Buzzin Electronic Music

Radio 1’s Jaguar Skills ‘Smash Up!’ UK Tour

Radio 1’s resident mixologist Jaguar Skills will be hitting the road this autumn for his much anticipated and eagerly awaited ‘Smash Up!’ Tour.

Taking in 12 dates throughout September and October, the original Ninja will be wowing crowds up and down the UK with his now legendary lightning-quick mixing and mash-up skills.

The exponential rise of Jaguar Skills continues with the ‘Smash Up!’ tour offering the opportunity to witness one of his mesmerising and mystical mixes.

The summer season has been hectic for Jaguar Skills as he has been smashing his way through the UK festival period, keeping Ibiza on its toes, showing off his encyclopaedic musical knowledge on Huey Morgan’s 6Music show, demonstrating his versatility with his ‘History of Drum N Bass’ and ‘Ayia Napa’ mixes for Radio 1, and also a series on conceptual mixes around themes such as stress and sex.

The forthcoming tour is the place to catch Jag draw on all these musical influences and skills as he launches an aural assault on your eardrums with music of every tempo, from hip-hop to drum n bass, and everything in-between.

And with tickets for some of these gigs already sold out you will have to be ninja-quick if want to catch Jaguar Skills in action.

Smash Up! Tour dates

18th September – Nottingham Stealth
19th September – Sheffield University
23rd September – Bristol O2 Academy 2
26th September – Cardiff University
27th September – Birmingham Custard Factory – Sold Out
29th September – Keele University – Sold Out
30th September – Norwich UEA – Sold Out

1st October – Southampton Orange Rooms
8th October – Manchester Deaf Institute
9th October – Loughborough University
12th October – Portrush Lush!
15th October – London O2 Academy Islington

The Garden Festival, Petrcane, Croatia 6- 13th July

The Garden Festival, Petrcane, Croatia 6- 13th July

I am as yet still confused as to the name of the festival… perhaps The Most Friendly Festival, The Festival of Sea, Waves and Boats, or even the Happiest Clappiest Festival would be more accurate than Garden.  Hey ho, what’s in a name though, right?

The Garden Festival has been running for 5 years and has generated a fantastic fan base from both the participants and the performers for being a spot on boutique beach festival.  Due to this the line up this year was particularly strong with a blend of old time party favourites such as Greg Wilson playing alongside DJ’s du jour Seth Troxler and Jamie Jones.

The Garden Festival site is on it’s own peninsula in a little fishing village with an amazing view of islands on the horizon.  The whole site is open from midday, where you can lounge on the waters edge and work on your tan whilst the music slowly builds up in intensity to a party atmosphere.  There are essentially three main areas on the site.  My favourite is the beach bar, where a dance floor has been erected on stilts over the water.  Those foolhardy/ brave enough can dance in front of the stage whilst the waves crash over them.  The dance floor was the perfect place for watching the sunset dip behind the distant islands.

To get to the main stage you walk through canopies of trees, which house large day beds for reclining on.  The main stage itself is quite a small size with a sunken middle to help bring the revellers into close proximity.  The Argonaughty boat parties provide off site entertainment for four hours sailing on the Adriatic Sea.  At night once the festival closes outdoors, the 70’s kitsch Barbarella nightclub opens until 6 am.  And that is it.

Chali 2NA from Jurassic 5 with Buzzin Groupies

The Garden Festival can be walked around in about ten minutes and walked through in five.  It is this tiny size in a beautiful setting that gives the festival a unique intimacy you wouldn’t normally get to experience at larger festivals.  This is how friendships are made and developed.  The chance encounters with strangers, turn into a familiar, ‘hello,’ then by the end of the weekend, you will have danced, bathed and eaten with these people and felt as though you have known them for months.

