DJ Vadim to hit up the hip hop party of the summer

The fine folk at Soundcrash are putting on the hip hop party of the season at London's KOKO on the 18th of August. This event will feature some of the UK’s biggest and baddest acts; cats who have made history on the wheels of steel and who leave audiences slack jawed, sore and wanting more with nothing but  two turntables, a mixer, and a total mastery of that boom bap thang.

DJ Vadim is amongst the heralded few who can count themselves as true innovators and one of the hardest working men in show business. Never predictable, he rips the rule-book to pieces, unleashing a barrage of killer grooves from genres as varied as hip hop, soul, funk, grime, reggae, trip hop and bass music; he never runs out of ideas. Vadim draws upon several lifetimes’ worth of experience: his project is now approaching its twentieth year and has seen him tour across more than sixty countries and perform over two and a half thousand times.

One of the most highly regarded DJs to ever come out of the UK, DJ Format offers bombastic grooves, catchy basslines and body rocking beats. Never one to rest on his laurels, he’ll brandish the hallmarks of his Simonsound audio-visual set  - a collaborative project between DJ Format and Simon James described by DJ Spinna as “a refreshing mesh of the past, present and the future. It's like Mort Garson rocking shell toe Adidas with fat laces blasting into the galaxy in a funky space ship.”

Joining them is fellow heavyweight and the former DMC Champion Mr Thing, who has established himself equally as an absolute virtuoso behind the wheels and as one of most consistent purveyors of infectious grooves in the UK.

Tickets available from: www.soundcrashmusic.com / www.ticketweb.co.uk

Trojan Sound System prepare to bring the party to the Soundcrash Alldayer

Daddy Ad from Trojan Sound System talks to Bobbysix.com about this Sunday's Soundcrash Alldayer in London: 

What can punters who check out your set at the Soundcrash Alldayer expect?
Rootikal and high energy vibes, positivity and love love love!

What sort of shape does your usual day at a festival take? Do you get much chance to check out the other acts on the bill?
Rectangular and sometimes circular. We tried triangular but we all fell out as it was so political.
Usually it's about getting the sound right for the show. We're pure vinyl based and only really use CDs for sound fx and the odd riddim we haven't pressed yet. These days you have to put in extra time to get it sounding crisp, as vinyl is becoming a lost art and vinyl synthesis removes the need for proper acoustic set up. We try and check out some acts after our show, time permitting.

Which other acts, schedule permitting, are you looking forward to seeing at Soundcrash?
Vadim is always fun. We're on late though and flying in from playing a big festival in Copenhagen the night before so I doubt we'll have time to hang out beforehand as much as we'd like.

Do you enjoy the challenge of winning new fans at a festival? 
Always. It has been our mission for a long time to break reggae out of just purist circles and have opened it up to peak time Friday and Saturday night clubs shows as well as the festivals. Chris Blackwell is a hero of ours and we've tried to pick up the flag where he left off and translate reggae to new audiences. Most forms of dance music wouldn't exist as they do without the influence the varied forms of reggae have had. We wouldn't have hip hop without the idea of a sparse riddim and chatting on top of it - thank you U-Roy, King Skitt and Dennis Alcapone. We also wouldn't have the production values of dance music, drum and bass, garage and dubstep as well as some of the riddims and melodies they recreate without reggae. For some of that we apologise...

After the Soundcrash Alldayer, what else has 2012 got in store for you guys?
We've got loads of releases planned for the year. Watch out for Turn to the East and My God over the coming months.

Tell us something we might be surprised to learn about Trojan Sound System...
We're really sexy and were beamed down from venus 2,012 years ago. Earl's legs are our inspiration, so praise Jah the summer is now here.

You can catch Trojan Sound System in East London at the Soundcrash Alldayer on Sunday. Tickets are embarrassingly cheap, so grab one today and get involved in 12 hours of awesome music. Alongside the Trojan boys, DJ Vadim, Anchorsong, Ruby Wood, Mt. Wolf and many more will be doing doing their thang, and there'll be live painting and a Jamaican BBQ. Full details of the party vibes and general mischief can be found at www.soundcrashmusic.com/soundcrash-all-dayer.

Interview by Bobby Townsend.