This time from Cardiff ‘Future Garage’ producers Didz + Chico. The video is for their excellent track ‘Something New‘, due for release on Doc Daneeka‘s 10,000 Yen label.

Traffic’s ringleader and purveyor of party antics, Jack Doran, managed to grab a few moments with rising star,Kanji Kinetic prior to his perfomance at CAI on Oct 1st.This is how the interview unfolded…..
 

To catch Kanji Kinetic @ CAI.
Traffic presents…FRIDAY 1st OCTOBER 2010
9pm-4am

The next generation of rappers have now fully embraced the new wave of Electronic producers. From Electro to Dubstep from Party to Political, we bring you a selection of those who are set to lead the charge for the future.
To celebrate the Astroid Boys’ debut single ‘Jungle Booku’, Cardiff Arts Institute are holding a night of mayhem featuring innovative, game changing performers who know how to get your socks slippin’.

Astroid… Boys are a collection of talented local artists who produce tracks deliciously reaking of dubstep to hiphop.

Their debut single featured with tasty homegrown video released by Juvenile Scum Records can be found here,
have a gander;

In an era of homogeneous hip hop, the music of DELS comes as a breath of proverbial fresh air. DELS’ signature sound belies a truly eclectic range of musical influences featuring a long-standing creative partnership with Joe Goddard from electro-pop wonder team Hot Chip.

Here’s DELS new release ‘Shapeshift’ which has been taken by storm by the likes of Radio 1;

Don’t miss out on a night of a new movement, that’d just be silly wouldn’t it?

22:00-04:00 hours.

£2 before 11pm/Free w/Regulars card
£4 11pm+/£3 w/Regulars card

LINTON BROWN // ITAL LION // WASCAL

So the sunshine is officially at blazing degrees and the music has taken a turn for the brighter. The past few weeks I have been rinsing a certain mixtape by UK Dubstep producer Linton Brown called Summer Of Lovestep. This is a far step away from your deep dark wobbling malarkey and along with Linton’s own productions has a total summer vibe that suits the weather perfectly. Looking forwards to a long hot night this Friday bubbling to something a bit different, definitely loving the way this season is switching up. Plus also hyped to have Ital Lion, who is long over due a slot at Cardiff Arts Institute, having been a major contributor to the Cardiff scene for a long time and one of the pioneers for Dubstep in the city. Along with Monky and Stagga he was probably one of the first Dubstep producers to really buzz me as was pretty much ignorant to the rest of the scene before then and even now his productions are totally unique. Lastly is Wascal, who was one of the producers I was feeling most whilst in Bristol last year but also one of the most overlooked His productions don’t sit easily in the Dubstep bracket bringing in elements of Techno, Hip-hop, Garage, DnB, etc to create something unique. Of course now that producers such as Pangaea, Untold, Ramadanman, etc are going down a similar route, Wascal’s productions are more relevant than ever.

Friday 2nd July: Wascal – Sub Mission by cardiffartsinstitute
Friday 2nd July: Ital Lion – Pump up the Volume & Bass by cardiffartsinstitute
10pm – 4am
£2 before 11pm (Free with Regulars Card) // £4 after (£3 WRC)

For those of you who haven’t managed to buy / blag tickets for Glastonbury yet. Have no fear, you may be missing out on a few incredible bands but you can still catch me and the CHROME KIDS before we head off there to rock it once again. We shall be doing a rare appearance this Friday and I’m really looking forwards to testing some killer tune on you all. If you’re still not familiar with what we do, have a little listen to this 20 minute mix we did for BBC Radio Wales. You can also check the blog at http://www.chromekids.com which has tons of great new music plus our BBC Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra mixes also.

We have some guests coming to play as well. firstly is DR MEAKER, a true Bristolian legend who shall be doing a special DJ Set for us (we shall be bringing the full live experience later in the summer). His tracks have graced many a Radio 1 show from Pete Tong and Zane Lowe to Rob Da Bank and Huw Stephens plus look out for some great remixes for the likes of The King Blues, Mr Fogg and William Orbit.

PLASTIC THUMBS first sent me one of their mixes from the Chrome Kids blog a while back and I was instantly impressed. A great selection of tunes from Dubstep to Glitch hop, Dancehall to D’n'B. Since then they have dropped yet another killer mix and a bunch of bootlegs that have been doing major danage across the blogosphere. When they said they were passing nearby to play at the Beachbreak Live festival I had to invite them over for a visit.