With the festival being held over two weekends, the musician’s rota was split.  The split unfortunately wasn’t known until about a month beforehand, which meant that there was a high likelihood, that some of the people you wanted to see could be playing on a different weekend to the one that you had booked to go.  And that is my first gripe.  Also due to the split, the DJ’s quite often end up doing more than one gig; this has it’s pluses and minuses.  Obviously, it’s great if you miss one of the performances so you get the chance to see them again.  Jamie Jones was a prime example of this- he played at the Mulletover party in Barbarella’s on the Friday and then again at the beach bar on the Saturday.  This provides the opportunity for DJ’s to play a different style set dependant on the location and time; a chance I’m sure that provides a freedom to explore their different musical styles.

On the other hand though, I can’t help but think I want to hear one of the other performers that was announced on the initial billing for the festival.  But I maybe alone on that disappointment, because at the end of the day the quality of those playing was so high that it didn’t effect the overall enjoyment of the event.

So, to specifics of those played and the music heard.  I’ve dubbed the festival, the festival of Stevie Wonder.  His smooth funk was the iconoclastic sound that bound the festival style together.  I heard his vibrant melodies, enriched with disco and his soulful voice dropped by many a DJ throughout my three days there.  It was the sound of a festival teeming with good times music with the sole purpose to make you feel good and dance.

The Mulletoverboard Boat Party was the perfect way to be drawn into the party atmosphere of the Garden Festival on the first Friday.  Geddes, a regular stalwart of the Mulletover parties, played a phenomenal set of tech- house- minimal marvellous-ness.  Ralph Lawson, head honcho of 2020 Vision displayed his highly tuned professionalism by his fantastic impromptu set (impromptu as Jamie Jones was the act supposed to be performing but was still enroute to Croatia).  By the time we fell off the boat at 6 pm, the heightened sense of revelry meant everyone returned to the festival site to continue the party fairly seriously.

Crazy P’s live set was future boogie and funk infused.  Snippets of Manchester house filled the sound as did the warmth of saxophones and slinky vocals.  Jamie Jones set in Barbarella’s fulfilled every expectation of his unique ‘Ketamine Tech House’ sound as epitomised by his playing of this summer’s track ‘Without You’ by The Art Department.

Saturday’s music offering was to be highlighted with a serious disco turn by the headliners of the main stage in the evening- Horse Meat Disco.  Leading up to their unique contemporary take on the disco genre we were treated to further interpretations of the disco sound via Jamie Jones, Rob da Bank, The Revenge and Greg Wilson down at the beach bar.

The highlight of these four was Rob da Bank’s dropping of a mix of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere.’  The melody took a while to come in, so it snuck up on the crowd and exploded with the looped chorus ‘I want to be with you everywhere’.  This was a serious goose pimples on the tops of arms moment.  German Tensnake played just before Horse Meat on the main stage, and did a fine job playing his electronic style of disco that got the crowd very hot and sweaty.

Sunday had a more lazy summer Hip Hop type feel as initially provided by Big Dada artist Ty, then followed up with Breakestra from LA featuring Chali 2na from Jurassic 5.  A fine example of the chilled out friendly atmosphere of The Garden was Charli 2na seen happily walking around the festival post his set, greeting fans, posing for photos and sharing hugs with all.

Greg Wilson finished off the Sunday evenings ‘day’ activities with a fantastic set incorporated tracks that spread the length and breadth of his career.  He included Primal Scream, Hercules and Love Affair and the original ‘You’ve Got the Love’ by Candi Staton.  His set concluded with Barry White’s ‘Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe’- oooh yeah!

Earlier I alluded to some quibbles with the festival.  A big thing was the Croatian water- it makes you sick.  Stomach aches and inability to eat for three days was a pain in the, er stomach!  As the site is in a fishing village, the power switch board struggles to handle the outgoings necessary to generate a multiple stage sound/ lighting gig and on a number of times the festival was struck with power failures.

