Tuesday 2 June 2009

Dissident Dubs III (Dissident Island benefit gig) - Peckham

Dissident Island is an online radio station, broadcasting bi-monthly at www.dissidentisland.com
with a mixture of interviews, political reportage, live debates, vegan recipes and so forth, usually finishing off with a DJ playing breakcore, dnb, dubstep, reggae, punk or some other form of underground - frequently politicised - music. As a fundraiser for the Drax 29, they put together a benefit at the London & Brighton in Peckham, and having played for them before on a couple of occasions I was happy to come along and play a set. It did mean missing Plaid at I Love Acid, but having seen them at Cafe Oto a few days before I wasn't too upset.

I dragged myself out of Queens Rd station, found my way into the pub, not entirely sure what to expect. It was still relatively early, and a few small groups of people were milling around listening to the Dubstep from Hobocop. The venue gradually filled, and with Neil playing a shitload of Compound One and Art recordings tracks, I was enjoying it myself. Whether through fortune or good timing, the pubs seemed to kick everyone out just as I was about to go on, as ten minutes beforehand the dancefloor almost doubled. I'd been asked to play some jungle to break up the dubstep/dnb of the other acts, so after mixing in a Komonazmuk track to get in the groove, I started with Trace's rmx of Babylon - Splash. I tried to mix it up a little, some jungle (Capone - Massive, Equinox - Make You Flex), some newer choppage (Nucleus & Paradox - Love Her, Dom - Come to Conquer), some classic DnB (Titan, Deadline VIP) and some other odds and sods. I wasn't planning on playing quite so many old tracks, but when someone requests it, and it's in your bag, it's hard to say no.

Afterwards I hung around, grabbed a few beers and watched the rest of the acts. Deapoh played some more dubstep - very well mixed, and he's younger than me (bastard), and I even slipped in another Compound One track before Kovert stepped up with some techno. Mr Hyde brought it up to DnB again, and some one else (possibly Serifrat?) was dropping some vicious breakcore (including Dylan & Limewax's Cleansed by a Nightmare - filth) before I dragged myself away. And despite the protestations of friends, I didn't even get mugged on my way home. Okay, so I lost my Oyster card and Headphones (sum cost approx £200), but hey, can't complain right?

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