clubs
JUSTIN MARTIN
F.A.O @ Buffalo, Cardiff
Fri 8 Nov
In the entertainment business, and
certainly in the dance music business,
‘populism’ is generally defined as ‘being
lowbrow and simple-minded as possible’.
You can be populist while still putting an
iota of thought into what you’re doing,
though. Justin Martin, a jock and producer
from San Francisco, plays dance music
– house, I guess you’d call it, but with an
expansive and catholic approach to the
genre – with the specific aim of pleasing
a crowd, and he’s happy to do it with
big hits too. His decade in the game has
nevertheless seen him pick up accolades
galore, and if he’s not quite a superstar
DJ, he’s quietly played a big role in the
evolution of club music in recent years.
Martin was one of the founders of the
Dirtybird label in 2005, alongside Claude
VonStroke who’s rocked Cardiff on a few
previous occasions. Dirtybird’s aesthetic
is a kind of assemblage of parts from
other dance subsets: ghetto house,
Detroit, garage, ‘sick drop’ type dubstep,
90s French stuff and so forth. Martin is
a perfect ambassador for this magpielike DJ behaviour. A debut artist album
last year, Ghettoes & Gardens, didn’t go
too far in the ‘made for home listening’
direction of things, despite an ‘audacious’
remake of a Goldie track, Kemistry. He’ll
be supported in Cardiff by DJs from
City Bass, Disco Palace and Signature
among others. Tickets: £6-£10. Info: 029
20310312 (NG)
BUZZ 42
SMOOVE AND TURRELL
The Garage, Swansea
Fri 8 Nov
Although this evening will see them playing one of their equally popular DJ sets (alongside Craig
Charles and his Funk & Soul Club), Geordies Jonathan Watson (Smoove) and John Turrell are best
known for their live act, which are renowned for channelling the northern soul vibe and ethos, but they
prefer the term ‘northern funk’.
“To be honest we never really classed ourselves as northern soul,” explains Jonathan, “but we tended
to find a lot of soul heads were attending our live gigs which helped us realise that our music appealed
to the northern soul scene too, which is cool.”
Smoove has been DJing and producing for over two decades, cutting his teeth around the Newcastle
and Sunderland club scene. Turrell fronted The Stevies prior to the duo’s partnership, after which
their first limited edition 7” single, 2007’s I Can’t Give You Up became much sought after. Their debut
album in 2009, Antique Soul was equally well received and followed by Eccentric Audio two years later.
Their third album is due to land very soon.
“It’s taken over two years to record the new album,” says Jonathan, “but the process has been a
massive labour of love. All the songs are written and recorded so the album is virtually in the bag. We
don’t want to give too much away but we were very ambitious with the sound. We wanted to create
and have been working alongside some of the musicians from the live band we tour with. The drums
and rhythm section still play a prominent part of our sound but we have also been adding big string
sections and huge brass arrangements to create an orchestral feel to some of the production.”
This evening follows a successful Welsh appearance at Troyfest earlier this year, and should showcase
their back catalogue and those who influence them. “We’ll be blowing everyone’s socks clean off,”
Jonathan concludes. “Everyone will be leaving at the end of the night with very sore feet from
dancing!” Tickets: £12. Info: 01792 475147 RYAN HEEGER
BIZARRE RIDE II THE PHARCYDE
The Globe, Cardiff
Tue 3 Dec
Just to get this out of the way: Bizarre Ride
II The Pharcyde Live is not actually The
Pharcyde. It is Fatlip and SlimKid3 along
with Pharcyde producers J-Sw!ft & L.A.
Jay. Or, as The Pharcyde’s manager tells
Buzz: “That will not be The Pharcyde. That
is a tribute band put together by Delicious
Vinyl with former ex-members and standins. That is why you don’t see the shows
advertised on the website. Pure fuckery.”
With that clarified, what is apparent is
that this tour is proving to be very popular
– probably more so than anything the
official band are currently enjoying – with
fans of the album old and new filling up
venues and appreciating the opportunity
to get close to some of those responsible.
Let’s be honest, anyone who’s seen Spike
Jonze’s documentary about Fatlip will
know that he’s probably worth the ticket
price alone.
Bizarre Ride... was The Pharcyde’s 1992
debut which eventually went gold and saw
them go from South Central club brats to
a global touring circus. It was hailed as a
refreshing removal from the usual guns
and gangsta output from their peers, with
humorous skits and interludes. There was
also plenty of questionable misogynist
material, such was the period of the
genre. Expect this to be in keeping with
the playful original. Tickets: £15. Info:
[email protected] (RH)
DJ KENNY
Bassment, Newport
Sat 9 Nov
The Bassment, formerly known as Six Feet
Under, is currently one of the top venues
to hit up in south Wales if you want to get
down to the latest dancehall and reggae
direct from Jamaica. Granted, this isn’t
saying that much, but they’ve had a few
marquee bookings in 2013, and the second
Saturday of the month sees the club host
a night informally called Love How Yuh
Body Look, and headlined by DJ Kenny,
a selector who’s over in the UK from
Jamaica for a couple of dates.
Kenroy Batten, trading as DJ Kenny since
the late 90s, has been called ‘The Mixtape
Man’, which seems accurate – it feels
like the dude assembles five CD-length
mixes every day before breakfast. As such,
he avoids getting locked into one style:
you might encounter autotune-heavy,
club-friendly dancehall bangers on a
Kenny mix, sure, but there are lovers rock
and roots reggae mixes (for example) out
there for your download and delectation,
all with brilliantly terrible cover art. At a
guess, when Kenny headlines tonight he’ll
play uptempo crowdpleasers, as I can’t