When looking back at some of the fantastic occasions I’ve had at festivals over the years, it’s tricky to pick one that stands out more than any of the others. Perhaps it was this moment at Bestival when I grabbed some bloke out the crowd who looked like he wanted to jump in my mate Paloma’s (inflatable) wedding photo. It wasn’t til just before the shot was taken and I’d made a new alcohol fuelled best mate that I looked at him properly and realised it was Suggs, who it turned out was playing a ‘secret set’ with his old band. If I do decide on this one then my outfit for our Big Festival Fancy Dress Party would probably be some classic Madness style suit and tie, as the idea is to come dressed up as your favourite festival moment. This could mean digging out or recreating the costume you had on when it happened, dressing up as your favourite festival band, covering yourself in mud or even trying to recreate a replica of the Giant Ninja Hamster that spoke to you during a DMT hallucination. If your interpretation needs to get abstract that’s probably quite fitting.

To help you recreate the moment we have a fantastic festival band in the shape of Sicknote, whom I have enjoyed jumping around to in fields across the country on many occasions and who always bring that party vibe with them wherever they go. Plus Funk-Ska troop King Louis Collective will be returning for some foot stomping fun and frolics.

We’d also like you to email us with your festival moments, we shall print these out which will save you from having to retell the story and explain your costume too many times on the night. Send it over, either quick or epic to:

info@cardiffartsinstitute.org

The Big Festival Fancy Dress Party
Saturday 19th June
10pm – 4am
£2 Before 11pm (Free with Regulars Card) // £4 After (£3 with Regulars Card)

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.

It’s difficult to put a finger on the funk. It’s kind of what happens when someone takes the Blues and flips it from sorrow to sex. It’s the return of the feel good factor that reaches deeper than the soul and it’s the cornerstone of great music from Hip-hop to House. It has been transformed into many guises and this month at CAI we have something of a celebration for all that is funky.

Back in the 70s, before Hip-hop existed in it’s recorded form, DJs such as Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaata and Grandmaster Flash would take the ‘breakbeat’ from heavy funk tracks by the likes of James Brown and The Meters and mix them back to back to create a drum loop for the Rappers to rap over and the B Boys to get down on the floor and Breakdance to. Since then funk has been a big part of the B Boy scene, even after the average Hip-hop listener forgot the roots of the music. So it’s only right that for the ‘Ya Don’t Stop’ After Party taking place on Saturday 5th June, we have one of the country’s best Funk bands Cantaloop to come down and play a set.

I remember the band well from the early Toucan days. Back then you never knew what band was going to turn up on any given Saturday but it was always a pleasure when Cantaloop rocked up and it’s a privilege to be able to bring them down and carry on the tradition. They’ve been doing well since those days working with the likes of the Fun Loving Criminals and I really look forwards to catching them again.

Saturday June 5th: Cantaloop – Psycho Stalker by cardiffartsinstitute

Also on that Saturday we have two guest DJs. One of them is Welsh Hip-hop Pioneer and all round legend DJ Jaffa and the other is a fellow veteran and compiler of some classic Breaks and Electro (the 80s kind not the newer incarnation) albums, before he moved over to China and helped to set up and facilitate both the China Breakdance Championships and the Chinese DMC Championships, DJ DSK. I can think of no better soundtrack for the herd of Breakdancers set to join us from the Ya Don’t Stop event. On a different tip though, as the sun has beating down recently, here’s a mix from DJ Jaffa that suits the weather just perfectly.

Dj Jaffa – Here Come’s The Sun Mix by Cardiff Arts Institute on Mixcloud

I admit when Pascal from Péchés Mignons first approached me about Benin City I hadn’t actually heard of them before, but it only took a quick video to convince me. Since then I’ve seen their name pop up all over the place. From tracks with Hyperdub dons LV to live performances on E4’s Uderbelly. Plus they have high praise from the likes of Craig Charles (“I love this band!…They’re tearing the roof off!”) and Mark Lamarr (“Woah nelly…incredible!…they make me want to be young again!”), two DJs who are well know for bringing the funk to a wider audience with their BBC Radio 2 shows. I’m looking forwards to working with the Jekajo Sessions guys on our regular Saturday night slots and I think they’ve definitely struck gold with their first booking.

Benin City, “Snakepit” by Benin City

Saturday June 12th: Benin City – Boogieman by cardiffartsinstitute
From Benin City the band to Benin the place, which is where many of the tracks in this next mix have been picked from. But first a little explanation. Now I’ve been a fan of Afrobeat and African music in general for many years. I used to stay up late to listen to Andy Kershaw’s show, mainly because he used to play some great dub and reggae but I would often hear the likes of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, or the West Coast Mbalax singers such Youssou N’Dour. Years later when I would by their records, I was fascinated by the way that Fela Kuti’s records would last up to half and hour long and the whole side of an album. Some might feel that at jut two songs a record that they were getting a raw deal but you only had to listen to the raw and flowing Funk that shone from that 12” piece of vinyl, to know that you had got the greatest deal on earth. Artists such as Fela and Tony Allen are fairly staple names over here now, as are other African artists such as Baaba Maal and Salif Keita but if you look at the sheer size of the continent and the wealth of talent there you realise that you could never get to hear even a small percentage of the African music that is released.

