This year, the Red Bull Music Academy touches down in London.
During February and March there’ll be a number of 2010 Academy events open to the public, featuring such illustrious guests as Carl Craig, Kode9, Marshall Jefferson, James Pants and Martyn; these unmissable parties, shows, lectures and workshops are previewed below for your convenience. Look out over the coming weeks for additions and updates.
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY: MANCHESTER CHAPTER
Marshall Jefferson, A Guy Called Gerald, Hot City + more
at THE DEAF INSTITUTE, MANCHESTER
Friday 29 January, 2pm-3am, FREE before 1opm / £5 after
Trailing the main RBMA in London is a weekend of taster events up North, headed up by lectures from two bona fide giants of dance music, Marshall Jefferson and A Guy Called Gerald.
The former is one of the original Chicago acid house pioneers, and his Mancunian counterpart Gerald helped evolve the form as a member of 808 State, before producing one of the most unique and devastating dance albums of all time (and a firm FACT favourite): the avant-jungle masterpiece that is Black Secret Technology. Put simply, these boys know a thing or two.
Following their lectures, Jefferson will play a DJ set and Gerald a live set. There will also be DJ sets from Hot City, Mooken, Jon K, Irish Mash and Samrai.
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY: THE MANCHESTER CHAPTER
Martyn, Kode9, Mount Kimbie, dEbruit, Steve Mason + more
at COMMON, MANCHESTER
Saturday 30 January, 4pm-close, FREE
A free event at Manchester’s Common, with guest lectures from Martyn and Kode9, followed by music from Mount Kimbie, dEbruit, Steve Mason and Sean Vinylment.
HOYA:HOYA RBMA SPECIAL
Hudson Mohawke, Actress, Kode9 + more
at ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER
Saturday 30 January, 10pm-4am, £5
Acclaimed local promoters Hoya:Hoya present an Academy special – with residents Illum Sphere, Jonny Dub and Jon K joined by Hudson Mohawke, Actress and Kode9.
VICE MAGAZINE & RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY KNEES UP:
Terri Gender Bender, May Roosevelt, The Sound of Lucrecia, Maldita Fan, Golden Silvers (DJ set)
at THE OLD BLUE LAST, LONDON
Tuesday 9 February, 8pm-12.30am, FREE
Vice and Red Bull Music Academy team up for an evening of live performances from 2010 Academy participants, topped off by a DJ set from XL up-and-comers Golden Silvers.
Mexico’s Teri Gender Bender writes music and “punk poetry” or Le Butcherettes, and has played support for Jack White’s Dead Weather. The Mars Volta’s Omar Lopez Rodriguez is producing her debut album.
May Roosevelt takes inspiration from the unholy trinity of Bach, Bjork and Klaus Nomi, combining classical and early industrial impulses in her haunting, theremin-led compositions. Maldita has contributed to an EP curated by legendary German electronic artist Gudrun Gut, and sculpts smokey, wistfully psychedelic songs using guitar, laptop, bass and floor tom. Maldita, meanwhile, is a member of post-punk outfit Moldes and co-organises La Casa Del Auxilio, a cultural project in Lima that aims to use old colonial houses as arts and music spaces.
BOOK SLAM:
Doc Brown, Kate Tempest, Dreda Say Mitchell, Charlie Dark, Sui Zhen, P-Money, Rinse, Warilo
at SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL, LONDON
Wednesday 10 February, 7pm-11pm, £6
Book Slam has subtly redefined literary socialising for the 21st century with its ongoing and highly acclaimed series of verbally-motored events in London. This Academy-flavoured edition focusses on the rap, spoken word and slam poetry skills of Doc Brown, Kate Tempest, Dreda Say Mitchell, Charlie Dark, Sui Zhen, P-Money, Rinse and Wariko.
CDR SESSION VOL.1
at PLASTIC PEOPLE, LONDON
Thursday 11 February, 9pm-2am, FREE
Attica Blues founder Tony Nwachukwu will host this special Academy-oriented instalment of CDR, inviting participants and a roster of upcoming producers to showcase their unreleased productions with the help of the bowel-shifting might of the Plastic People soundsystem.
