Music / News

Introducing… DJ Spooky // & The Fresh out the Box EP

Continuing the series of interviews “Introducing” people you probably already know. I caught up with a non stop working Grime DJ and producer, by the name of Spooky. The Murderer EP is out on Vinyl on the 10th of May, and has received mountains of support from various radio DJ’s. With this and a whole heap of stuff in the pipeline, now seemed like the perfect time to catch up with the Spooky one himself, but he also decided to drop a free EP just for the Boxfresh gang. So make sure you download, Spooky’s – “Fresh out the Box EP” after you check out the interview.

DJ Spooky

For those who dont already know, Who is Spooky? What do you do?

I am a Grime DJ & producer but I also dabble with Dubstep, Funky house & the old skool UK garage.

How did you get the name DJ Spooky?

It’s just a DJ name I gave myself from young really, and because I looked much older than I was, people found that ‘Spooky’. So it stuck.

You currently have an EP forthcoming on Oil Gang recordings, how did you hook up with them?

I’ve known the label boss for a while & when he got a set on Sub FM, he asked me for a couple beats. Sent him over some stuff, he spun a couple bits on his show, then approached me about putting together this EP.

What else are you working on at the moment?

Got loads of remixes I’m in the process of either starting, half-way through or just at the finishing line with. Plus I’m waiting on a couple vocals to get back to me, got a funky project lined up & I’m pushing to get both ‘Final Lap Remix’ & ‘Spartan’ out by summer.

How do you go through the creative process?

I started off on Fruity Loops but I’ve been battering Reason since 2004. I did relapse back into FL in 2005/6 but now it’s Reason all the way! & I dont really choose people to work with to be honest. I just make beats. If a MC likes it & he wants to voice it & I feel they can do the job, I’ll send them the tune.

What are your main influences?

I’m influenced by anything. I could be listening to my Walkman or I would catch the set before or after my sets and hear something that makes me wanna go & make beats. I could even be watching TV, listening to the radio or randomly searching the iTunes!

Who are you feeling in the UK right now?

Newham Generals.

Who would you like to work with/reach out to?

Any of the grime A-listers. But I dont think they can handle my beats let alone spit or sing on them. My energy is too much for most of them. Think all that talk about swagger has worn them out to be honest.

Have you got any big plans in the pipeline?

I was thinking of doing an all star vocal of ‘Spartan’ but no MC is worthy of that beat. Just gonna focus on getting my Ghost House label up & running, doing mix CD’s & pushing the Spooky name.

You recently tore down Chockablock/The GrimeForum awards, are there any more events we can catch you at in the near future?

Nope. And you can blame the promoters that know about me but do not wanna book me for that one. Sidewinder, Dirty Canvas & Urban Nerds & FWD for prime examples. Big up JP & all the Chockablock massive though.

Any shouts?

Big up all my Slew Dem crew, Urban FM family, Ice Cold FM family, Lush FM family, all my London crew, everyone who’s supported me and those who are getting my support. The legacy has begun.

Any thing else you wanna mention?

For those that don’t wanna know me or are trying to ignore me….. ‘I’ll was here from the start, i’ll be here in the end.’

Here’s the link for my free giveaway:


It’s a 4 track EP compiled exclusively for this Boxfresh interview called ‘Fresh Out The Box EP’ containing 4 vocal tracks including the Skepta ‘Bad Boy’ remix, the ‘OGeezus’ track with OG’z, a Merky ACE vocal & a M.I.K vocal. They were all given away for free download seperately over the past couple months so I thought I might as well put them all together in 1 folder so that people know what’s what.


Add the Myspace, Twitter, the Facebook group for all the weekly updates from Spooky. Also check out Soundcloud (spookydanja) & the Mixcloud (spookybizzle) as well.

Anyone wants to contact me for bookings, tell them to inbox ‘Spooky Bizzle’ on Facebook & they dont need to add me as a friend in order to do so LOL.

