Two of London's best party crews have teamed up for a very special April Fools Ball at Brixton Jamm on Friday 1st April, with a line-up encompassing all that is great and good in the UK music scene in 2011.
Arguably Britain's biggest Dub legends, Iration Steppas will be down to Brixton for a highly exclusive London show. Long term stalwarts of the scene and festivals like Outlook, Melt, Sunsplash and countless more, they have created a niche for themselves as original party starters. Spinning their trademark Year 3000 style, Iration Steppas are the true vanguards of real Dub.
We are delighted to be hosting Man Like Me, one of the best loved and most incendiary bands on the circuit. Their raucous mish mash of Garage, Grime, Pop and Funk gives the perfect party atmosphere, as seen in their hilarious turn in the recent IKEA advert with Jonah Lewie.
DJ Derek has been in the game for so long he makes Rodigan look like a spring chicken. The 76 year old Bristolian has become a cherished figure amongst UK clubbers with his trademark blend of Soul, Reggae, Funk and whatever else he has recorded on his mini-disc. His legendary Patois on the mic is a sight to behold, don't miss it.
One of the most versatile producers about, Sticky was instrumental in the rise of UK Garage with timeless club bangers such as 'Triplets' and 'BOO!'. One of the very best party DJs about, Sticky will be laying down a rare 100% Bashment set at the April Fools Ball, specially for the gyaldem!
The poster boy for the monster club sound known as UK Funky, Lil Silva was so upset that he missed the GET LOW JAMM TAKEOVER in January that he simply had to come back for this one. With releases on Night Slugs and his EP coming out this month, Lil Silva is a name on everyone's lips.
A wonderfully creative and unplaceable sound is Sampha's stock in trade. From his bittersweet vocals on the "Valentine" single with Jessie Ware to his bashy electronic beats, Sampha has firmly established himself as an exciting talent set to emerge fully in 2011.
Grime's biggest new star rounds off the line-up nicely. A prolific producer of zoned out, Hyperdub style riddims, Swindle's newest release on Butterz entitled "Mood Swings" showcases the future sound of Grime, indeed the future sound of London.
The members of the Get Low Cartel have built up a formidable reputation as seasoned top party DJs. Making a splash in London and dj'ing at some of the top festivals nationally - they rumble chestplates, wobble knees and bring bassline to your nostril. Dancefloors just got dangerous.
It's that time of the year. Alongside Jimmy Carr's bloated face lurking about on Channel 4 every night counting down the UK's top 100 daytime agony aunts, Get Low Blog is gearing up for a glut of top 10 videos, breakthrough artists, festivals and fruity loop snare samples. Because lets be honest, it's bloody easy.
Apologies for the long list of youtube beds but it's the easiest way for readers to hear our selection of the most exciting tracks of 2010.
GET LOW BLOG'S TOP 10 TRACKS OF 2010
2010 has been a stirling year for Get Low. Alongside festival appearances and established growth into new cities and venues, 2010 has seen us re-consider our approach to electronic music and where we believe the scene is heading. 2009 was the year that Dubstep blew up. Skream sold 400,000 records, Dub Police became a staple monthly event at Fabric, TV commercials and beds were awash with grumbling basslines and it became de rigeur for there to be a dubstep remix on every chart single release, through Katy Perry to The Chelsea Pensioners (probably). It is inevitable that this explosion of interest would create an interesting vortex within a scene that had previously been fiercely insular and independant, funded and supported by its own keen gaggle of supporters, much like D&B was in the mid 90's.
Skream, Benga, Rusko and a handful of others rightly reached for the stars, taking advantage of their natural charisma and pop hooks to penetrate the global conciousness. Major labels invested in Dubstep in a big way, from Magnetic Man through to the True Tiger outfit. Many of Dubstep's original innovators hastily took a step back from the monster they had helped to create. Mala halted his once regular slew of releases, giving us only the admittedly brilliant Return To Space LP in 2010. Loefah moved away from his sour, halfstep style to explore an entirely new scope of sound, mixing 80's inspired 808 rhythmic patterns with grimey, uneasy melodies that sounded like nothing before. His label Swamp 81 shot ahead of the pack to swiftly become the label that embodied this new sound that was once, and possibly still is, Dubstep. Recruiting Headhunter in his new guise as Addison Groove was a genius stroke, aswell as securing Ramadanman's startling new body of work.
The rise of funky and house has seen a new space open up between 130 and 140 bpm, exploited most efficiently by Redlight, formerly DJ Clipz. It is this angle, lazily labelled "future garage" by many, that has seen some of the most innovative and exciting music in 2010, and it is this sound that looks set to be the hip noise of 2011. If Redlight, Jamie XX, James Blake, Dark Sky and the Night Slugs crew continue generating the quality we have seen from them so far then there will be surely be much to look forward to.
Below is our pick of the tunes that have shaped our year.
10. REDLIGHT - STUPID (DIGITAL SOUNDBOY)
This could have been the equally great vocal version featuring the fearsome Roses Gabor, but the original instramental is just simply HARD. 'Stupid' consistently moves dancefloors and is large enough to blast out in 6,000 capacity festival tents, as Skream did at Bestival to devastating effect.