Vol.2 – Just A Demo by Plastic Thumbs

LEX UMBRA are possibly one of the liveliest Hip-hop crews in the city and it was really refreshing to hear them embrace the bass heavy Glitch-hop sound that lends itself almost as much to Dubstep as Hip-hop. These guys always bring alot of energy onstage too so they’re perfect to help tear the roof off our Friday nights.

Check their track on our Soundcloud. There’s a player just to your right.

Although I never generally know what tunes I’m going to take on any given set, there’s a few tracks that I’ll pack for almost any occasion. Jayou makes a lot of these kind of tunes. They’re heavy enough for the wobble massive but not too much for the Futurestep snobs, his Township Funk and Eastern Jam remixes breathed new life into a couple of big but rather over played tracks and even those who think they don’t like Dubstep can generally get down to his bootlegs of Lily Allen and Semisonic. All in all he’s a perfect party DJ for those inclined towards the bass side of life and has amongst his fans, the mighty Diplo, who collaborated with him on a remix for Partysquad and included his ‘Crack Hands’ track on the Major Lazer Essential Mix for BBC Radio 1.

Download: Young Fathers – Automatic (Jayou Remix) via RCRD LBL

Friday June 11th: Jayou – Township Funk Remix (VIP) by cardiffartsinstitute

Also on the night we have one of my favourite Dubstep producers, Magenta. I’ve been a fan of his music since the Drum N Bass days but he really seems to have come into his own with Dubstep. Sometimes his tracks are so big you can’t even imagine some of them working in a club but then when you see both him and the crowd bouncing about and really loving the sound it certainly changes your mind. Check out his Podcast for Neuropol, all his own productions.

NEUROPOL PODCAST 4 – MAGENTA & REUBEN MC

NEUROPOL DUBSTEP

Friday June 11th: Magenta – Transformed Nightmares by cardiffartsinstitute

Oisin has been taking over the occasional hour or so of my Sunday sets for a while now and he is undoubtedly a top class DJ. His mixing skills, enthusiasm and love of the music is unquestionable and even though ‘Jackin House’ sounds like it could be rather a dodgy genre it’s actually just the more soulful and funky end of the House spectrum with some great jazzy riffs alongside total get on the floor beats.

Although Paul B was one of the first people to defend my behaviour when I started getting involved with events outside of the Hip-hop scene, I have always seen him as a straight up die hard Hip-hop fan. I guess he still is but things have changed in that arena and although I’ve been pushing the new sounds such as Glitch hop and Aqua Crunk through Chrome Kids for a while now it’s pretty heart warming to know that DJs such as Paul are on the same page and are still pushing things forwards. In fact tonight he’s planning to rinse out some of his Future Garage sounds, I very much look forwards to what he’s going to pull out of the bag for this one.

All on Friday June 11th at Cardiff Arts Institute
10pm – 4am
£2 Before 11pm (Free with Regulars Card) // £4 After (£3 with Regulars Card)

As we continue our festival month, we have top student five dayer Beach Break Live coming to warm things up and kick things off this Friday before their big blowout from 14th – 18th June. Joining the BBL fellas are Hang The DJ’s Andy Lemay and a fast rising star called Eliphino who has progressed steadily since his Dilla-esque instrumental Hip-hop days on First Word Records (check the free EP below from 2008 for a taste of that) and is now signed up to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label on some exquisite Tribal, Broken Beat, Post Dubstep tip. There’s also Beach Break Live tickets for the 2 best costumes (think Tribal) and if you already have a ticket you can get in free before 11pm.

Check out Eliphino’s new remix for the Randomer & Fife track Slum City.

Slum City (Eliphino’s West Green Road Remix) by eliphino

Download: Eliphino – Seasons EP

I love the fact that so much dance music these days is really hard to put your finger on. Even though most of the acts we have this Friday pretty much fall under the Dubstep umbrella, the variety amongst them is immense.

Pangaea is paramount in the evolution of the sound and alongside his Hessle Audio compadres Untold and Ramadanman is one of the most important Dubstep producers out there at the moment. With elements of Techno, House, Funky, Tropical, Rave and more thrown into the mix and both an ear for beautiful music and an eye for the dancefloor it should be one of the most exciting sets we’ve seen at CAI for a while.

