The latest spin on the trend of international DJs like John Digweed, Sasha, Paul Okenfold and Carl Cox gracing local clubland with their zeitgeist sounds is a kicking new deal between Virgin Records, 206 live, Pickle and the UK’s leading Big Beat label Wall of Sound Recordings.
As two of South Africa’s largest supporters of trip-hop, acid jazz, big beat, drum `n bass and jungle music, Pickle and 206 live will be playing host to a series of Wall of Sound DJs who’ll be touring the country this year.
The first will be Derek Dahlarge who’ll be kicking off the Bustin’ Loose Tour at 206 live in Johannesburg on Friday January 29, followed by an appearance at Nightcrawlers in Cape Town on Saturday January 30.
The legendary Dahlarge mixed the first Future Sound of the UK for the Ministry of Sound and has DJ’d with the likes of the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim at the Big Beat Boutique in Brighton. Renowned as a real character, he’s expected to hit punters with a mammoth three-hour set of funky breaks and dope beats.
The name behind releases like The Propellerheads, The Wiseguys, Les Rythmes Digitales and Akasha, Wall of Sound was given a worldwide label by Virgin France and has subsequently transformed from a small indie outfit catering mainly to the underground dance scene in the UK and Europe to a major label with global exposure.
Artists like Howie B, the Jungle Brothers, Portishead and Shirley Bassey have all contributed to Wall of Sound. South Africa’s intro to the Wall of Sound posse comes in the form of Bustin Loose, a compilation featuring tracks from most of the label’s artists.
Five Bustin’ Loose CDs and 10 sets of tickets (five for the Jo’burg gig and five for Cape Town) will be given away to the first Mail & Guardian readers to call (011) 406-4123 on Saturday January 23 between 10 and 11am.
Please state your name and the city in which you live and leave a contact number.