9. ADDISON GROOVE - FOOTCRAB (SWAMP 81)
Both incredibly sparse and delightfully rich, Footcrab ushered in 2010's progressive sound at the same time as marking Swamp 81 as a label with serious intentions to push the letter. Genius.
8. BREACH - FATHERLESS (PTN)
A moody, angst ridden stomper from Ben Westbeach cloaked as the mysterious Breach, 'Fatherless' takes it time to drop but is definitely worth the wait. Like Redlight's 'Stupid', 'Fatherless' explores the murky waters between Dubstep and Tribal House to devastating effect.
7. RAMADANMAN - GLUT (SWAMP 81)
Yet more bassy magic from Swamp 81, with Ramadanman re-inventing himself as a trailblazing producer with a style bang on trend. No idea why this didn't appear on his own Hessle Audio imprint however, I certainly wouldn't have given this banger over to another label.
6. SKREAM - FIELDS OF EMOTION (TEMPA)
The choice cut off the mixed bag that was "Outside The Box", 'Fields of Emotion' is a joyously melodic stomper with references to Silkie's lightness of touch. Superb track.
5. ZINC FEAT MS DYNAMITE - WILE OUT (RINSE)
Nothing new here, but Zinc's low end bassline has proven it has the power to just simply make people move. A cross demographic smash that became huge across House, Funky, Dubstep and Pop, 'Wile Out' was also responsible for re-introducing Ms Dynamite into a scene that was crying out for strong, powerful women figures. We had Ms Dynamite at several Get Low parties throughout 2010 and consistently witnessed her awesome stage presence and popularity amongst girls bored of sweaty Dubstep raves full of gurning lads. Gamechanging stuff.
4. KATY B - KATY ON A MISSION (RINSE)
Alas, another boring choice. However, the importance of this chart destroying Summer anthem cannot be underestimated. Played across the board in the UK and America, 'Katy On A Mission' combined Benga's rolling, muscular dancefloor nous with Katy B's sultry, evocative vocal skills. It is a track that contains all the best elements of Dubstep and Pop music in a way that Magnetic Man's limp "I Need Air" never was and has turned a whole generation of teenagers onto well made Bass music. An unbelievably crucial song.
3. MAN LIKE ME - LONDON TOWN (OURTIME)
A curveball here, but this brilliant ode to London is too good to miss out. Man Like Me have been on the grind for years, never saturating their unique take on pop music, whilst their live shows are consistently magical. A band to be treasured, as their hilarious turn in the recent IKEA advert shows.
2. JAMES BLAKE - CMYK (HOTFLUSH)
As time will no doubt tell, 2011 will be the year that James Blake establishes himself as the credible bridge between Dubstep and chart music. His superb cover of 'Limit to your Love' may have put him on the map as a man that could sing as well as produce, but CMYK was the real showcase of his abilities. Slicing Kelis' RnB gem 'Out There' with Destiny's Child, CMYK is a fragile, weird piece of music that gradually builds into a heartstoppingly beautiful crescendo.*
1. GIRL UNIT - WUT (NIGHTSLUGS)
'WUT' is arguably a boring choice for the Get Low Blog Tune Of The Year, as many other blogs have done the exact same thing. However, Girl Unit has created a track that combines several strokes of genius at once. As-well as introducing us to an exciting new artist on the incediary label 'Night Slugs', 'WUT' gave us a glimpse of where UK Bass music was heading at the same time as reminding us why we fell in love with Dubstep in the first place. In a year where Joker has failed to develop his own take on the sound after a string of awesome tunes in 2009, Girl Unit has filled the void with a synth drenched monster.
*CMYK was the closing song for our set at Outlook Festival.
Get Low favourites Man Like Me appear in the new IKEA advert which was premiered during an ad break on the X Factor on Sunday night, causing London's hipsters to take to Twitter to express their surprise (The concept had obviously been kept under strict lock and and key).
The ad centres around Jonah Lewie's cult classic You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties which reached number 2 in the charts in 1980. It's good to see ad agencies giving genuine British talent a leg-up, with a platform that will provide good exposure without losing integrity. Mother London were behind this project, the ad group that also devised the film Somers Town, the Shane Meadows directed flick that subtly advertised the Eurostar shift from Waterloo to St Pancras Station.
This blog is written by the founders of the clubnight GET LOW. We like underground music and culture.
From humble beginnings throwing hectic house parties, GET LOW has spread from East Anglia to London leaving a trail of killer rave-ups and throwdowns in it's wake.
GET LOW is run by the Get Low Cartel consisting of Dashiel, Towelie, and Lightning.
We also happen to have hosted Artists and DJs such as:
All audio/video posted on this blog is for promotional use only, and to promote the artists which feature on this blog. By visiting the links provided, you agree that the audio/video posted is for promotional use only, and that you do not own the rights to the audio/video. We do not encourage or support piracy in any way. Being the internet, some of these links/site may contain copyrighted material. If you are the owner of the original recordings and/or the copyright holder, please contact us at getlowclubnight AT gmail DOT com and we'll take down the copyrighted material immediately upon request.
