Sam Gould
Film taste: The Producers, The Untouchables, The Sting, Farrelly Brothers, Coen Brothers, Mel Brooks, Marx Brothers
Music taste: Blues, Jazz, Funk, Soul, Ska, Hip Hop, Drum and Bass - anything with feeling
Hangout: Buzzing bars, Breezy parks, Indoors, Outdoors
Most likes (about London): The Underground, Greenwich, the Thames, Statues and the Southbank
Least likes: The Underground, trying to get from one side of London to the other, the dirt
Me in 10 words: Outgoing, conversational, fun, interesting, thoughtful, irritated, optimistic, cynical, positive, um...
Reviews
event Notting Hill Carnival Party
Monday, 24 August
#nhc09 So many after parties. Which to choose?
artist Mr Scruff
Thursday, 20 August
Anyone for a cuppa? Enjoy a nice brew at the tea stand with Mr. Scruff. Here’s another full flavoured, epic and eclectic night out with the marathon master Mr. Scruff in Matter at O2, and as ever, he delivers a full-bodied mix of moods that keeps everyone moving until the early hours of the morning.
Mr. Scruff, aka Andy Carthy, has been DJing since 1994 touring the country many times over with his well renowned marathon sets. With his constant interaction and pumping of the crowd he always gives the impression that he’s loving it as much as anyone else, and you can tell that he enjoys testing the crowd, seeing how they’ll react to the music, and savours the surprise at every turn. He can be heard to play just about anything from jazz, soul, funk, deep house, electro, hip-hop, ska or drum and bass, and tonight he certainly didn’t disappoint. Playing for a massive six and a half hours, there was no keeping up with the number of changes in tempo and style.
Tonight’s myriad of musical genres fleetingly weaved its way through disco, funk, electro, house and break-beat, through to African and Latin sounds, and found itself towards the end of the night with a heavy dose of reggae and dub. There was a strong influence of break-beat throughout, much in contrast to his dance-based early work, but the set featured some classic tracks such as 'Get a move on' featuring DJ Sneaky of Fingathing from his album ‘Keep it Unreal’, greeted by an inevitable cheer from the crowd, as well as older sure fire classics such as Aretha Franklin’s ‘Rock Steady’.
Tonights set reflected his recent projects such as his soul based endeavours on the collaboration release ‘Southport Weekender Volume 7’ with DJ’s Jazzanova, and his new album ‘Ninja Tuna’ released just last month in October 2008. While there was a little something on offer for everyone, on occasions the mood changed too quickly for the crowd to keep up. His gigs often have the atmosphere of a carnival, with happy dancers drifting around the club enjoying the sights, but sadly Matter isn’t a club suited to this atmosphere as it squeezed people into a dance floor hindered by steps and partitions, while they pumped smoke into the room. Too many people crammed onto such a small dance floor made it harder to enjoy, but regardless there is no repressing the happy vibes or enthusiasm that comes from seeing “Wiggle those legs” or “Incoming Bass Alert” on a giant screen in front of you, or from the cartoon-like drawings and animations which jump around on screen like an epileptic Spongebob Squarepants, drawn by Scruff himself in his self-professed “potato style”.
One thing is guaranteed and that’s that there’s always something charming, eccentric and surreal about Mr Scruff’s performance and persona, his use of childhood stories and his fixation with fish. You may never know exactly what you might hear or see, but you always know you’ll have a good time.
Mr. Scruff, aka Andy Carthy, has been DJing since 1994 touring the country many times over with his well renowned marathon sets. With his constant interaction and pumping of the crowd he always gives the impression that he’s loving it as much as anyone else, and you can tell that he enjoys testing the crowd, seeing how they’ll react to the music, and savours the surprise at every turn. He can be heard to play just about anything from jazz, soul, funk, deep house, electro, hip-hop, ska or drum and bass, and tonight he certainly didn’t disappoint. Playing for a massive six and a half hours, there was no keeping up with the number of changes in tempo and style.
Tonight’s myriad of musical genres fleetingly weaved its way through disco, funk, electro, house and break-beat, through to African and Latin sounds, and found itself towards the end of the night with a heavy dose of reggae and dub. There was a strong influence of break-beat throughout, much in contrast to his dance-based early work, but the set featured some classic tracks such as 'Get a move on' featuring DJ Sneaky of Fingathing from his album ‘Keep it Unreal’, greeted by an inevitable cheer from the crowd, as well as older sure fire classics such as Aretha Franklin’s ‘Rock Steady’.
Tonights set reflected his recent projects such as his soul based endeavours on the collaboration release ‘Southport Weekender Volume 7’ with DJ’s Jazzanova, and his new album ‘Ninja Tuna’ released just last month in October 2008. While there was a little something on offer for everyone, on occasions the mood changed too quickly for the crowd to keep up. His gigs often have the atmosphere of a carnival, with happy dancers drifting around the club enjoying the sights, but sadly Matter isn’t a club suited to this atmosphere as it squeezed people into a dance floor hindered by steps and partitions, while they pumped smoke into the room. Too many people crammed onto such a small dance floor made it harder to enjoy, but regardless there is no repressing the happy vibes or enthusiasm that comes from seeing “Wiggle those legs” or “Incoming Bass Alert” on a giant screen in front of you, or from the cartoon-like drawings and animations which jump around on screen like an epileptic Spongebob Squarepants, drawn by Scruff himself in his self-professed “potato style”.
One thing is guaranteed and that’s that there’s always something charming, eccentric and surreal about Mr Scruff’s performance and persona, his use of childhood stories and his fixation with fish. You may never know exactly what you might hear or see, but you always know you’ll have a good time.
artist The Nextmen
Wednesday, 19 August
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5k_DcLzqs
artist The Nextmen
Wednesday, 19 August
The Cambridge born genre-jumping turn-table masters and producers have solidly cemented their name in the music scene over the past 15 years with their famously eclectic sets, four studio albums and uncountable remixes and mixtapes. Making their name known first in 2000 with their debut album 'Amongst the Madness' which was critically acclaimed and hailed as a fresh and original offering from the British hip hop scene, they swiftly rose to the top of the music production tree through extensive international collaborations with such names as Blackalicious, Fat Freddy's Drop, Groove Armada, Public Enemy, Rodney P, Zane Lowe, High Contrast, Aim and Cutty Ranks. Over the years their style has branched out into all genres of music, famous for incorporating the unexpected into their inspiring sets, leading them to develop the mash up DJ style for which they are now acclaimed. Certainly two of the hardest working DJ's and producers on the club scene, they have achieved global recognition for their music and style, and their fourth album 'Join the Dots' is set to be one of 2009's summer favourites.
artist Fat Freddy's Drop
Wednesday, 19 August
Incredible soul infused music guaranteed to make you move. Fat Freddy's Drop are an unmissable mash of soul, ska, jazz, funk, dub, reggae and more soul. Acquiring a massive following in their homeland of New Zealand through years of live performances, it was a few years before they released their debut studio album 'Based On A True Story' which blew everyone away going gold in its first day, 7 times platinum to date and has led to a list of acclaimed collaborations with international artists. One of the most entertaining and inspiring line-ups of musicians I have seen live, their show was filled with non-stop energy and love of their music. Dr. Boondigga & the Big BW, their long awaited second album has just been released and is a perfect laid back and mellifluous encore.
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