This week on Mr Elephant Radio, we have exclusive live recordings from Rich Batsford’s debut album launch gig, and 3 sets from 5 Birmingham djs recorded from two of our Mr Elephant Events

Hope you enjoy the show, please check out any artists you like with the last fm links below and hope you can join us next next monday live on Rhubarb Radio at 6pm – 8pm

Mr Elephant Radio Show # 11 – Hosted by Marc Reck – September 28th 2009 by marcreck

Rich Batsford recorded live @ Hare & Hounds for his album launch of Valentine Court- 30 mins

1. Gudonya
2. Sensawunda
3. Namaste
4. Chromazone
5. Love Forfilled

Skeleton & Dolhasz (The Beat Suite) recorded live @ Hare & Hounds at Mr Elephant’s Cinephonic #2 – Hip Hop Set – 20 mins

Billy Chill Fingers & Roy Roastbeef recorded live @ Bulls Head at Mr Elephants Party Rockin Mammal Sessions # 8 – Swing / Funk Set – 30 mins

Skeleton & Dolhasz (The Beat Suite) recorded live @ Hare & Hounds at Mr Elephant’s Cinephonic #2 – Breaks – 5 min

Marc Reck recorded live @ Hare & Hounds at Mr Elephant’s Cinephonic #2 – Drum & Bass -45 mins

This week on the Mr Elephant Radio show we’ve got a build through trip hop, afrobeat, swing, breaks and drum and bass.

Hope you enjoy the show, please check out any artists you like with the last fm links below and hope you can join us next next monday live on Rhubarb Radio at 6pm – 8pm

Mr Elephant Radio Show #10 hosted by Marc Reck – 22nd Sep 2009 by marcreck

1. Hanna & Barbera – Flintstones Jazz Score (Reckorder Edit)
2. DJ Shadow – Six Days
3. Alex Reece – Jazz Master
4. Bomb The Bass – Bug Powder Dust – The K&D Sessions
5. Thievery Corporation – The State Of The Union
6. Damian Marley – Welcome To Jamrock
7. Ralph Myerz and the Jack Herren Band – Here Is Love
8. Nostalgia 77 – Wildflower
9. Fred Astaire – Puttin’ On The Ritz (Club Des Belugas Remix)
10. Cherry Poppin’ Daddies – Zoot Suit Riot
11. The Correspondents – I Wanna Be Like You
12. Otis Fodder – Brilliant Pillows (Many Moons)
13. Duro Ikujenyo – Surulere
14. Fila Brazillia – New Direction [#] – Freak Power
15. Coldcut – Timber
16. Roni Size Reprazent (2008 Re-Edit) – New Forms
17. Atlantic Connection – Around The World
18. The Prodigy – Take Me to the Hospital
19. Terra Deva – Fresh Start
20. Concord Dawn + Ill.Skillz – Be There 4 U
21. UK Apache & Shy-FX – Original Nuttah
22. M Beat Featuring General Levy – Incredible
23. Sigur Rós – Sæglópur
24. Brian Wilson – Our Prayer

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September Edition Breaks Reviews by Marc Reck

www.marcreck.com / www.mrelephant.com / www.projectxpresents.com

Mr Elephant Radio hosted by Marc Reck – Every Monday on www.rhubarbradio.com

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Rennie Pilgrim – Rich Rule Us (Rennies Friction Mix)

A new one from Rennie Pilgrim always causes a big stir of interest, and this is a corker! Proper funky breakbeat action which builds into a butt shaking bass heavy roller. Even though it sounds real fresh, you can tell it’s Rennie on the controls, and the sound takes me back to the early botchit releases. Prob my favourite of his releases since the seminal emit collect remix, and is out on TCR in September.