Friday suffered the worst with 30 minutes disappearing into blackness at 11 pm.  The beach cocktail bar ran out of all spirits but one type reducing the list to only one style of cocktail on the Saturday night.  And the boat party has the most unusual disorganised bar set up I have experienced.  All these issues and the festival wasn’t at capacity.  As stated earlier my main issue was the fact that the festival split the line up over two weekends.  This seems to have been other’s issues too, as The Garden Festival website has announced next year they will be holding the festival over one weekend only.  A huge improvement if you ask me.

The other quibbles can easily be rectified with greater organisation dependent on knowledge of numbers of attendees and the demands that the numbers will place on the site.

All in all, the festival was great fun.  A lovely boutique festival, which feels intimate, held in an amazing location.  The feeling generated is warm, fuzzy and incredibly friendly.

I definitely recommend it to those looking for an alternative to the larger more hectic European festivals because here you have the opportunity to have a slower paced holiday with music thrown in or you can choose to get involved in all the activities The Garden has on offer.   The Garden Festival?  More aptly The Damn Good Festival in Croatia!

For more information visit www.thegardenfestival.eu

Saved Productions is putting Maidstone back on the map for great club nights.

This summer its 10 years since world renowned DJ Nic Fanciulli started playing events in his home town Maidstone in Kent and 5 years since his own record label Saved Records was born. It all began 10 years ago in 2000 when Nic Fanciulli handed out tapes to promoters of Club Class @ the now legendary Atomics, the tapes were deemed good enough that Nic was offered a residency on the strength of just 3 of his mixtapes!

10 years on and Nic Fanciulli is now a global star and plays alongside the finest DJ’s and Live acts in every corner of the world. Nic and his production team decided they should celebrate these momentous occasions by having Nic returning to his home town with a series of events which will bring back the feel of Atomics, Club Class, The Loft, The River Bar & Saved all rolled into one!

The first main event was when Nic Fanciulli and Pete Tong gigged together at the Source Bar on 12th March. I attended this momentus occasion with my friend Nicki, who was a novice clubber and was treated to a baptism of fire, however, I have to say the whole atmosphere of the Bar was insanely electric, especially when Pete Tong was ushered in through the madding crowds.  Let’s just say, it was a very intimate affair on the dance floor as usual, but the energy in the room was utter elation and jubilation that someone as big as Tong and Fanciulli were gigging together in Maidstone.

That night I happened to have a couple of spare tickets and informed a member of staff of this. She told me that she would help me sell them on. Very soon after, I was approached by a very excited man, who then called his friend and informed them that he was able to get him 2 tickets.  I was later addressed as a legend by the friend, who shook me by the hand in the middle of the dance floor. This memory still brings a smile to my face, as he was just an ordinary man, living in an ordinary town and was now in the midst of an over excited crowd dancing to Nic Fanciulli and Pete Tong. It doesn’t get much better than that in Maidstone….or so we believed!

The inaugural Saved Sunday has arrived, its August 1st and I have to say, I am very excited at the prospect of returning to another Nic Fanciulli gig, as I am a big fan of his music, especially his last CD Global Underground.

Nic’s first special Saved Sunday guest is no other than the mighty Carl Cox – how excited am I.  I spent the best part of the afternoon having my hair curled by my friend’s daughter, as a lady has to look her best to go raving.

So my friend Nicki and I arrive at the Source Bar, raring to go for another round of non stop dancing with Nic Fanciulli and guest. I called my man to inform him Nic Fanciulli is now playing and gave him a blast down my iphone, I told him I will call him when Carl Cox comes on and proceeded to make my way toward the dance floor.

Nic Fanciulli was exceptional as ever and we danced for most of his session and then at midnight Carl Cox took over the turntables/digital podium.  I can only describe the experience of his mixing as the most awesome mixing I have ever experienced. Carl Cox needs no introduction. Having been a DJ since the age of 15 where in 1977 he took himself to the turntables, he is a perfect example of how age is but a number. Carl Cox’s passion for his music is without doubt highly infectious.

