Ballers Social, the Glasgow club night ran by the city’s LuckyMe collective (members include Rustie, above, Hudson Mohawke, Mike Slott and more) will turn two years old this month. They’ll be celebrating with a weekend of events in their hometown next weekend – you could be there, and win a Ballers Social t-shirt to boot.

The birthday weekender takes the form of two nights: first, on September 11, Ballers rolls into Glasgow’s Stereo club with sets from dubstep veteran Jamie Vex’d, whose In System Travel EP is one of the year’s best, Hyperdub tron-garage duo Darkstar, and LuckyMe soldiers Rustie and The Blessings. Then on the 12, it takes to the same city’s Ivy club, with live sets from Fulgeance and Fox Gut Daata, LuckyMe’s Dema and food from New York’s Dante’s Fried Chicken.

If you haven’t already heard Rustie’s contribution to our FACT mix series, then what are you waiting for? It’s already one of the most popular we’ve had, and for good reason: it’s one of the best producers around debuting new material from himself and Hudson Mohawke, along with heat from Terror Danjah, The Dream and more. You can download it here – and watch out for a future interview with Rustie on these pages where he talks about the new LP.

Download: FACT mix 79 – Rustie

(Available for three weeks)

More music from the Ballers camp comes further into this article, but before then, we spoke to Joe Coghill, who runs the night with Rustie, about the last two years in the life of one of Britain’s premier new club nights.

Hey Joe. Tell us about the genesis of Ballers Social…

"Heya. The genesis of Ballers was basically Rustie and I sittin’ in parties, clubs and his studio listening to new hip hop (like Luda, Clipse, Polow Da Don type-a-shit) and wanting to start a night that played this type of music. We fired a couple of names back and forth and just put on a party with the last rapper to ever work with an alive J Dilla – Phat Kat. The whole of LuckyMe have been involved in it from the start – Dom Sum has always done the design, and every member has DJed or played live.

"We started just wanting to play hyphy and R Kelly to our friends, and then it kinda became something entirely different. Ambitions are still the same as at the start though; just push new music and have fun doing it."

How has it expanded over the last two years?

"It’s crazy ’cause the club kinda pre-dates the whole "wonky" thing. So we had loads of artists play before they got the attention they deserved. All the American / Canadian contingent have passed through, its kinda became one big community. We also expanded in sound and our club seems to garner attention from like minded fellows all around the world."

"We started just wanting to play hyphy and R Kelly to our friends"

What are the best and worst nights you’ve had at Ballers?

"Best night musically would be Andrew Meza, wearin’ a pancake mask, and Nadsroic debut, it just completely epitomised what we were doing then. Recently vibe wise Cooly G, Bok Bok and Jackmaster absolutely slayed 300 drunk art school students. As for the worst, the launch night, some douchebag got handcuffed to the floor by police while Rustie played an early version of ‘Zig Zag’ – it was kinda nutso."

And what can we expect from the Birthday Weekend?

"Can expect to hear new, unreleased heat from Jamie Vexd, Darkstar, Rustie and The Blessings playin’ on a huge soundsystem in our new home Stereo on the Friday (Sept 11) and some incredible live sets from Fulgeance and Fox Gutt Daata in The Ivy on the Saturday.(Sept 12). Plus we have the internet’s favourite celebrity chef Dantes Fried Chicken cooking up a storm from 5pm – 8pm on the Sat – book a table now!"

Competition time: We’ve got a pair of guest list for both events to give away, along with the Ballers Social t-shirt modelled above. To win both, simply send your name and shirt size to competitions@vinylfactory.co.uk. And when you’ve done that, turn over for more free music from the Ballers collective, exclusive to FACT.

Rustie’s podcast isn’t the only music the Ballers crew are providing FACT readers with this week. Mweslee and BFlecha, a pair of Ballers affiliates from Europe, are also in session for us this week, and the results are stunning.

We weren’t familiar with this pair until introduced to them by Ballers, but their mix is sick: sporting everything from Moroder to Rhythim is Rhythim to Neil Landstrumm to Billy Ocean, along with a host of stuff we weren’t familiar with and now love. You can download it here:

Download: Ballin’ on Birthday Time – a Ballers Social Mix for FACT by Mweslee and BFlecha

(Available for three weeks)

Tracklisting:Cheaptune – Happy Birthday to MeRhythim is Rhythim – Kao-Tic Harmony (Transmat)Ace Hood – Get ‘Em (Instrumental) (We The Best)Gangsta Red – I Should Tell Ya Momma on You (Dam-Funk Remix) (Stones Throw)Giorgio Moroder – Leopard Tree Dream (MCA)Leb Laze ft Ahmad Szabo – A Part of Her (Eastern Developments)Kool Keith – Master Of The Game (Ruffhouse)Becoming Real – Congratulations Planet Earth (Unreleased)BFlecha – Pecous Beal (Unreleased)Debruit – Sole’s Sweat (Reso Remix) (Civil Music)Neil Landstrumm – The Coconut Kestrel (Planet Mu)OJ Da Juiceman – Public Housin’ (Instrumental)Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – 1st Of Tha Month  (Ruthless)Ciara Ft T-Pain – Go Girl (Instrumental)  (La Face)Pictureplane – Dark Rift (Lovepump United)Hybacusa – Gameboylover (Lo Fi Funk)Jungle Drums – Walk (Mwëslee Remix Instrumental Edit) (We Ain’t Music)Florenza Mavelli – The Police Rides Out  (Strange Life Records)Fulgeance – Smartbanging (One Handed Music)Billy Ocean – Love Zone (Instrumental) (Teldec)Tank – Wake Up (Unreleased)

Hey guys. Introduce yourselves…

"We’re Mwëslee & BFlecha, located in Vigo, northwest Spain. Part of the infamous Arkestra crew. We make and play music."

Tell us about the mix you’ve done for FACT…

"It’s a lot about what ties us to LuckyMe and the Ballers Social Club. Mwëslee was invited to Dblspk nights (the project before Ballers) to play, back then in early 2007. When we meet we realised we had a lot in common about the wide perspective of our musical approach (and our love for R&B). We’re like the cousins that live abroad and visit on Christmas, and since then we’ve played several times again there or with them. We tried to reflect on this mix the true spirit of a night at Ballers…it’s more about what you play than how its played, it’s more about what’s really good than what’s fresh or hip (even if it is), so we wanted to put a little bit of everything, stuff that to some won’t seem to have any connection but for all of us it does. We also took the chance to include new stuff from BFlecha never heard before and the later remix that Mweslee did for Jungle Drums."

"We tried to reflect on this mix the true spirit of a night at Ballers…"

Not gonna lie – we don’t know that much about you here. What’s your story so far?

"Probably living in Spain makes us being in the wrong place at the wrong time music-wise, and that results being under the radar for most, but for anyone involved o
n
the beats and instrumental hip-hop scene worldwide for a while, Mwëslee is not a stranger. He attended Red Bull Music Academy in 2005 in Seattle and after that he met the early form of what now is know as Brainfeeder. He released the Megaplast EP on Nod Navigators/Kindred Spirits [home of Tom Trago, Dorian Concept and more], that became a early touchstone for the incipient scene for his use of synths and electronic textures in a hip hop /R&b context, and emotional intensity. He probably was, alongside other producers like Dimlite or Caural, the missing link beetwen Dilla, Madlib, Prefuse 73, Dabrye etc, and the new school of beatmakers like Dorian Concept, Flying Lotus, Rustie or Hudson Mohawke.

"BFlecha has been make some serious noise lately with ‘Ceja de Carnival’, her particular vision of durrty south music sprayed with some rainbow psychedelia, and the dreamy raw ballad ‘Kosmic Lovers’, which is like intercourse between the ‘purple’ school of Bristol producers [Joker, Gemmy etc] and the burgundies of epic 80s divas like Kate Bush. She’s received props from the Hyperdub and LuckyMe camps, and played at Sonar this year. Both those tracks will be coming out on a 12" later this year."

What’s the Arkestra?

"In 2005, due to the lack of club/musical activities in our area, we established, along with other ‘heads’ in the city, the Arkestra collective. We promoted nights with Dimlite, Flogsta Danshall, DJ Nobody, Dudley Perkins, J’Davey, Nomo and more, when they were really unknown. These days we’re not that active on the promoter side, but we still throw parties from time to time and keep it alive with our Arkcasts (our podcast series, always trying fo play obscure stuff that’s normally not on mixes around the web."

For tickets and more information on the Ballers Social birthday weekend, hit up their myspace.