Make sure you check out Spookys blog here: spookybizzle.wordpress.com


Catch him on radio:
Every wednesday 8-10pm & friday night/saturday morning 12-2am on www.UrbanFMTV.com playing the best in grime
and every wednesday night/thursday morning 12-2am on Ice Cold 103.0 FM & www.IceColdFM.co.uk playing the best in UK funky

The ‘OGeezus’ track
P Money’s Daily Duppy send for Ghetts
D Double ‘Bassline Murder’

 

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categories: Music, News, News

The Over Excess EP // & A guest mix for the House of Grime.

I recently dropped a free Grime Instrumental EP over for the guys at Grimeforum, and with nothing but kind words and a mind blowing amount of downloads so far, I realised I better share it with you guys as well.

overexcessepClick the picture or here for more details.

I also dropped a half hour guest mix for Frankstah’s, House of Grime Blog. Nothing but straight Grime, mixed like, well mixed like me. Of course I’m kinda sick.

Again click the picture or here for more details.

Enjoy!

 

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categories: Mix Tapes, Music, News, News

Geo // CSRFM // The Producer Showcases

I’ve finally got around to it. I haven’t been on the blog for a while because life is hectic right now, but my last few weeks on CSRFM are quickly approaching(my last few weeks at uni for that matter), and I thought now would be a good time to round up all the instrumental showcases from progressing grime producers, that I’ve had on the radio show so far.

If you dont already know about my show, Geography, and how sick it is. Then click here, take your pick, and get educated.

This year I’ve been dedicating 20 minute mixes to some underated grime producers, who have been sending me bangers through out the period and if you missed out on any of theses mixes heres your chance to read up and give them a listen.

Moony:
Moony – Barley
Moony – The Circus
Moony – Mathematics
Moony – Pepper sauce
Moony – Tick Boom
Moony – LongRed
Moony – MD
Moony – Marked
Moony – Dumplin
Moony – Calling
Moony – Watch Dis
Moony -
Moony – 121
DOWNLOAD THE MOONY MIX HERE

Jack Daniels:
Jack Daniels – Batslice
Jack Daniels – Blaow
Jack Daniels – Untitled?
Jack Daniels – Dangerous
Jack Daniels – No 7
Jack Daniels – CPU
Jack Daniels – Hydrolic
DOWNLOAD THE JACK DANIELS MIX HERE

Exo Remedy:
DOK – Akuma(Exo Remedy Remix)
Exo Remedy – Down for you
Exo Remedy – Baghead
Exo Remedy – The Joker
Exo Remedy – Skitzo
Exo Remedy – Pacman
Exo Remedy – Muggins
Exo Remedy – Demon
Exo Remedy – Dieselhead
Exo Remedy – Shooter
Exo Remedy – Turtleface
DOWNLOAD THE EXO REMEDY MIX HERE

Splurt:
Splurt – Lewisham
Splurt – Goodnight VIP
Splurt – Nosebleed
Splurt – Money
Splurt – Cough Medicine
Splurt – Cha Chong
Splurt – Asleep
Splurt – Surprise
Splurt – Spew VIP
DOWNLOAD THE SPLURT MIX HERE

SNK:
SNK – Writers Block
SNK ft OGz – Passin Thru
SNK – Pinball Wizard
SNK – It’s Me
SNK ft OGz – Not A boy
SNK – Ming
SNK – Slasher
SNK ft OGz – 8 Bar
SNK – Chilli Plant
SNK – Hope I’m Joking
SNK – Drama School
SNK ft P Money – Nah Breddah
SNK – West Hill
SNK – Wavy
DOWNLOAD THE SNK MIX HERE

Sketch’E:
Sketch’E – Deepsix
Sketch’E – Waterbed
Sketch’E – Olympian
Sketch’E – Violent Ego
Sketch’E – Shotgun
Sketch’E – Project X
Sketch’E & Klassic – Sarin
Sketch’E – Carcass
Sketch’E – Strungo
Sketch’E – Caps Lock Voice
Sketch’E & Klassic – Sarin Remix
Sketch’E – Power outage
Sketch’E – Quantum Leap
Sketch’E – Ceramics
Sketch’E & Klassic – Sweet Dreams
Sketch’E – 9th Dan
DOWNLOAD THE SKETCHE MIX HERE

Also look out for the second batch of showcases on the show, coming really soon.
Take it easy!

