27 Jun 2001
| DJ Set tour by James Lavelle | |
| Location | Manchester |
|---|---|
| Venue | Planet K |
In April 2020 James Lavelle uploaded a recording of this event to Mixcloud,[1] and wrote a long description on Instagram.
Description from James Lavelle
"Planet K was the first ever UNKLE Sounds show. A new DJing concept from myself and @richfilemusicproduction who had now joined me as full time UNKLE partner after DJ Shadow's exit. This is where we would create new remixes and edits of old UNKLE tracks and other classics, and combine them with new work-in-progress material and tracks we liked, utilising decks, CDJs, Kaoss Pads and an MPC 2000, as well as the new Allen and Heath Xone mixer, which was a game changer at the time. All this was combined with various effects and a soundsystem approach to playing in a club, where we would DJ and play new ideas and sounds live from the MPC, which was very unusual at the time, as DJing tended to be very vinyl orientated. We would also work together with the @lightsurgeon (who I had worked with on the Psyence Fiction turntablist tour with the Scratch Perverts, as well as the classic Mo Wax club 'Dusted' at the Blue Note) to create a touring visual backdrop of UNKLE elements, from the Futura pointmen to collages of film visuals, sourced from classics like THX 1138 and the Parallax View. This was unique at the time, as DJs didn’t tend to tour with visuals."[2]
"After Psyence Fiction, I wanted to get back into DJing more again, which would influence the new music we were making. I had started playing in clubs like Fabric, where the musical landscape was changing. I was bored by the backpacker direction that a lot of hip-hop was going in, and trip-hop had started to run its course by then, so we started getting influenced by the new breakbeat and tech house sounds coming out of the UK and the States. You can hear the different influences within the mix, as on the one hand you have DJ Shadow and on the other, new discoveries like Bushwacka, Meat Katie and Medway. The edits are crude, done at our apartment in Old Street, where we would constantly double drop - E's and edits; remixing and mashing up tracks to fit into our sets some for fun. In other places we were essentially experimenting with new beats, which would become the basis for ideas on a new album, NeverNeverLand."[3]
"In the mix you can hear remixes of Psyence Fiction tracks like Be There and Nursery Rhyme, and re-edits of The Beatles and Mercury Rev. Our @queensofthestoneage edit is particularly interesting, as it's how I met Josh Homme. I handed it to him, having been introduced by mutual friend Brian Molko from Placebo, at a small QOTSA gig at the now gone Astoria 2. He then played it the next day as an intro to the classic Glastonbury show that year. Alongside @richfilemusicproduction’s early Forme tracks, there is also the original demo version of Eye For An Eye, which is way more programmed and sample based... As we were so in the moment whilst doing these shows, a lot of the tracks are unfinished and unmixed, but it has a certain energy and rawness… Funnily enough, I remember the gig not being received so well . The attitude was so divided at the time and club nights tended to stick more to one genre, so what's interesting to me, listening back to this after 19 years, is this shows the beginnings of how things would become in today's contemporary clubland, where a multi technology approach to DJing has become normal and accepted. Club music now is more eclectic in its influence and the idea of a more branded, visual DJ experience is now how most DJs present themselves. It’s pretty dope to see how we were doing these things so many years ago.
Definitely something for the weekend.. Enjoy!
James"[4]
Images
External Links
Photo of outside Planet K venue