Buddy and Sunny D – the team behind Soundscape
Where to be:
Soundscape x Round About present: 90 Hideout
Number 90 London
September 11, 10pm-4am
THIS weekend I’ll be heading east to Hackney Wick, where Soundscape and Round About are joining forces at Number 90.
While I haven’t been to a Round About event yet, I’ve attended a few Soundscape parties over the past two years. Their takeover of The Loft in February, where they hosted XDB, was a particular highlight, and Friday’s line-up gives me a good reason to return.
Silverlining, one of London producer Asad Rizvi’s aliases, is one of the main draws. His extensive catalogue makes him a name most house heads will be familiar with, and I’m also a big fan of his works under Appleheadz and Two Right Wrongans.
When I sat down with Buddy, one of the team behind Soundscape, he described the opportunity to host someone of Silverlining’s calibre as an “honour”.
He was just as enthusiastic about having Ste Roberts and Adam Curtain on the line-up, both of whom he caught at Houghton Festival last month. Buddy described Curtain’s sets as “hands in the air business”, and Roberts’ as “nothing short of excellence”. He added that Roberts’ recent work on Private Parts has been “a staple in our personal digging, so to have him come and play and lay out those sounds feels a match made in heaven”.
J Sains, Izzy, and Soundscape’s residents Sunny D and Buddy himself complete the line-up, with the music set to move from deeper, minimal house into a heavier tech sound.
For Buddy, a great party is one “focused around the people and the music”, and if you’re into electronic music, this Friday is well worth checking out. Tickets are on RA.
Record to check out:
Ready to Die – The Notorious B.I.G.
Hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur was back in the headlines earlier this month after Duane “Keffe D” Davis was convicted of his murder, 30 years after his death.
Reading about the case reminded me that hip-hop is a genre this column has neglected. So this week I’ve been listening to Ready to Die by Shakur’s former friend and later rival, The Notorious B.I.G. Released 32 years ago this Sunday, it was the only studio album Biggie released in his lifetime.
The sample-driven production gives plenty of space for his voice and storytelling to shine.
Tracks like Warning and Gimme the Loot unfold like short films, full of conversations and dark humour, while Juicy charts his rise from poverty in Brooklyn to success.
Discussions of violence and depression run throughout the record, and it is Biggie’s mix of wit, menace and vulnerability that makes Ready to Die, three decades on, still one of hip-hop’s greatest albums.
Artist to check out:
Inland Knights
If you spend enough time digging through house records, Inland Knights is a name you will inevitably come across.
Formed by Laurence Ritchie and Andy Riley in the late 1990s, the duo emerged from Britain’s free-party scene and have become synonymous with UK deep house. Their discography is vast, and an Inland Knights track rarely overcomplicates, containing melodic touches and rolling basslines that get parties moving.
Check out the track Hot Soup and their collaboration All Good with Da Sunlounge, which has been of my favourite tracks to play this year.