 

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categories: Music, News, News

What Went On Round Our House…

Poster for House Party #2Easter kitchen shot

There’s not a whole lot of examples where the sequel is better than the original but the House Party 2 – not the 1991 ‘hilarious’ film featuring Kid ‘n’ Play but our own take on domestic revelry featuring cheese and pineapple on sticks – seems to have garnered some pretty impressive reviews.
 
“More of the same from the people who put on the best New Year party we’ve seen in years” The Guardian Guide.
 
“the one place that can bring back the memories of some of your most treasured teenage nights but with none of the curfew issues” The Manchester Evening News
 
Sticking with the film analogy that’s wearing as thin as a Hollywood leading lady, the cast list was pretty impressive too. Our papps grabbed shots of members of Elbow, The View, The Courteeners and Kid British variously dancing, cavorting and propping up the bar and we’d got all our favourite DJs under the one roof for one night only.

Easter eddy and envyEaster boxfresh kid

The doors opened at 8pm when our 12 hours of preparations were completed (all hail the magical powers of The Ruby Lounge’s Sarah) – the teenager’s bedroom sported some groovy new space themed wallpaper alongside the videos, cars and  health and safety friendly dartboard. Heck, this time we even has a real life ‘Mum’ perched in bed with rollers, dressing gown and multiple copies of TV Quick. There was a steady succession of overly refreshed party goers taking a power nap on the bed, only to rise Lazarus-like to get stuck back into proceedings by jumping on the beds.
 
Ornaments got broken and things got nicked – all £3,000 worth of the Boxfresh T shirts, and bags as well as the England shirts, hoodies and training tops from Umbro. Eagle eyed Will Cooper decoded the cryptic message on the postcard from Jamaica on the side of the fridge and figured it was the VIP Kendal Tickets and the lucky person who bought to 100th Jack Daniel’s got the tickets for the JD Set gig featuring Tim Burgess, John Cooper Clarke and The Whip.
 
The garden was a spring like blast of tulips and daffodils with Ciaran’s hand painted hanging baskets and the tree that just about survived the last shindig. Musical highlights were supplied from the likes of Good Vibrations who partied like it was 1969 and Mind on Fire dropping the brass band version of Snoop Dogg’s finest hour. The Wasted Little DJs not only brought their favourite records but also a bag of gorgeous vintage dresses – one of which was seen on a boy in Burger King at 4AM – Nice!

Will Cooper winning himself two tickets to Kendal Calling festival!

Will Cooper winning himself two tickets to Kendal Calling festival!

Loose Fit smashed it with their DJ/Live hybrid thang showcasing their new tracks that have been remixed by Greg Wilson and Envy and Eddy Temple-Morris delivered on their promise of something unique for an MC DJ mash up of her new album and his Dance Rocks remixes. The London contingent in the shape Allez Allez and Chop Shop arrived en masse in their very own minibus and brought a little bit of what makes them so popular at Fabric and Cargo – their first gig where the catering is ham sandwiches and space raiders and served in our best 70s crockery.
 
Any fears that Easter over indulgence would affect anyone’s stamina were put to one side as Juicy and Murkage took over from 2am till chucking out time with some of the best party sounds you could wish for. As quickly as we could sneak more beer into the fridge it was snaffled by the sell out crowd and hot cross buns couldn’t be re-stocked fast enough.

Easter boxfresh stageEaster Kieren and Char
People filed out with everything from washing baskets to all our family snaps and we had two hours of sweeping up the broken ornaments and crushed monster munch till we emerged blinking into the daylight for our walk of shame in all our party frocks and newly acquired garments. Keep your eyes peeled for next time the folks are away…

easter dancingeaster dancingEaster colour busyEaster boxfresh sam dan

 

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categories: Events, Music, News, Press

American Apparel Riot VID !!!

Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heard It Kicked off at the AA Store On Friday but I had no Idea It was this Mega.

Check the Dude That stood on the car. Do you think he had  a Gladiator moment thinking he could run through all the Police like that? WHERE the hell is Shadow when you need him cos clearly the Police couldn’t handle this one.

THEY WERE STRUGGLING!!!!

Check it out

What do you think? Are the clothes realllly that important or was this pre planned?

 

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categories: News

Chemical Brothers announce new album – ‘Further’

Intergalactic rave behemoths The Chemical Brothers have announced their studio return with the release of album ‘Further’ on June 7. Three years after dropping acclaimed ‘We are the night’, and following a touring schedule that’s blown the roofs off thousands of parties and a hole in the ozone layer, Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons are back, but not (quite) as you know them.

The+Chemical+Brothers
“For a band used to dealing in psychedelics, this time round The Chemical Brothers have really pushed the proverbial envelope,” says a spokesperson for the duo. Not only that, but ‘Further’s’ psychedelic escapades will be accompanied by eight individual films corresponding to each track – all directed by Marcus Lyall and Adam Smith, the guys behind the Chemicals’ infamously trip-tastic live visuals.

Those of you Irish enough to have bagged tickets to the boys’ Roundhouse shows (May 20-23), or any of their summer festival appearances, can expect a full audio-visual smorgasbord, with both the album and accompanying visual stimuli played out in their entirety.

For more info on the album and live dates, head over to thechemicalbrothers.com

Words by Nick Stevenson for Mixmag

 

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categories: Music, News

Small Talk with DJ LoK

DJ LoK, a record collector, beat-maker, digger. An all round music enthusiast and close friend of TOTR, he took time out of his busy schedule to have a bit of ‘Small Talk’ with us.

Twittering or Texting?

Texting I think. If you want a quick answer or it’s something more direct then I find a text is better. Not everyone is on Twitter all the time.

Ribs or Chicken wings?

Chicken Wings all day! Jerk, Cajun, BBQ, Southern fried, it don’t matter which.

Record shops or iTunes?

Record shops. I work in one. iTunes is cool and convenient but I like to find stuff that you won’t be finding on there.

Cinema or DVD?

I’m a big film fan, I love a film. Cinema for the experience but I do like the fact that you can sit in the quiet and also pause a DVD.

DJing or Producing?

I’ve always been a DJ, DJing is my thing. I make beats more as a creative outlet for myself. I collect records so I find making beats a creative extension to that. I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself a ‘producer’. If anyone comes along who wants to rap on anything and I’m feeling what they’re doing then it’s a nice bonus to create something.

Mr thing or Shortee Blitz?

Ha! That’s unfair! Lol! Along with Jazzy Jeff they are my main and biggest influences as DJ’s. They are two of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet too. Mr Thing brought me into the scene as well as being a good friend and I had tapes of Shortee on KISS before I even knew him!
I can’t choose! Lol.

Beyonce or Rhianna?

Haha! Well that depends on what they’re gonna be doing.

Books or Magazines?

I used to read both. Not so much anymore, I find myself reading about things online mostly. I tend to have a short attention span and can be easily distracted by other things on my mind.

UK hip hop or US hip hop?

I like both! I like good rappers with good lyrics and strong flows and more sample based beats. Some of the electronic stuff coming out is nuts tho! I’m liking a lot of UK stuff right now, there’s some really good material coming out.

You can catch DJ LoK at our next event on Friday 9th April alongside H-Boogie, Islington Boys Club, Hammer and Tha Fu. You can also follow DJ LoK on Twitter and check out some of his beats by visiting his Myspace.