One man who has gone some way to correcting this is DJ Frank Grossner, who has wandered from country to country scouring for the long lost records that never made their way further than the state’s (often ever changing) boundaries. He has amassed an incredible collection and his Voodoo Funk blog is a true goldmine for fans of African music. It suprises me that CAI is the only stop on his European Tour (on Saturday 26th June with the Ba Ba Boom guys and a live performance from The Cougar) , but I’m certainly not complaining, everyone elses loss is undoubtebly our gain. Here’s one of his many mixes, this time shocasing tracks from Ghana and Nigeria.

Frank Gossner – Ghana Nigeria Connection by Cardiff Arts Institute on Mixcloud

COME ONE, COME ALL. THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN AND THEY’VE BROUGHT THE MUSIC!

CAI’s weekly No Sweat night is being taken over and hosted by your amiable ringmaster: SCRIBER
http://www.myspace.com/the.scriber

New faces. Local underdogs.

FEATURING:

The Lion-Tamers: INCONSIDERATE PARKING
http://www.myspace.com/inconsiderateparking

The Acrobatic Wonder: ELLIE MAKES MUSIC
http://www.myspace.com/elliehurricane

The Human Cannonballs: HALFTIME REPORT

AND

The Fool: ED STOCKHAM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sZS0u2VJdM

Please, help your local Circus.

Yours musically,
SCRIBER

********

Wednesday May 12th 2010
8:00pm.
16+ (though the Fool will jest the U18s out the door at 10pm)
FREE ENTRY

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

Springing back into action, Colourbox opens the doors of CAI once more for a Saturday night jam.

Getting down this month, we welcome some of South Wales’ finest purveyors of Disco, Soul, Funk & House to come and make you twitch your hips at Cardiff Arts Institute. Renown for their ever excellent parties and uber cool taste in music, the “Loose Joints” crew have been running their very own Saturday Night Jams for well over 5 years now, spinning a heady mix of anything goes.

Influenced by their love of Southport Soul and Moody Blues, Ritchie Moulton, Matthew Gobbett and Robert Needham have been laying down the soundtrack to weekend at various venues since they came together in a moody Newport basement over a love of all things vinyl and Luther Van Dross. Dj Toclifrench (Péchés Mignons) will also be joining as he continues his mission to spread the gospel of afro-latin-jazz funk. So, what you waiting for?

Sautrday 20th March
Colourbox presents “Loose Joints” Djs with …

Ritchie Moulton
Matthew Gobbett
Robert Needham
Dj Toclifrench (Péchés Mignons)
& residents
Hosko & Owain K

09:00pm – 03:00am
£2.00 b4 10:30 // £3.00 after

Some people will do absolutely anything to win a poularity contest. Including us. Here’s what we’re willing to do to curry your favour in the race to host Ellie Goulding on February 4th as part of Xbox Reverb.

CAI was chosen alongside Clwb Ifor Bach and Buffalo as the three most likely venues for the show and the decision was handed over to facebook to decide. If you haven’t heard the rallying cry or been to the facebook page to vote, you can’t have been online over the past four or five days.

In the dying hours of the competition – not wanting to rest on laurels, the CAI family created the following.

Anyway – if this urges you to be part of the solution, get yourself over to the xbox reverb facebook page express your love for the CAI.

The winner is announced at 10am this morning, and if nothing else, it was invigourating seeing how passionately people care about independent venues in the ‘diff.

Here’s a Spotify playlist courtesy of Mucky Chops. It has a lot of vintage party rockers and a dash of funk. It’s a mere crumb from the saggy maw of Mucky Chops.

http://open.spotify.com/user/shwmae/playlist/584barg4wMnWRgGdqGghfB

If you’re not on Spotify, I have some spare invites. Email me. Yeah, anyone! First come first served though.

We’re working on “proper” downloadable mixes too, don’t touch that dial.

Thanks to all the reprobates and workshy fops who came to the first Mucky Chops on Sunday.

See you on Sunday! 8pm

Y Cnaf Carl Morris and Baron Paulo von Marshall

That’s right, this Friday the DIG djs and special guest ISLET will be performing in the brand spanking new Cardiff Arts Institute. I was there for the opening and am now well excited about playing through the splendid new soundsystem, oh yes!

One bit of bad news however, our first night has been somewhat marred by mini disasters along the way, I guess that’ll be booking a night on Friday the 13th, that’ll teach us! Anyhoo, Andy Votel unfortunately has had to pull out due to unforseen circumstances. This however IS NOT a cancelleation, merely a postpone, we’re sorting out his next date as we speak, so yes, a little disappointing but only for a short while. Our sincere apologies and Andy sends his along also.

But….

being the upstanding gent that he is, DR Kiko (Primavera sound) has stepped in last minute, a stalwart of the international festival circuit and a curator at the legendary Primavera Festival in Barcelona, Dr Kiko basically knows his onions and will be supplying us with various post punk and no wave pearls to compliment our most exciting live act, that being…..

ISLET!!!

Cardiff group formed from the ashes of several bands that are far greater than the sum of their parts, which is saying a lot as members of Victorian English Gentlemans club, Attack And Defend and Frederick Stanley Star are among their ranks. Relatively new to the Cardiff scene, ISLET have rapidly garnered a great deal of attention and accolades. That’ll probably be because they are SUPER! Double drums, hollering, screaming organs, fuzz guitars all come together in a glorious no wave racket. Their live shows are intense and audience participation is often on the cards. ISLET will perform at about 11pm with Dr Kiko and DIG! djs in support either side until late.