Dfnt – Wake Up – One The Edge

Dfrnt is releasing a beautiful album entitled Metafiction, which fuses dubstep, chillout, idm, dub techno , and breaks, and is real a joy to listen to. This first track on the album is the perfect opener, and one i’ve been using to open some of my breaks sets with. Wonderfully produced, and with a nice deep vibe throughout, this track, and indeed the whole album will takes you places.  Due for release in September 2009, there are promo mixes available on his website, or you can hear one on our 8th mr elephant radio show on rhubarb – www.mrelephant.com

Si Begg – The Bleeps  (Shades Of Rhythm Remix) – Mutate Records

This is a massive tune! I followed Si Begg ever since i started playing breaks, and Shades of Rhythm made some the first vinyls i got to play with, back when i first got interested in djing. Apt then, that this should take me back to those days, with a classic melody, and that rolling old school break and bassline. Apparently Shades of Rhythm reformed just to remix this track, and they’ve done an stellar job. This reminds me of warehouse parties and raves in fields, but still sounds like a fresh new release in 2009, and on the dancefloor it goes off in a big way! The e.p as a whole is a really great release, and it was hard to pick one of the 4 remixes as they all so strong. Due out on mute records in Aug/Sep, i heartily recommend you check this one out!

Flore Feat Shunda K – The Test – Botchit Breaks

Flore’s eagerly awaiting debut album “Raw” is set for release this coming October, and this track, from her latest album sampler e.p , is a taste of things to come.  A versatile and talented dj and producer, I first became aware of Flore’s talent back when her first white label remix (of M.A.R.R’s -Pump up the Volume)was rockin the floors in Brum back in 2004. 2 years later she came down on her U.K tour to rock our 2nd Rockfall event, has travelled all over the world, and gained countless recognition from all the big players with her productions and remixes on Ibreaks, Mofo, & Labrock. This latest track is one of 4 released on the pioneering Bochit Breaks label , and is a huge roller with a proper dancehall feel thanks to the slick beats, low bassline, and some sharp vocals from Shunda K.

Drumattic Twins – Crazy Love’  (Peo De Pitte rmx) – Finger Lickin Records

Drumattics are back with their new Deep Throat E.P on Finger Lickin’. Best remix for me is the huge Peo De Pitte Remix which i’ve been rinsing it at many a breaks gig, and on the breaks part of our radio show. Definitely expect to see this on many a breaks chart right now this is one party breaks track that’s on very good form.

Silenta – This is My Time – Rocstar

This new release from Silenta, which features on his debut e.p “This is my time”, is one damn fine funky little number, loaded with classic funk flavours and enough bounce to bring the british sunshine out. A perfect mix of breaks and funk coupled with a nice bouncy ska feel and plenty of nice touches to keep your attention, this track takes you to a nice sunny place, giving nods to various genres as it goes about it’s business. A very strong debut release from Silenta

Caper Ft Sweet Irie – Jump Up – 10 Again Stone

More  dancehall inspired breakbeat, this release from Caper does exactly what it says on the tin. With a dubstep garage style bassline, and a ragga style infectious vocal from man Sweet Irie, this gets the room bouncing and the asses shaking. With a instrumental version on the flip.

Beat Assassins Ft Sweetie Irie / Boom Style (AC Slater Remix) – Mofo

Beat Assassins are well on this month , and this is a great release on Mofo. Top pick for me is this remix from Ac Slater, which is  a wobbly, phat, four to the four bassline bouncer, which reminds me of early house clubs i used to go to. Great old school sounds, mixed with proper uplifting vibes, and a nice dirty bassline. If you like dirty house or party breaks you’ll love this. Available now!

Breaking News – People’s  (Xim & Bass Remix) – Dusted Breaks

Seriously cool nu school breaks action here. Nice dark  rolling nu school release which kicks like a mule, and rolls like a penguin! Drop the lights and start your engines, this is out now on Dusted Breaks

Anatomic – We’ve found love (601 Remix) – Supatronix

Prob my favourite release on the London based Supatronix label. Been keeping a keen eye on all of 601’s releases since rinsing their remix of Not Your Slave by Hidden Forces back in 2006 for my Fear & Love mix. Quality production, dub guitars, an infectious vocal hook, and their signature phat bassline style means this is a surefire dancefloor smasher. Out now.

Little feature on Mr Elephant appeared in the recent Night Times publication which gives a little overview of what we do as Mr Elephant.

20, 000 copies of the Night Times have been distributed this month to showcase the best of brums underground and music nightlife to our new arriving students. Copies can be found for free at your local music venues in Birmingham and for those that havent come across the paper, its a must follow publication in our opinion and we lucky to have it in the city, featuring music reviews, events and local information. As far as we know its funded only by advertisting and the fact they make the advertising really affordable and really useful to underground nights and local people who dont have much money, means its something that needs supporting, so get in touch with them if you have something you want to share with the birmingham masses.

