Happy Birthday Bizness

So is that the end of the summer? Blimey that went quick didn't it? I guess I should of known better really than to tempt fate in my last blog entry singing the praises of the great british summertime, especially as we were planning an all day party up on the roof terrace at Moog. Before we knew it August bank holiday Sunday was soon upon us and as many decided to venture down to carnival in that big crazy old London town to indulge in a bit of 'how many humans can we get in one street' game (followed by the popular pastime of 'how long can I hold the contents of my bowel in before it starts coming out of my ears') back up here in Nottingham it was all go for our big Soul Buggin' BBQ. We knew it would be too good for the weather to behave itself and with the wind trying to do a silly impression of Hurricane Katrina we opted to do the whole shebang inside Moog. A slight shame but not the end of the world - this was going to be a 13 hour party after all - come 3am we probably wouldn't be able to remember the name of our mothers let alone worry about the bleedin' weather. We'd invited DiY nutters Osbourne and Woosh, Flash Atkins (from the mighty Paper Recordings stable) as well as balearic assassin of love Steve KIW to join us but also chucked on old Fun Your Ear favourite Dave Pickering who came down from Manchester and before the Eastenders omnibus had started we were off.

With enough kids in the afternoon at one point to nearly open a fully-licensed creche things started nice, serene and sensible before the sun called it a day, the BBQ got packed away and it was eyes down, no talking at the back, nothing in this game for two in a bed. No, we didn't just suddenly have a game of bullseye but more importantly get on the good foot and start raising the tempo as people started to pour in from their bank holiday pub crawls. Messiness ensued as usual and a huge thank you to all our guests but more importantly you lot who drank, danced, bantered and boogied. That's 3 massive bank holiday parties in a row! Superb!



I can't believe we're slap bang into September already. It only feels like a few months ago that we had the legend that is Colin Curtis come over to celebrate our birthday last year (and how big was that session!). I've been doing some calculations to try to fathom exactly how old Soul Buggin' is and if we want to be all proper about things it turns out that this month we're six years old. SIX?! How the hell does that work out? Well come with me on a magical little journey through the dirty kebab-strewn streets of Nottingham for the back story....

Back in 2004 I'd decided to call time on my monthly Noodles night down at Bar None as all manner of madness was going on (another story in itself!) but times were changing for me as I'd just come out of a crazy relationship, was feeling a bit lost, felt extremely thirsty for free beer but most of all really liked the idea of locking down a proper weekly residency to play out the thousands of records I had collected but never really played out. Luck would have it that a random encounter with a bar manager (who I'm reliably informed was probably on drugs at the time) offered me a weekly spot at Bar Humbug (just off Friar Lane, Market Square) and I gratefully accepted. Running every friday night for 5 hours each week we consistently pulled in some great crowds who didn't like the idea of fighting in Walkabout but rather sup away with the sounds of Roy Ayers, 4 Hero, Jazzanova, Jill Scott, MAW and Moodymann pumping into their lugholes. It soon became apparent that this session needed a name, a theme and some branding so I came up with the concept of Soul Buggin'. A name that everyone in the bar kinda liked and after all, it seemed to fit in well with the venue.

A year soon passed and I was on fire. More drunk than ever on free booze, wearing the best threads, perving on anything that couldn't run away but more importantly was buying enough music each week to sink the titanic - I simply couldn't wait to play all this heat out at the weekend. Then disaster struck - with no warning I was told the bar was being sold. Ok I thought, this might not be the end of the world, I might be able to stay as all bars need a DJ right? Yes, all bars do unless your a strip club. Bugger. With the surreal experience of playing one last night while the strip club was open (next level mentalism) I was soon out on the streets and Soul Buggin' was homeless.

All was not lost though as a few months later fellow soul heads Wrighty and Mark A (who I'd randomly met through, erm, Norman Jay's message board some months before) put together the idea of forming a collective all based around a website where we could host mixes and the like. It seemed like a good idea and before long we were off messing up the internet with our musical nonsense with aplomb. As the years passed we decided to put on some one off bank holiday events coupled with a few christmas parties down at The Snug Lounge (once even challenging local disco lords Basement Boogaloo to a dust up) and also started a monthly residency at The Loft. Soon bad luck was to strike Soul Buggin' down again with yet another closure (I was starting to feel jinxed by this point) but as one door closes, another opens as they say and so it did. Enter the Moog.

I guess the rest is history you could say. Over the past two years at moog we've invited a long list of DJs to play with us from local spinners Red Rack'em, Fran Green, Alex Traska, Daddio and stacks of others through to DJs from afar such as Benji B, Domu, Kev Beadle, Colin Curtis, Al Kent, Mudd, Atjazz & Clyde, Scrimshire and so many more. Now as we celebrate our 6th year we thought we should do something special and go big style.

So on Saturday 25th September down at Moog, Newdigate Street here in Nottingham we've invited Simbad (Marathon Men / Raw Fusion) and Charles Webster (Presence / Miso Records) to help pop some party poppers with us. Both DJs are well respected not only behind the decks but twiddling the knobs on the various fine productions they touch and you won't really need me filling you all in on their individual sparkling careers - you lot are a pretty clued up bunch!

Kicking off at 9pm and going through till 3am (and due to the limited capacity) we recommend you get down early for this one and reserve your place on the floorboards (plus it's cheaper entry - £3 before 10.30pm / £5 after). Moog is a very intimate place after all but we kinda like that and always proves to be a great party.

We look forward to raising a glass with you to celebrate our birthday!

x

Beane

PS - On Sunday September 19th I'll be broadcasting a 2 hour tribute to our guests on http://www.myhouse-yourhouse.net at 2pm where I'll be selecting my personal favourite productions, remixes and edits from both Simbad and Charles Webster to get us all in the mood for the following Saturday. The show will be available as a download incase you miss it here >> http://www.beane.podomatic.com

"Sun Sun Sun Sun Sun"

A few weeks ago our humble little Soul Buggin' soiree decided to have a bath, comb the old barnet, pull its socks up, put on some nice slacks and hop on over to our first Saturday night residency at the Moog bar. After a good 18 months or so of doing some smashing Friday nights we'd talked about moving for a while and July 31st saw our re-launch party as we welcomed the man behind the ace Million Dollar Disco nights Al Kent as our guest. Strangely, the people who complained that they couldn't come to Soul Buggin' on fridays due to work etc actually decided, rather perplexingly, not to show but that didn't matter a jot. With loads of new faces deciding to come down it turned out to be a great little party with Al firing on all cylinders laying down special edits and string-drenched percussive bombs a plenty. Many djs claim to play disco these days but very few actually REALLY play disco so it was a pleasure to hear a true ninja at work! Big ups to those that came down and got down on the floorboards and a special thank you to Mr Kent for making the long tortuous train journey down from Scotland to Nottingham. All those that missed it, well, we did warn you. We shouldn't really have to tell you that disco is about actually dancing and sweating, not posting youtube clips up on facebook!



So in this country we do have a tendency to moan about a lot of things and what with the usual world cup and wimbledon woes well and truly over (blimey how bad was that?!) one thing I think it's safe to say is that we can't really grumble too much about the old weather this year. Being as skint as Shadrach Dingle in Emmerdale's Woolpack boozer on a saturday night, this summer has meant I've missed out on the usual croatia shenanigans and UK festival adventures but the pain has been somewhat dulled by the blinding summer we've had so far. These past few months the suns decided to smile on us for a change and I'm loving every minute of it. So, to nervously tempt fate we're deciding to throw a big all day 13 hour bbq up on the roof terrace of Moog on Sunday 29th August. For the past 5 years it's been almost traditional to get proper wonkered at either the Backyard Boogaloo or Boatyard all day events (at The Nags Head or The Canal House respectively) but this year they've decided to take a year out so we thought we'd step into those very big boots after hosting two successful big bank holiday parties earlier this year in April and May. We've only got small feet but for this party we've pulled in some big guns....

Ben Davis aka Flash Atkins is the man behind huge labels like Shaboom, Blaktrax and more importantly the legendary deep house label paperecordings which pretty much changed the game completely in the mid-nineties. Having djed all over the bleedin' shop for the best part of two whole decades from The Ministy of Sound, Plastic People and The Sub Club and beyond you may remember him from last years Bobstock event but for those that missed him we've invited him back to Nottingham.

Joining him on the day will be local luminaries Osbourne and Woosh from the DiY party collective. Those in Nottingham shouldn't really need any introduction to these guys other than you can take it from us they bloody well know what they're doing when it comes to laying down serious tunes.

Backing up the rear (oo-er) will be wobbly residents Wrighty, Mark A and myself but we've also asked Brighton's most balearic export Steve Keep It Wheel to come up and make sure I don't play too many dodgy 80's re-edits.