RBMA & RA:
Carl Craig, Francesco Tristano, Moritz von Oswald, Matmos, Bugge Wesseltoft, Henrik Schwarz, DJ Sprinkles, Andras Fox
at ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON
Friday 12 February, 7pm-12.45am, £20/£22.50
A special one-off night celebrating the experimental and improvisational side of electronic music. Detroit’s Carl Craig and Berlin’s Moritz Von Oswald, each techno pioneers in their own right, should require no introduction. They’ve been friends and co-conspirators for years, and most recently collaborated on the Deutsche Grammophon Re:constructed project. They’ll be joined by everyone’s favourite sample-hungry showmen Matmos, jazzman Bugge Wesseltoft (best known for his work with Laurent Garnier), Innervisions’ Henrik Schwarz and Terre Thaemlitz as DJ Sprinkles. In addition to these names from the premier league of the electronic avant-garde, there’ll be sets from a selection of Academy participants. Unmissable, really.
SIN CITY:
Scientist, David Rodigan, Appleblim, Ramadanman, El-B, Hatcha + many more
at PLAN B, LONDON
Friday 12 February, 9pm-5am, £8
Red Bull Music Academy will be teaming up with Sin City and Hyponik for a night of low-end anarchy at Plan B in Brixton on Friday 12 February.
Headlining proceedings is JA dub legend Scientist, who cut his teeth with King Tubby and pretty much ran things throughout the 1980s, working as chief sound engineer for Studio One. He’ll be appearing at Plan B with a five-piece band and promises an “interplanetary ital voyage”. You’ve been warned.
The inimitable David Rodigan, celebrating his 20th year hosting his Sunday show on Kiss FM, will be DJing, supported by dubstep-leaning sets from Hatcha and N-Type, Ramadanman and Appleblim. Resurgent garage innovator El-B will be playing b2b J Da Flex, plus Kenny Ken, Skibadee and the Soul Jazz Soundsystem.
Over in Room 2, Oneman plays ahead of the release of his eagerly-awaited Rinse 10 compilation, along with Youngsta, Oneman, Kromestar, Walsh, Heny G and Jay 5, with Ms Crazy D, Viper and Toast.
RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY CONCERT AND WORKSHOP:
James Pants, Drums of Death, David Rodigan, Ramadanman, J-Wow, Goldielocks + many more
at ICA, LONDON
Saturday 13 February, 4pm-midnight, FREE
A day of “tea, biscuits, and studio revelations” at the ICA, in the form of lectures, workshops and showcases open to the publican. There’ll be a lecture from legendary mic-man David Rodigan, and Academy ’08 alumnus Goldielocks will be on the couch as well. Meanwhile visitors can have a whirl on the production workstations set up for the occasion, with help from Attica Blues’ Tony Nwachukwu. In the evening there’ll be live performances from Drums of Death and Stone’s Throw’s James Pants – the latter is responsible for one of FACT’s favourite LPs of recent months, Seven Seals, and we’re relishing the opportunity to see him do his thing in the flesh. There’ll also be DJ sets from Buraka Som Sistema’s J-Wow and selected Academy participants.
CULTURE CLASH:
Goldie, Jazzie B, Trojan Soundsystem, Roots Manuva, Mala, Don Letts, Caspa, Storm, Andy C, Commix, Ricky Ranking, Coki
at THE ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON
Wednesday 17 February, 9pm-3am, £10
A one-off soundclash, hosted by Don Letts, that will see Jazzie B’s Soul II Soul, the Trojan Soundsystem, Goldie’s Metalheadz and Digital Mystikz fight for the favour of the Roundhouse crowd. The kind of gladiatorial contest that would make even the hardest Roman warrior shit his loincloth.
Soul II Soul was one of the late 80s and early 90s most important soundsystems, a melting pot of cultural influences that went on to conquer the pop charts with seminal club tunes like ‘Back to Life’. Since its earliest 12″ releases and legendary, game-changing nights at the Blue Note, Goldie and his Metalheadz crew have been at the forefront of drum ‘n bass. Trojan Soundsystem’s roots sounds keep the original chest-rattling sounds of Jamaica burning, while Mala and Coki AKA Digital Mystikz, meanwhile, are two of dubstep’s true originators and most incorrigible chest-rattlers.