Here’s our little biog, and click here to read a bigger version

After a brief holiday we return with a Moseley Folk Festival inspired show featuring music from Birmingham Artists such as Rich Batsford & Dik Guru, a lil classic rock from artists like Senser & Megadeth & a positive influence from our new producer Ash, hosted by our resident Marc Reck.

“A journey through some of the best acoustic music and live i can find inspired by a recent trip to Moseley Folk Festival. Please check out any artists you like from the links to Last Fm below”

Mr Elephant Radio Show # 9 hosted by Marc Reck – 14th September 2009

1. Hanna & Barbera Flintstones Jazz Score (Reckorder Edit)

2 John Smith Axe Mountain

3 José González Heartbeats

4 Ali Farka Toure w/ Ry Cooder Gomni

5 Janis Joplin Summertime

6 Jeff Buckley Last Goodbye

7 Pete Yorn Life On A Chain

8 The Lemonheads Waiting Around to Die

9 I Am Kloot This House is Haunted

10 Neil Young Love Is A Rose

11 Bob Dylan The Times They Are A-Changin’

12 Tracy Chapman Talkin’ Bout A Revolution

13 Belle & Sebastian If You’re Feeling Sinister

14 The Be Good Tanyas Littlest Birds

15 Johnny Dangerously Fragile Town

16 Laura Louise Take Me Home

17 Beth Orton She Cries Your Name

18 Billy Bragg Moving The Goalposts

19 Dik Guru Job Centre

20 Billy Bragg The World Turned Upside Down.mp3

21 Idlewild A Modern Way Of Letting Go

22 Megadeth Peace Sells

23 Senser No Comply

24 Rage Against The Machine Take The Power Back

25 Queens Of The Stone Age No One Knows

26 Black Heart Generator Summer Snake

27 The Pixies Gigantic

28 Free Control The Balloon

29 Tori Amos Precious Things

30 Nitin Sawhney Tides

31 Richard Batsford Namaste

32 José González Slow Moves

One year after the start of our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions and almost 3 years since the birth of Mr Elephant we have combined the two to bring you the best dancefloor rockers under one roof to celebrate our 1st Birthday Celebration @ the Bulls Head in Moseley.

Party Rockin Mammal Sessions is a night of party rockin dancefloor music, building through party style underground dancefloor genres featuring funky hip hop, phat ass funk, a lil monkey swing, party breakbeat, old school jungle and big room drum and bass.

We need people who can rock the party and thats why we are pleased and excited to be welcoming our very first special guest from 2007, the breakbeat, electro and drum and bass heavyweight turntablist, Mr Dj Lopan, who will be recreating that huge VS battle from our first event back in Epic Skate Park in Feb 2007 with our resident sock rocker Marc Reck. And our new residents the very versatile and talented duo – The Beat Suite.

You may remember the Beat Suite from our very last Cinephonic event and their performance was so good, we are very pleased to be welcoming them as our two new residents. Skeleton and Dolhasz can scratch, they can genre hop, and they can sincerely rock the party.

Vj Blendstate will also be stepping it up back with the multi screen visuals and we have live percussion and a very special turntablist battle to kick us off.

If you get there before 10pm its free entry (£3 after) and for the first two hours until 11pm, you can enjoy these drinks promos courtesy of the upstairs bar.

2 bottles of beck for the price of 1 !!
Glens Dark Rum / Imperial Vodka Double £2!!
A bottle of house wine for £8 !!!
And shots of Tequila for £1 !!!

Aside from knocking a tenner of your night, it also means you you will get to witness 2 real turntablists battling it out dmc style with funky hip hop, big bottom funk, and classic breaks.