We'll be kicking things off at 2pm upstairs and will be going through till 10pm when afterwards we'll all bomb downstairs till 3am to get our groove on good and proper. It's a freebie in the day with a small £3 charge for those that decide to come down afterwards. It's also worth a mention that kids are very welcome till sunset so no need to book in that expensive babysitter.

Oh and don't worry if the weather decides to get it's grump on, we'll just stick two fingers up to it and leg it inside with our sausage sarnies.

We look forward to seeing some of you nutters at the end of the month!

x

Beane

PS - It's our big birthday next month and we want to tell you who we've got booked but we can't yet for fear of you having a heart attack and we need you all nice and healthy for bank holiday. All will be revealed soon!

Saturdays were invented for disco after all...

Last weekend we were very honoured to have Kev Beadle come over and grace the decks at our little soiree here in Nottingham and christ on a custard cream it was a sweaty one. With temperatures soaring throughout the day we knew we were in for a hot one but by the time Kev started to hammer out killers tunes one after the other no one was quite prepared for the heat that ensued both on and off the decks. Already well known for his long running mighty dj sets at the legendary Southport Soul Weekender we were blessed with everything from Dimitri From Paris edits of Harold Melvin and The Bluenotes, classic detroit monsters from the likes of Underground Resistance and even that new killer version of "Still in love" by Navasha Dayo. A solid 2 hour set that flew by which is always the sign of a good selection. Many thanks to Kev for making the long trip up to Nottingham and all you lot that came down and danced your socks off. When Mikey starts slapping the ceiling you know your doing something right.

So with all that madness still buzzing round our heads like those bleedin' vuvuzelas in South Africa, here at Soul Buggin' HQ we're gearing up for re-launching our humble little party on Saturday 31st July at Moog. We've decided to switch days from Fridays to the last Saturday of the month as we felt as ace as the Friday sessions were, we wanna go all out with the glitterball and bring disco back to Nottingham on the big old Sataaadeee. Surely that's what the day was invented for in the first place right? I've got no idea who came up with the concept of the weekend - it may have been some sort of God or it may have been a flying teapot I don't really care - what has been rather concerning lately is the lack of good soulful dancefloor nights on a Saturday here in Nottingham. While some like it there are many that aren't necessarily into the crash, bang, wallop 'lets smash the flying electro fuck out of it cos the kids love it' attitude that sometimes seems oh so prevalent in Nottinghams late night venues. With a zillion bars bringing up the rear (and to be fair, we've got some great ones in this town that do supply some great music) we should really be re-focusing on the important stuff, namely dancing. More specifically dancing to something you bloody well like. It's better than any exercise you can ever partake in because you can do it sober or completely off your nut, you get to meet like-minded mentalists and if your lucky and do some fancy knee drops or half-steps you might even pull as apparently how you dance is how you have sex. Lordy. Either way, it's win win everytime (as long as you don't try a knee drop halfway through playing hide the sausage if you do pull).



So it is with great excitement that we welcome one of the true flag bearers of the glitterball Al Kent to our Soul Buggin' re-launch party at Moog. To give you a full bio on this man would be ridiculous as I'll be here till christmas but as resident of the storming Million Dollar Disco night that has put on parties in Manchester and Glasgow (which in turn has played host to fine selectors Rahaan, Faze Action and Dimitri From Paris) he’s been djing himself all over the country from the Southport Soul Weekender to The Sub Club and beyond for donkeys years. With huge productions under his belt such as the Million Dollar Orchestra album “Better Days” on BBE Records he’s also a dab hand at the disco re-edit having turned in many a dancefloor bomb as The Brown Brothers. So hot on the heels of his recently released “Disco Demands 5” compilation we welcome a true purveyor of the disco to our relaunch party.

Support comes from the usual hairy residents myself, Wrighty and Mark A with doors opening at 9pm. Get down early to get in cheap (£2 before 11pm - £4 after) and if the weathers nice shoot your chuff up onto the Moog roof terrace, it's bloomin' lovely up there.

We look forward to shaking a leg with you!

Beane

x

PS - Keep your eyes peeled on this blog and our facebook page for information about our big end of summer all day BBQ session @ Moog on bank holiday Sunday 29th August. Details coming sooooooooon.

Bank Holiday smash upppppp

So what exactly is it about bank holiday sundays in Nottingham? I still can't put my finger on it but they always seem to be pretty mental and down at Moog on the 30th May it proved to be no exception as we welcomed the legend that is Colin Curtis, old rock city head Joe Buhdha and local jazzman Daddio to join us for another one of our Soul Buggin' all day parties.

