Monday, May 31, 2010

DO IT! live jam # 1

End of May and getting ready for some major upcoming DO IT! gigs, The Villa on the 12th June and 25th June at Blå with esteemed and much revered guests Mweslee and Telephones, myself (Uraki Riddim), Inko and the Cupofill illustration crew hooked up for a bit of a jam session. Inko has been working on some really sick live stuff recently developing his already progressive production skills, on show on his myspace, and through online releases such as the great Oscillations compilation. I dropped some beats and scratches on one turntable and a mixer while Inko went through his new beats on the MPD. As with all DO IT! events there was a visual backdrop; on this occasion it was Cupofill, who sketched with some fat black markers on white paper live to the heavy sounds we created. Attached are some pics from the session and a rough recording (real rough as this was the first time Inko and I ever hooked up). We hope you enjoy it. It's gonna be something fresh and ready to bust your eardrums and a groove for June 25th!
Live session 28.05.10 by Uraki Riddim

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Nou Norge Gem in the Rough

Scotland on Sunday recently published my travel piece on coastal Norwegian town Ålesund. The vibrancy of the town combined with the enthusiastic forward thinking from local creatives such as architects Sandbakk & Patterson and the owners of design hub and gourmet coffee cafe Invit left me with a memorable and favorable impression. Aside from these innovators there was room for restauarants with water-side access to allow for the delivery of fresh seafood everyday and a hotel designed by the world renowned architects Snøhetta, Hotel Brosundet. While the experience was resoundingly positive, when comparing my hometown of Aberdeen to Ålesund it paints a grey picture of the lack of culture vibrancy supported by the local state and private sector in Scotland's Granite City. With proposed projects such as concreting over a renowned Victorian garden (one of the only green spaces in the city centre) to become a carpark and consumer playground it is left to young artists to support themselves and develop Aberdeen's culture identity independently. One of the few sprouts of green shoots in the creative sector in Aberdeen has been the transofrmation of a derelict basement site into the base for 26 Collective. I hope that for the sake of the city, these young innovators are allowed to flourish and paint a more gleaming picture of the city.
scanned image of Scotland on Sunday, Spectrum magazine 9th May 2010.