with The Captain there, as it has that whole smugglers tavern vibe to it, with it's little pokey snugs (though Bagot & Hutton is the proper conspiratorial venue if I ever seen one), and the WiFi. Plus I don't have far to walk to work.

I did the gig, it went fine and here we are, (with thanks of course to my kind friend for the introduction). It's a big student crowd for a sizable amount of the year, with a leaning to the left musically, and retro vibes go down well, so it's settled into a mix of alt/rock running with reggae/ska, old school hip-hop, soul, funk and electronic...a ghetto funky, genre clashing kinda thing. Always keepin' it fun... Right now during the Summer months the upstairs lounge is shut due to a lack of the aforementioned students, so the management have moved DJs into the ground floor bar, bringing in a crew from Phantom FM at the weekends to supplement the already fervently followed residents. That's where I was yesterday, runnin' tunes when the rains came. We've had a relatively long spell of dry weather here in Ireland (for Ireland). In fact we've been calling it a heatwave, which is kinda cute. So that ended last night for Dublin, with a bit of a bang. There was a thunderstorm and it pissed down like there was no tomorrow for about an hour. Which was grand, because everybody ran into the pub. Not a single person with even a jacket...except for one. There was a girl sitting there in a pair of wellington boots and a shiny red raincoat, with a matching shiny plastic umbrella, impeccably dry, while most were like sodden beer mats. I have to say I got caught up in the emotional upheaval of it having rained, and I jumped straight to the conclusion that she was a witch. When questioned on HOW she was able to predict this she apologetically said that she had "looked it up this morning on the computer...". Just as well I didn't just burn her.

So anyway, there's mass hysteria in the bar because of the rain and nobody knows whether to be happy or sad, and it's still warm and we're stuck here now we can't go out so fuck it let's keep drinking kind of vibe, and this lad asks me for some AC/DC so I drop the Thunderstruck into over a Blur remix and the bar lights up on cue with lightning and people were goin mental and making love in the toilets in case it was there last chance and...and...and you can see how easily we get wound up about minor weather events here. Except for one man. Bar Manager, "Stretch" as he's know, saunters over...
"How you gettin' on?"
"Grand", says I, "not turning out too bad for a rainy night, is it"
"Yeah Man, not too bad..." (a pause) "...I've about 3 feet a fuckin' water in the basement though..."
Sure enough, a look down the open stairwells from the bar to the basement clearly showed a large body of water climbing slowly upwards. When I looked down at the water I was at once reminded of two things...Wallace Hartley and his musicians on the Titanic, playing on as the water crept relentlessly upwards, and the floor leaning evermore side wards (as I stick another beer mat underneath the front wheels Dj Box), and on observing the customers, the strange behavior of Irish crowds in most threatening situations. We once ran a show where a breakdown in communication resulted in somebody firing up some poi, loaded with parafin and setting off all the fire alarms in the building, which resulted in the evacuation of a hotel full of irate guests. Beautiful experience. Myself and Shimmy were standing outside the main door when the alarm went off, and no word of a lie, people ran back into the venue to finish their drinks... Yep, the flooding bothered absolutely nobody, they used the toilets upstairs, nobody went downstairs, everyone had a great time and that was the end of that. Yet people were ringing and messaging me today telling me they saw the news, and that was terrible and hope I didn't die etc. The first caller had sent me to the RTE Player where they were running a few lines and some shots of Doyles being pumped out by the fire truck, and I think a shot of Peggy being chatted up by some firemen, along with other affected buildings and areas.

It's still charming in a way that small incidents like a bar cellar flooding, or a few Aran Jumpers getting wet in Clery's makes front line news, and it reminds me of simpler times I suppose. And it's big news if it happens to you. I passed the bar earlier this evening, took a look inside, and yet, as the government are systematically dismantling the country, people at least had the time to pop down and check if Doyles was ok...it was even busier than usual.

We Will Rebuild

I hope I've given this rather run of the mill thunderstorm the dramatic lift it needed, as I though "I did a gig in a bar last night, and it rained." wasn't standing up too well on it's own. ;)

Love &bless :-)

Irie

*Babylon

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!

From Kingston to Dublin with dub...

This is shaping up to be a late night thing...and to be honest it's been one of those days with nothing much to report on, bar one or two exciting things which if I told you, would result in me having to kill you afterwards to ensure your silence. One thing, however did happen which I'm allowed to talk about, and leads me nicely to what I believe to be a story worth keeping an eye on...

Chopping brambles up in the garden. That's what I was doing when the phone rang. I dropped the piece by which I was holding everything at bay, and the whole lot just attacked me. I fished the phone out of my pocket, negotiating the thorns which had attached themselves precariously close to my crotch, to be greeted by the soft Aussie tones of the one and only Mr. Jay Sharp (or Jason Rymer to his Mum) of Dirty Dubsters. I exchanged pleasantries through gritted teeth as I disentangled myself from the testicle threatening tentacles. Anybody who knows me knows what a massive fan and supporter I am of the lads, who are probably Ireland's biggest reggae export, whether people here know it or not. Sometimes the mind boggles at the lack of pick-up on these guys in the media...but hey, other territories definitely know what's good for them! Right now, one half of the team Barry (aka DJ Obese), is in Ontario touring the Dubsters' sound while Jay handles the business back home for their labels "Irish Moss Records" and "Dirty Dubster Digital". He's also finishing off a couple of tracks and working on some really nice additions to their live show. Anyway top geezer that he is, he offers us an opportunity to have a couple of drops done by the wonderfully talented Sista Quanna, straight out of Kingston JA. Yes, yes indeed I said, count us in! Praise Jah I said.

Sista Quanna

So how did this happen? Well this is where it get's really interesting. A couple of months ago while in the process of releasing their debut album ("Fire It Up"), the guys decided to start another record label...this time in Jamaica. The Boys had been working on a track with Jamaican based Turbulence (I&I Productions) and had received another vocal from Sista Quanna on the same riddim that they liked so much they put both versions on the album. Things started to bubble and next thing Jay was mixing and mastering Quanna's album here in Dublin, the Dubsters are buying into a Kingston studio, and the parties on both sides of the Atlantic have decided to join forces and form Aya Productions, a label dedicated to conscious roots vibes. A bit of a jump from Irish Moss's dynamic and evolving dancefloor slayer style of reggae...but where would we be without roots?!

This my friends must be a historic moment in Ireland's musical timeline. As a reggae fan I find it incredibly exciting to know that there is a studio in Kingston pumping sweet reggae directly into our back yard! A point I have always admired about the Dirty Dubsters was their decision very early on to go out and hit up the right vocalists from around the world to work on their tracks. From their first 7" release back on Bula Beats with Bass Nacho, through the list of artists like Whandah The Dainty Queen, Danny Red, YT, Top Cat, Blend Mishkin through to this latest venture, the Dirty Duo have never been afraid to look just that little bit harder and further than most. Watch this and see what happens, and if anybody in the music media is looking for a scoop on the Irish-Jamaican link up here it is...

Personally I'm looking forward to a couple of nice bits of original audio to work with, especially in the Irie Ireland show which myself and Shimmy (that's Aunty Shimmy to you!;P ) are tightening up the nuts and bolts on right now. The mention of this, and all this talk of Concious Roots Rastafari vibes has turned my mind to the gig in Cork at the start of next month, The Irieland Roots & Reggae Festival. I'll tell you a bit more about that tomorrow perhaps...

You can check out some tracks from "Voices", Sista Quanna's debut album on Aya Productions here, and below you can check the vid for Dirty Dubsters current release "Real Bad Boyz".

Irie!