Free Kazoo on entry, Streamed Live on Rhubarb Radio, Filmed Live for Mr Elephant T.V. More attractions to be announced and if you’re on facebook, here’s the event page if you’d like to attend – http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134749128924

Following last months foot stomping Live & Free with Mama Matrix and Laura Louise, we have another band who are no stranger to kicking up a storm and have been playing many of the summer festivals with a great set of talented musicians going by the name of Flat Stanley. Psychedlic foot stomping blues rock is how they term themselves and they have supported major artists like The Levellers, Ozric Tenticles the mighty Hawkwind and many more!

dreadlocks and didgeridoos, o yes have it” Mark Radcliffe BBC radio2………….. “They’ll blow your socks off” Ben Turner Show BBC W.M………………….. “if you don’t dance you must be dead” Monochrome Museum internet radio show

Our other live guest – Laura Louise – needs no introduction. Spell binding performances at Moseley Folk festival and our last live and free mean we just had to ask her back. She will be performing two sets and if you haven’t heard her, check out her sounds on our 9th radio show, or check out the videos.

In between and til 4am you can enjoy the sounds of  Cassie from the Other Womans club djs, who is a supremely talented dj, has residencies all over the city, and had the place dancing all the way til 4am the last time she was playing.

As always its free entry all night (9pm til 4am) and the venue hosts a great soundsystem, smoking area, pool table and very cool bar and security staff, which makes for real nice vibe.

Mr Elephant’s news and reviews #3

“Mr Elephant shakes its trunk at Shambala”

Something magical has been happening in a heavenly forest, tucked far away near Market Harborough.

This weekend, the Mr Elephant collective donned its wellies and raincoats to experience an assortment of emerging and established talent from the Midlands and further afield.

Birmingham favourites, the Destroyers and Boogie Dave put the city firmly on the Shambala musical map. Bristol’s finest gave the crowd the what for, introducing acts such as Yes Sir Boss, Bizali and Carnival Collective. The revellers were privileged to see legendary acts such as Dub Colossus and The Egg, and were treated to a secret gig by Coldcut. Take a look at some of these sexy highlights and delights:

Kokolo opened the Shambala Stage on Friday afternoon. The New York afrobeat band meshed together funk, dancehall and polyrhythms. Bizali followed shortly after offering a Róisín Murphy wannabe attached to a Bjork sounding band from Bristol.

Moving over to the second alfresco stage, delightfully situated next to the ground’s lake and manor house, Miss Cecily played a beautiful set on the Lakeside Stage. Miss Cecily performed with a talented six-piece band encapsulating jazz and soul to Latin and klezmer.

By way of a birthday present, Coldcut played a secret AV set for the last hour of the roller disco in the Kamikaze Tent. The set offered 80’s delights and feel-good samples from classics such as Little Miss Sunshine (Super Freak) and the iconic Hiphopopotamus rap from Flight of the Concords.

Another of Birmingham’s regulars, The Apples, kicked off the evening’s entertainment delivering their signature explosive live experience. The Tel Aviv musicians spontaneously kicked ideas up and down the stage in a torrent of decks, horns, double basses, drums and electronic effects. They, of course, finished with their fantastic Rage Against the Machine cover Killing in the name of.

Saturday was brought into its prime when Zion Train followed the enigmatic Royal Gala and picked up the pace ten-fold. Described as one of the best dub acts around, these guys have been leaders in the roots reggae field for over 15 years and the energy and dynamic still remains. The crowd was worked up into a dub frenzy, with the band feeding the crowd some of their classics tunes.

The Correspondents, made up of DJ Chuckles and Mr Bruce, filled out the Kamikaze Tent on Saturday evening. The set started with their rendition of Jungle Book’s I wanna be like you. With some masterful MCing throughout, Mr Chuckles dropped the genius Ghost remix of It’s all love and finished off with some incredible drum ‘n’ bass with lyrical masterfulness.

Crazy P Soundsystem took the tempo down after The Correspondents with her soothing voice and dancefloor groves. The Bays followed at a drowsy 1 o’clock in the Kamikaze Tent, bringing the mood into a different dimension with their musical adventure of drum ‘n’ bass, techno and hypnotic beats.

Slightly deflated after all those nitrous balloons, Sunday was put into fifth-gear with some mind-blowing dancing from Tikambilanie. This collective brings together rhythms and dances from Zambia’s seven main tribes and got even the most temperamental of toddlers stamping their feet.

Sunday evening saw the Carnival Collective bring out the sunshine with their enchanting drumming. This extraordinary collective used their traditional Brazilian instruments and percussion to play reggae to break-beat, encapsulating the carnival that is Shambala.