Listen / Download: Pangaea – BBC Radio 1 Mix

http://www.percussionlab.com/sets/pangaea/bbc_radio_1_mix

Just as exciting for me at the moment is what is the tunes coming out from Cardiff producer Monky. He’s also stepping away from the traditional Dubstep style and playing with sounds and rhythms in such an exciting way that it can only be good for this city.

Listen: Monkey – FutureMajikDubSoulVol1

http://www.mixcloud.com/chromekids/monkey-futuremajikdubsoulvol1/

To both compliment and contrast these fellas we have the Central Spillz crew, a fun bunch of Bristolian DJs and MCs who carry that perfect mix of party style jump up and deeper conscious stuff so that what they bring is a show rather than just a bunch of guys on a mic over Dubstep, also Drokkr from Ireland, who is from the sheer filth and fury brand of producers and will top the night of just perfect whilst on the warm up slot we have Adam Corner, a true connoisseur of the dancefloor who will make sure the place is just toasty for all involved.

Listen: Adam Corner – CAI Friday Night Mix

http://www.mixcloud.com/cai/adam-corner-friday-night-mix/

Join the Facebook Group for more info.

Even though the three days of the Bank Holiday weekend are very different, they all manage to incorporate some of my favourite acts. So I personally am really looking forwards to it, even if the thought of three days of party fun is a touch daunting these days.

The last Traffic night with Jazzsteppa was amazing, such a great crowd and the group themselves absolutely rocked. This time they’re bringing down one of my favourite DJ / Producers, who I’ve been keeping an eye on since I first caught a few big and brutal dubz on AC Slater’s ‘Palms Out’ blog back in 2008. Since then High Rankin‘s tracks have far exceeded any of the typical exponents of the heavy Dubstep sound such as Rusko or Caspa and although a lot of the Dubstep scene have moved on to the future-step sounds of Untold, Mosca and Pangaea (who is playing at CAI on Friday May 21st), High Rankin remains respected by most in the business.

High Rankin is playing on Friday 30th April. Check out this brilliant (and rather poignant) video and download his new remix for the chart topping ‘Why Don’t You’.

Download: Gramaphonedzie – Why Dont You (High Rankin & Evolve or Die Remix)

The first time I caught a couple of Johnny Cage & The Voodoo Groove members play was in a living room during the early hours of the morning, it was quite a show then but add a few more fantastic musicians, a couple of burlesque girls and believe me you have quite a show. They remain to be one of my firm favourites in the city, plus the fact they double up as the band for rap legends Dead Residents just cements their position as some of the coolest mo fo’s around.

Check out their rather fine version of The Wire theme tune ‘Down In A Hole’.

Johnny Cage & The Voodoo Groove – Down in a Hole by cardiffartsinstitute

It took me a while to find out exactly who Minotaur Shock was. I saw him first at a Red Bull Music Accademy event in Bristol and despite him providing my favourite set of the evening, a few too many complimentary drinks made me forget to check his name. Luckily I caught him next supporting LA beatsmith Nosaj Thing and remembered to write his name down that time. Despite being a solo performer he builds up his tracks using various instruments and machines with such a love for the music it is fascinating and rather heart warming to watch. There’s no one particular style, just straight up good music that has seen him release albums on the incredible 4AD label, and remix the likes of Super Furry Animals, Bloc Party and Badly Drawn Boy.

Download: Minotaur Shock – My Burr

Both Johnny Cage & The Voodoo Groove + Minotaur Shock are playing on Saturday May 1st.

I couldn’t think of a better mix of music then early Jazz Swing with Hip-hop and Drum N Bass. Obviously a lot of people feel the same because The Correspondents are hot festival property at the moment. They’ve even been snapped up for Bestival head honcho Rob Da Bank’s ‘Sunday Best’ label. It definitely helps that front man Mr Bruce has boundless amounts of energy and seems to Charleston throughout the whole set. Last time I caught them was at a jam packed Koko in Camden and they rocked it so really looking forwards to this, plus with Callaghans now pretty much defunct I think Cardiff Arts Institute might be the perfect spiritual home for Secret Carnival this summer.

The Correspondents are playing on Sunday May 2nd with fellow 30s throwbacks Top Shelf Jazz, an Electro Swing set from Ibiza Legend Nicky Holloway and plenty more Secret Carnival (formerly Secret Garden) fun. Here’s a video of theirs and a track for you to download.

Download: The Correspondents – The Course Of Last Night