Check out DJ LoK’s latest podcast:
DJ LoK – podcast march 2010 by djlokuk

Photo by Josh MG

 

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categories: Collaborations, Events, Music, News

London Pirate Radio

This is a great documentary, it’s an exploration into the history and current state of the London Pirate radio scene. A must see for everyone who’s ever played on or tuned into a pirate or just casually enjoyed any of the underground music our great city has to offer.

Shouts to Vice, Palladiumboots, and Matt Mason for some great viewing.

There’s also a mixtape from Grime DJ Logan Sama to promote it. Click here to download “Logan Sama – Still keepin it Grimy” now.

 

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categories: Music, News, News, Video

The Growing Pains of Teen Music pioneers… Part 2

Our mates down in Exeter bring us an update on how their plans to get a night and band started are going. Henry finds that living up to his musical icons is pretty tough, especially when one band member up sticks while Blaise continues to learn the pains but, most importnantly, the gains of promoting.

Along with a few bands the night will also host Dirty Digits, the school kids currently making dub-tech-step crazy tunes which is reinvigorating the genre to our ears. Check out the Nina Simone remix on their MySpace too, sounds like it could be car crash dance material but there they prove their remixing potential is slowly being fully unlocked… 

Dirty Digits – Sex With Socks

THE EVENT
Up until a few days ago everything seemed to be clean sailing with Freshly Baked Music- ticket sales were strong, demand was high, everything was better than you could hope for a first time event. Then Thursday rolled along rather in a rather depressing fashion, all bad news and reality checks; it would appear that I had somewhat underestimated the escalation of costs. I mean if I sell out all 100 tickets I’ll make £400, and costs are already reaching upwards of three hundred pounds.

However despite this midweek slump I haven’t exactly been short of inspiration; Wild Beasts on Tuesday with several members of The Darlingtons (one of the acts I’m putting on) and half of Pablo Picasso gave a classy example of how things could be put together tastefully and impressively, whilst Scorsese’s instant classic (in my eyes) Shutter Island inspired me for the future- could film nights be a way of expanding the Freshly Baked brand?

Another upside is that it is looking highly probable that there will be few if any tickets available by the end of next week, such is the demand- as supply falls people are starting to realize they can’t leave it till the last minute. Luck has also played its part, as many people have agreed to help- it’s very much been a collaborative effort. Everyone keeps pitching in and despite the various problems I get the impression that it’ll work itself out in the end.
Blaise Radley

20334_1276145995935_1598536453_660392_1086830_n

 

THE BAND
Alright…Matt has left the band, Sam has only just now returned from Paris, gig in one month…Keeping things moving has been a battle to say the least. I suppose, I have had the time to make pictures of smokey dog monsters crunching up Justin Bieber’s babyish head; I’d say that has been the one and only plus this fortnight.

 

Being told, not by him, but by a friend, that Matt was leaving the band wasn’t exactly heart warming; although we all knew he was never really ‘with’ the band, to be told by him would have been less frustrating. Worry and stress were really leaving an impression on band practise, so we decided take a break last week and hit the golf course. Golf: relieving, relaxing and alleviative. Although we weren’t furious I think I can safely say neither of us would mind him being struck in the back of the head by one of our many poorly struck golf balls. Brilliantly struck golf balls I should say. Before long, mirages of Matt’s thin face were appearing everywhere, provoking us to fire toward wherever they bobbed up. All balls, clubs and tempers were lost; it became evident that we were both angrier than we pretended to be and that there is never a good time for golf…EVER.

32 days until we stand in front of 100 people: 30 Justin Bieber fans 50 drunken idiots and 20 good’uns. Hoping we’ll make some impact on the Bieberian generation. Still, definitely need more practice.
Henry Johns

 

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categories: Collaborations, Events, Music, News

Cinema Tickets for a Pound!

cine

I just found this, and because I think you should all take me on a date I’m posting it for you. It’s a little secret that gets you cinema tickets for one royal British Pound. The deal is too good to miss, so get on www.mycitydeals.co.uk, and please ask me out. Thanks.

 

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categories: Events, Events, News