The eagerly anticipated Dub Colossus closed the Shambala Stage shortly afterwards. The might of the lead vocalist took many somewhere more spiritual than they’d been all weekend. The set took the listener on a journey of African musical heritage, capturing some of Ethiopia’s finest performers. Shambala was truly privileged to see this performance.

This festival encapsulates what every festival should: innocence, general sillyness and tea! Happy 10^th birthday Shambala.

Check out this year’s Shambala photo album and see if you can spot Mr Elephant in action.

For more crucial rantings and ramblings about Shambala pick up a copy of this month’s Night Times.

emily_poser@hotmail.com

After kicking off to a great start with Quantic back in June, Cinephonic well and truly settled into its groove with it’s second outing this month. It was a monster weekend with the Mr Elephant team also ramming the bull’s head the night before with a funk flavoured Party Rockin Mammal Session. A little sleep later and we’re back again at the Hare and Hounds for a very different animal.

Video by Jack Brabant

As always with Cinephonic we base the visuals of the night around a theme. This time around it was all about the road movies. Marc Reck opened us up with a great bit of chilled trip-hop, the room nicely filling up to the warm sounds of artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Thievery Corporation & Barry Adamson.

Mr Vj Blendstate was on the light fantastic, craftly mixing up some killer clips from Thelma & Louise, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/ David Lynch’s lawnmower powered movie “The Straight Story” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/, and the classic Easy Rider http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/ as the pace picked up ready for our special guests.

Rhurbarb Radio favourites Skeleton and Dolhasz perfectly translated their radio show ‘The Beat Suite” http://thebeatsuiterhubarbradio.blogspot.com/ into a live environment. Covering a massive range of genres just like a certain resident of ours loves to do, the experimental pair seemed a perfect match for Marc and the night.

The Beat suite’s 1st set saw some great scratching from Skeleton & some seamless blending from Dolchasz. Taking it from the trip hop into the hip hop and building up into choice dubstep and big room breaks, their style, vibe and mixing was 2nd to none and kept the tension building and the party rockin vibe flowing!

Despite the soaring temperature the place was nice and full by 11:00 and our DJ’s responded accordingly cracking the tunes up and getting everybody moving. The visuals hit overdrive with some feedback powered cliff driving, motorcycle acrobatics, and Lawnmower action for good measure.

Midnight came and it was time for Marc’s 2nd set. Starting from breaks and switching it up with each track, it seemed our resident was looking for what was the crowd wanted in order to set the place off.

After breaks, a little swing, it was the huge bite from the liquid drum and bass which set the place on fire and took us into a great hour of crowd pleasing jungle & drum & bass!

Blendstates visuals were creating a filmic visual narrative that bought the cinema to the dancefloor with impressive skill and inspiring imagination! Skeleton & Dolchaz took to the decks for their 2nd set and displayed why they are two of the moste versatile djs in brum, effortlessly jumping from jungle to drum and bass, from breaks to dubstep, dropping in some cheeky numbers and keeping the floor locked and jumping all the way through.

Massive thanks to all those who came out and created a truly lovely vibe creating a proper night to remember. Also special thanks the venue for staying open an extra half hour allowing our DJ’s a unanticipated B2B set at the end!

Cinephonic will return on the 10th October with details to follow soon. If you’d like to keep posted automagically, please subscribe to the rss, or join the facebook group (invites for each event)

Our 2nd Inter-mix will feature not one but two Birmingham based promoters and their residents who bring international music to the city. The mighty reggae collective Jam Jah & legendary tropical dance music selectors Moseley Tropical.

Elephant favourites Jam Jah need no introduction and we try and get them in whereeever we can due to their unmistakeable blend of roots reggae and dancehall which never fails to set the room alight. Chief selectors Robin G and Damon will be repping the show and they’ll be kicking it off from 10pm.

They’ve got a new e.p out which you can buy from their website now – http://www.friendlyfiremusic.com/

Moseley Tropical similarly bring a whole load of great musical culture to our fair city of Birmingham, and have hosted their unique mix of past present and future tropical dance music at many Birmingham venues – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55522940457

“The past, present and future of tropical dance music”…”leave your preconceptions at the door”. One of the chief selectors Mr Zuppa Inglese not only has a great skill on the decks but also a great show on the mic, so expect to be shaking your thang from midnight til 2am.

Doors open at 10pm / Entry is free before 10.30 & £4 after