The beauty of music, including dance music is that it isn’t ageist, you can be a fan of music for your whole life and you can be a musician too – Bowie and The Stones aree testimony to this. Music and Dancing are food for the soul, which needs feeding regularly in my opinion. I am pleased to say, I was not the oldest raver in town by a long shot. I recall seeing a couple, who I would say were in their early 50’s. They were giving Cox’s music some serious attention on the dance floor. I recall one moment during his set and to the delight of us dancers on the dance floor, when Cox mixes in New Orders Blue Monday. Yep, the 80’s are back folks; this mighty tune raised the roof.

I am delighted to inform you, that my friend and I danced for 2 hours solid to Carl Cox. My friend at one point said how tired she was; hell yeah, I said,  I was too, but I looked at my watch and there was only 25 minutes left to go. I said to Nicki, “we don’t do this often, so lets just go for it” Looking around the floor, the smiles on the faces of the masses told the story. Carl Cox, Nic Fanciulli and 100’s of other music lovers were dancing and smiling with delight. Nic and Carl had a joint mixing session toward the end of the night and all I can say is this…that night was probably the best night clubbing I have ever had…it was Awesome.

My friend and I hobbled back to my car at the end of the night. We could barely walk, but we had had the most fantastic night out and all for the price of £10 for a ticket. It was INSANE!

I am extremely excited about my Next Saved Sunday with Loco Dice and Nic Fanciulli @ Source Bar Maidstone August 15th which is the 5th birthday of Saved and to celebrate other top DJ’s Mark Broom, Steve Mac and Alex Tepper will be taking over the Courtyard .

For more information visit www.savedrecords.com

Shake It party venue

For Layo & Bushwacka’s next Shake It party which takes place this Saturday, August 7th, they have scaled down in size and headed to a new venue in West London.

They have found an awesome photography studio featuring an amazing outdoor court yard area where they will be holding a small boutique party for the Shake It faithful.

Resident DJs Layo & Bushwacka will be playing all night long, with some assistance from Omri H. The party kicks off at 11pm and the fun continues through the night until 6am.

The venue, Film Plus Studios is situated at 77-81 Scrubs Lane, London NW10 6QW. This spectacular space has never been used for a party before, but represents the ideal party spot to celebrate the birthday of Bushwacka at this weekend’s Shake It party.

Tickets for this unique Shake It party night cost just £13.00 and are available from Ticketweb.co.uk and ResidentAdvisor.net

The Dutch trance DJ, artist and producer, Tijs Michiel Verwest aka DJ Tiesto is playing live on Friday 30th July, 2010 at Victoria Park, London supported by the noisy festival favourites, Australian drum ‘n’ bass indie rockers, Pendulum.

Tiesto tickets for this rare opportunity will give you the chance to witness an amazing live experience from one of the world’s foremost trance DJ’s performing to a crowd of over 20,000 people in London’s Victoria Park.

Tiesto has sold out clubs and arenas all over the world. But this one-off very special outdoor celebration of electronic music under the London sky could well be one of the most amazing dance music events of 2010, let alone the summer!

Tijs Michiel Verwest has used many pseudonyms over a music career spanning over 15 years but he is best known for his work as DJ Tiesto.  On his latest productions he has dropped the “DJ” and is now simply known as “Tiesto”.

In 1997 he formed the Black Hole recordings record label with Arny Blink where he released the Magik and In Search Of Sunrise CD series.  In 2001 he released his first solo album, In My Memory.  This launched his artist career to new heights, and he was named “World’s No.1 DJ” 3 consecutive times by DJ Magazine in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

Tiesto appears to be one of the busiest men in dance music. In 2004 he played at the Summer Olympics when he performed live at the opening ceremony in Athens, Greece; and in doing so became the first DJ to play live at an Olympic ceremony.  In 2007 he launched his own radio show in the Netherlands; and in 2008 he received a Grammy Award for his third album, Elements Of Life.  His latest album, Kaleidoscope, was released in October 2009.

Tiesto & Pendulum live at Victoria Park, London on Friday 30th July is going to be an event not to miss.

DJ Tiesto Tickets

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