This is honestly going to be mental.
3D SOUNDCLASH:
Plaid (DJ set), The Bug, Flow Dan, Daddy Freddy, DJ Food, Clark, King Cannibal, Mira Calix
at THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL (LOADING BAY)
Thursday 18 February, 8pm-midnight, £10
A bout of sonic warfare that will be a little less ravey than Culture Clash but possibly even more intense is the one taking place in, of all places, the loading bay of the Royal Albert Hall. The centerpiece is the 3D Audioscape: designed and developed by Martyn Ware (The Human League) with Vince Clarke (Depeche Mode, Yazoo), it allows an artist to control sound in all kinds of three-dimensional paramaters. Those taking advantage of its mind-bending potential will be Plaid, Mira Calix, King Cannibal, Daddy Freddy, DJ Food and, perhaps most intriguingly, The Bug and Flow Dan. The thought of hearing ‘Skeng’ through Ware’s “man-machine monster installation” is enough to guarantee our place on the front row.
PICK ‘N’ MIX:
Axel Boman, Venice, Markur of Photonz, Mark Fader, Juekz
at DALSTON SUPERSTORE, LONDON
Thursday 18 February, 9pm-2am, FREE
The Academy takes over East London hipster hive Dalston Superstore to showcase five “glitterball grandees” from the roster of 2010 participants, each currently causing a stir in their respective home scenes.
A ROLLERSKATING JAM NAMED ‘RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY’:
Kenny Dixon, Jr., Horsemeat Disco
THE RENAISSANCE ROOMS, LONDON
Thursday 4 March, 8pm-2am, £10
Kenny Dixon, Jr. AKA iconoclastic Detroit house hero Moodymann, is a massive fan for roller disco culture – and he’ll be bringing with him ten of Detroit’s most notorious four-wheeled dancers to accompany his very special DJ set at South London’s Renaissance Rooms roller rink, with steel-wheel support from the Horsemeat Disco boys. Let’s reiterate: Moodymann DJing a roller disco. In London. If you’re not rushing to by a ticket for this, there’s something wrong with you.
A TASTE OF SONAR:
Hudson Mohawke, Bruna, Juan Son, Kidkanevil, Lunice, AD Bourke and Cherry Chan
at THE ROUNDHOUSE, LONDON
Friday 5 March, 9pm-3am, SOLD OUT
The Red Bell Music Academy has enjoyed a long-running relationship with Barcelona’s peerless Sonar festival, and here presents a showcase of electronic rebels and romantics as part of the Taste of Sonar teaser event at London’s Roundhouse. Stars-of-tomorrow Bruna, Juan Son, Kidkanevil, Lunice, AD Bourke and Cherry Chan will join LuckyMe and Warp’s impossible-to-pin-down Hudson Mohawke to demonstrate that experimentalism and dancefloor efficacy can go hand in finger-clicking hand.
SECRETSUNDAZE:
Todd Terje, Giles Smith, James Priestley
at PARAMOUNT, LONDON
Sunday 7 March, 2pm-11pm, FREE
Giles Smith and James Priestley’s evergreen house/techno institution secretsundaze connects with the Academy for a free afterhours session with special guest Todd Terje. This is the kind of party that requires no puffing up.
FACT AT THE LOCK: THE RED BULL MUSIC ACADEMY CHAPTER
Very special guests TBA
at THE LOCK TAVERN, LONDON
Sunday 7 March, 3pm-11.30pm
We don’t want to blow our own tuba, but FACT’s bi-monthly parties at The Lock have become the stuff of local legend over the past year or so. After all, it’s not often you get to lose your shit to DJs like Brackles, Gemmy, Cooly G, Untold, Sinden and Darkstar in a Camden boozer, on a bleeding Sunday, without having to pay a penny for the pleasure – is it? We’re teaming up with the Academy for our March instalment, and we’ve secured some very, very special guests to help us make it one to remember. All will be revealed soon…
CDR SESSION VOL 2
at PLASTIC PEOPLE, LONDON
Thursday 11 March, 9pm-2am, FREE
Tony Nwachukwu helms the second Academy edition of CDR.
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