As always things started off serene, calm and collected as the roast dinner massive chilled to tunes supplied by myself and fellow residents Wrighty and Mark A before the sun decided to go to bed and the dancers decided to get on the good foot. With a great crowd consisting of a lot of new faces turn out in force, come 9pm those floorboards at Moog were getting a good old stomping as nuff classics mixed with old and new grooves were getting thrown around with sheer lunacy.

All in all it was a great night and by all accounts you lot looked like you enjoyed it. Many thanks to our guest djs on the day. Here's some pics of the night.











So, with our livers still crying out for a visit to rehab and our knees still slighty worn out we ain't done just yet as all eyes look to our next party on Friday 25th June as we welcome long running Southport Soul Weekender resident Kev Beadle. Where to start with Kev!? Well, as one of one of the longest-running resident djs and main musical consultants for the Beat Bar at the legendary Southport Soul Weekender Kev Beadle is no stranger to putting together eclectic soul sets and is one of the weekenders true unsung heros having worked with just about everyone under the sun. Alongside his numerous residencies and worldwide dj appearances he also holds down a cracking weekly radioshow on www.solarradio.com where he regulary pushes the musical boundaries showcasing innovative future sounds deeply rooted in soul and jazz. Whether it be some new broken detroit techno jam or a little known dusty boogie joint his selections always inspire but more importantly make you want to suddenly get on the good foot!

This is one DJ that we've been looking to book for a few years and are happy to finally get him up to Nottingham. This will be our last friday night before we move to Saturdays which we'll be giving you more information on soon.


Love and hugs and I'll leave you with 15 tunes that I'm feeling at the moment.

x

Beane's June 2010 Chart

01. Aloe Blacc - Dollar / Take me back | Stones Throw 12"
02. System Status - Planet X | CDR
03. 80's Ladies - Ladies of the eighties | Soul Jazz LP
04. Cal Gibson - Witcha dubman | CDR
05. The Hundred In The Hands - Dressed In Dresden (Kyle Hall Remix) | Warp 12"
06. Ron Basejam - For the people, by the people (Ashley Beedle remix) | ISM CDR
07 Disco Deviance Presents: The Revenge Edits - Lost In Music / Shack up | Disco Deviance 12"
08. Deep Space Orchestra - Trust skynet | CDR
09. Seahawks - Keep On Growing / Omega Beach | Captains Log 12"
10. Seahawks - Astral Winds / High Tides | Static Caravan 7"
11. Williams - Confused Arp Disco | Love Triangle Music 12
12. Various Artists - PH Edits Vol. 1 | PH Edits 7"
13. DJ Day & Miles Bonny - Learnin' to fly | CDR
14. Johnny Mathis - Gone, gone, gone (Kenlou edit) | White 12"
15. Weather Report - River people | CBS LP

Disco's revenge!

As some of you may already be aware, here in Nottingham each year the cities pubs, clubs, promoters, staff and general sauce monsters all come together to celebrate the cities nightlife in one almighty piss up. It's been going a few years now and last Monday the big event was held at the Pitcher and Piano bar in the centre of town. As mentioned in my last blog by some strange act of madness Soul Buggin' was entered into the "Best Independent Club Night" category. We were up against some pretty big players and didn't really expect to do that well but I was personally chuffed that on the night we managed to take 3rd prize which considering we're not really a student night (c'mon - the average age of our punters must be somewhere in the 30's!), play music that kids don't really 'get' and generally do it all for a bit of a laugh ain't that bad is it really. Disco may not be such a dirty word here after all!

Anyway, we were also honoured to be supplying the music for the night (and after party at Brass Monkey) alongside MHYH's Alex Traska and The Cuban Brothers. I'd never been to one of these events before so it was nice to dust off the old whistle and flute and raise a glass to Nottinghams nitelife which if truth be told has taken a bit of a battering of late with all these closures and takeovers. The night ended as usual in some god awful late night takeaway shop with me nearly knocking myself out running into a glass door but I'll save that story for when I next see you.

