We were invited by Tisztelet - fast growing Warsaw sound system to celebrate their 3rd anniversary at Jadlodalnia Filozoficzna.
This is rather small but atmospheric club in Warsaw. The place was really packed, Tisztelet has a very good local support! I don't wonder as they play good selections, do it very often (at least locally) and are related closely to Siodemki, leading Polish reggae distributor.
Nice and hot party, it was really great!

How great was to meet Steve and his crew of Vibronics again! We haven't seen each other since his last visit in Poland with Jah Free and Richie Rootz in 2001!
This time the occassion was Warsaw Reggae Fest, taking place in large palladium venue in Warsaw.
Their crew came quite numberous - Madu and Parvez of former Dub Factory, Splitz Horns were as well.
When we arrive Indios Bravos - massive reggae rock band, very popular especially among students, were on stage. many people, circa 600, very dancing and did not want to let them go.
Joint Venture had not so easy thing to do taking over the stage after them. But we did it and it was cool.

And then, when unfortunately there were already a bit less people and quieter (noise limits from neighbourhood), Vibronics took over.
Massive performance - good singers, great songs, cool effects and powerful horns.
I hope to see them here again - also due to the fact they are great guys and we had really nice time together.
See some bits on youtube

One of the most interesting things is going to places you haven't ever been.
Last Saturday we were invited to play at Index in Rzeszow - quite big student town in south east Poland.
There are not too many parties there and this is not a place for any foreign artists to play.
The town, I must admit, is beautiful - at least after what I could see during a short walk in the evening.
The crew who invited us, namely Free The Bass Sound System were really cool and friendly to us. The place was located in a nice basement on the city market. What a nice audience there! People open to all kinds of vibes, dancing from the very beginning. Free The Bass was heating up and then we took over, giving our best.
People seemed to love it and they sold about 280 tickets, so it was rather successful night!
Big respect to Rzeszow! See some pictures here

there are more and less interesting artists signed to Ninja Tune but I always respected this label due to their open character and eclectism. Coldcut were the first band who made me interested in so called abstract hiphop, heavy filled with samples of all possible kinds. I was always told about great VJing work connected to their shows...
Yesterday I was given a chance to see them at their first ever show in Warsaw at Free Form Festival, thanks to Stef .
Great but a bit too trendy and stiff venue called Fabryka Trzciny, unfortunately not too many people (such a shame that people in Warsaw really started to ignore many world respected artists!), Matt poisoned with some bad food day before in Prague could not perform on stage... Bad start, isn't it?
But what Jonathan with three more guys on stage, including really good MC Juice Aleem (+sound engineer+lightman) presented was really AMAZING to me!
Massive vibe, great fat beats, lots of funk, great samples, clear and very political message coming out of visuals synchronised with music in lovely manner.
In jungle they sounded really hardcore, I could compare it only to The Rootsman mixing Sepultura. They ended with a track called "out of Control", Prodigy-like heavy rap. People in front of stage were getting crazy...
Really interesting idea of having some singers singing straight from the screen (like Roots Manouva) - I felt like they were onstage with them!

Here I want to express my full respect to COLDCUT!

Yesterday had good rest after hard night and driving in darkness from Lodz to Warsaw airport to manage Molara get on the early morning plane back to UK. Strange event, some bands got unpaid by the club, lot's of confusion, Vavamuffin and Jamal cancelled their shows due to that. What a shame that still some promoters, in this case quite established and well known club, could not fulfill their contractual obligations. Moreover, the club owner walking around smiling and quite drunk. I hate such situations, no excuse - be careful with Dekompresja!
Mad Professor had a really nice feedback of a large crowd in front of the stage. Unfortunately again he forgot he brough excellent singers and for most of the time played vocal tracks, even causing Earl 16, bored with just dancing, to leave the stage for a while!

As for the sound system stage and some minutes I could spend there, I really like Tisztelet Sound selection!
And Lodz - post industrial, still ugly town. I wouldn't be able to live there...
Sitting back in my office and checking some stuff Molara left me - including her new demo with Dubmerge and dub compilation from Wales - "Tidy Like Records in dub"....
check Molara

This was a great show indeed! I guess one of the best for us in recent time. Stodola club got filled with circa 600 people which was more than I really expected. What I like there is a good, big stage, really perfect to run around and make some shout and dance. And this is exactly what we did to warm up the crowd. Good mood, Reggaenerator with us with a bunch of lyrics to voice some of the instrumental dubs we played... And it worked really well. Activator did some crazy dubs and people seemed to like it!
Later Mad Professor took over with his Ariwa sound. A pity he did not really dub excellent voices of Earl 16, Molara (and a nice girl whose name I don't remember now) and his selection was too much of vocal tunes of Ariwa history, so these singers had not too much to do on stage.
Pity, especially when you know how great they can sing!
It was great to meet Molara again after a year break and hear what she's doing now. Earl 16 - first time ever in Poland, lovely experience to see one of my favourite singers face to face.
And the Mad himself - more relaxed than ever in Poland, really funny gentleman!
See some pictures of this show.
Then we went to a smaller reggae party in Punkt where Zjednoczenie sound was at the control - good vibes, some crazy dogs (drinks), Molara on stage again for a while...
Leaving soon to Lodz to meet them again today and Boat Reggae Festival!

just got a beautiful parcel from my friend Martin of Brain Damage. As they are going to tour Poland with us in January, it contained their latest product - Spoken Dub Manifesto Vol. 1. Listening to it now- very deep, very intense, new psychodelic definition of dub poetry, little in common with LKJ - at least as for the music!
These guys are massive, and I can see great Sam Clayton is with them! Good news!
Brain Damage bunker

It was a nice evening even through it was less preparing but more listening and discovering in a nice smoky atmosphere . I have never heard before the band Reggaenerator was in, called OK System. What an interesting band was it! Not so professional and good sounding like vavamuffin obviously but really rockin! I could hear strong influence of Bad Brains and Black Uhuru there, but it doesn't have to be bad... These ones are really good inspiration and this was a couple of years ago...
Also, we went through some new discovered riddims and conclusion was Reggaenerator will be like fish in the water backed by some beats coming straight from the album of Balkan Beat Box - what a great band!
And then short visit to a weekly reggae night at Punkt to agree some details of another Roots Radical Night with Nucleus Roots Sound. Nice day, let's go to work now!

First message here and my first blog ever!
Just to tell you what's up with us now... Me working hard at home trying to book some shows around and Activator I guess again doing some construction works at his first real studio called "Studio As One", which he starts with our mate, great producer Smoku. