Wax On, Wax Off - Saturdays at James St Tavern

This is a relatively new night that will be happening every Saturday at the James St Tavern just off Cowley Rd. If you head down there you will have your aural needs taken care of by one or more of the residents who will be playing in rotation. One of them is me, but don't let that put you off! There will also be musical treats served up by Random Hero, Cynan and Angie.

I've known Mr Random Hero for a while and always been a fan of his work but the others are relatively new (and very welcome) aquaintances of mine. Come down and let us entertain you!

Mystro presents... The F.D.T. EP

Last week the mighty Mysdiggi hit me up with a copy of his new EP to review. The first thing this made me do was to pull out a load of tunes to throw them on the decks and have a little reminisce. As you can see from the stash I unearthed (above) his back catalogue includes some great tunes. Having checked his Myspace earlier I was almost on for the full discography but I left out the albums and CDs.

I was also reminded of the time that we were preparing for one of our annual boat parties we used to put on and Gabs mentioned that Blufoot might be coming down to party. When he turned up he had Mys with him which was all a bit random. There are some very short video clips of some cyphers from that party but I don't think anyone involved would be too keen on them being made public! Nobody disgraced themselves but let's just say the emphasis was on the party more than the rhymes. I have got a clip of Ineff dissing the instrumental I put on for him (RA's The Lesson for the record) which still makes me laugh to this day.



So the EP, I have to say I like it a lot. I'm not going to reproduce the press release but I have to say it is very well written (unsurprisingly because it was Ryan Proctor who was responsible for it).

In general the beats still have that bounce that a lot of Mystro records seem to swing to, but a lot of the lyrics are a bit more serious than party tip. "The Truth" kicks things off and is driven by an insistent piano line. The first skit made me laugh out loud in the fruit n veg section of Co-op which was slightly embarassing but I suppose is a pretty good endorsement!

This rolls into "Banishment" which directly addresses the title of the EP (I think everyone knows the story/rumours by now). "U Live & U Learn" has just been released as a video (below) so you can see that for yourself.



Without boring you at length about each one the later tracks don't drop in quality. I'll let Mystro describe the whole thing in his own words.

This is almost like a destroy and rebuild project. Aside from me saying the things I wanted to say on there, the EP is also about letting people know that UK Hip-Hop definitely isn’t dead. The scene might’ve changed, but there are still people out there making good music

The EP is out now available from iTunes right HERE so go and cop that so Mys can keep providing us with quality music. You can hit him up on Twitter HERE, and you can go check the Natural Born Spittaz blog HERE.

Finally, on the final track "The Urge" he documents just some of the frustrations modern life can throw in our way. The hook chants "I ain't a killer but I do get the urge". He sounds like he means it people, I would take him seriously if I were you.

My upcoming gigs

OK, the next few sets I'm playing. The first one is a wedding of two friends so you're not invited to that one unless you're already down! That's the 29th Aug at the reception, messy business.

The next day I'm playing at some point at this free entry all day event at the James St Tavern. There'll be plenty of good music, food from the BBQ and E.N.I.G. for those who know.

On Sept 12th I'm also playing at a night @ The Bully on Cowley Road, in aid of a very good cause for the newly formed night Beat Constructers. All of the acts on the night are extremely talented and some of of my best mates as well, I reckon it'll be a top night. Check the website for details and a couple of mixes by some of the DJs (not me yet, but I'm aiming to record something).

That's all for now, more than enough to be getting on with, don't get greedy now!