So, with a renewed confidence in our step all eyes turn to our summer bank holiday party @ Moog on Sunday 30th May. Our last all dayer was pretty special so we thought sod it lets do another and this time we've invited the legend that is Mr Colin Curtis. Those of you who reached our birthday party in September will remember the scenes this man brought to Moog so it is a pleasure to have him back. On the day he'll be doing two different sets - an early doors and peak time one - so it'll be well worth your while getting down early. If that wasn't enough incentive then we've also got old rock city head Joe Buhdha and jazz dance mover and shaker Daddio supplying the sounds. Backing up that little lot will of course be the usual rag tag bunch of hairy residents Wrighty, Mark A and myself. We roll from 4pm and it's a freebie before 9pm and only a mere 200 pence afterwards. Should be good un we reckon.

On that note I'm gonna do one but before I depart breaking news has just come into the Soul Buggin' HQ. No, it's not regarding some slimy posh tory boy but infact something much more entertaining all about a very important appointment. Soon Soul Buggin' will be moving to the last Saturday of the month (rather than friday) so now we really can go hell for leather and let rip. Saturdays were invented for disco anyway weren't they?

Peace and grease

x

Beane

April tings...

Well, have you recovered from the monstrous Soul Buggin' vs. Basement Boogaloo party yet? No we haven't properly either. A fantastic 11 hour party that started sensible and serene but then got all kinds of wobbly. Nick 'the sarge' Shaw sends his apologies for his no show as unfortunately his serious work commitments dictated he couldn't attend. A real shame but rest assured the disco sexual psychopath will return soon. Special thanks to our other guests on the day John "I am the law" Buckby and "Evil" Ed Challands who both played blinders.

So just around the corner here in Nottingham are the Bar and Club Awards at The Pitcher and Piano and would you adam and eve it our little Soul Buggin' soiree has been nominated in the "Best Independent Club Night" category. We think someones been on the wacky backy again but we ain't gonna argue as we think we're worth it. We may be small, a little wobbly on the feet and smell of booze occasionally but we have thrown some belting parties these last 12 months so if you've got a spare minute (and of course you like what we're doing) could you pop over to the site and drop us a vote in? Would be much appreciated! We'll also be in charge of the music at the awards themselves on Monday 10th May alongside The Cuban Brothers and local web radio godfather Alex Traska so it should a be a right old knees up. Here's the website to cast your votes: www.nottinghambarawards.co.uk

Right - what's up next then? Well Friday April 30th see's us back at Moog as we welcome special guest Ex-Friendly to the turntables. He's been been dabbling in all manner of leftfield beats now for 15 years or so and has recently been knocking out some damn fine soul re-edits that have caught the ears of many worldwide. As he gears up to release his new solo album expect to hear some exclusive little specials! Go have a listen on his sound cloud page for some heat: www.soundcloud.com/ex-friendly. We’ve also invited Sydney-based Ben Aylward over to spin some sun-drenched flavours as he returns back to the Notts bronx after causing havoc down under for the past 2 years. Lord knows what the sunshines done to him but one thing we can confirm is that he's pumped up for this one big time. Advance warning - this one could get saucy.

Keep your eyes peeled to this page over the next couple of weeks where we'll be giving you more info on our big summer bank holiday party in May. We'll tell you now, it's going to be a special one.

See ya'll soon

x

Beane

Christ it's another Derby invasion!!!

Springtime is upon us! So let's not muck about in March....

If you cast your mind back to last August you'll remember we hosted a little Nottingham launch party for the new DUCK album which had just been released upon the unsuspecting world courtesy of some of Derby's finest producers through the M8MC Music label. We were fortunate to have some of the albums contributors come over and play at Moog but one artist who unfortunately couldn't make that night was Atjazz. I've long been an admirer of Martin Iveson and if truth be told I was a little gutted he couldn't make it.

But all was not lost. A plan was hatched. Fast forward to March 2010 and we've been lucky enough to twist the arm of Clyde (M8MC Music boss) to return to Moog on the promise he kidnaps Atjazz and brings him along for the ride! Friday 26th March is the date we've locked down where we'll be welcoming those deep electronic Derby souls to Soul Buggin' and we'd love if it you could join us for what will be a rare opportunity to see both Atjazz and Clyde on the same night here in Nottingham and all for nowt too.

As a bit of a warm up for the main event on my radioshow this coming Sunday (21st March 2pm-4pm on www.myhouse-yourhouse.net) I'll be pulling out some of my favourite productions and remixes from the pair that I've been lucky enough to collect over the years. Some classics mixed in with some lesser known tracks you may or may not not have heard of before. The show will be available to listen again should you miss it over on my podcast page (www.beane.podomatic.com)

Don't forget doors open at 9pm on friday and as per usual we'll be going through till 3am.

See you down the front

x

Beane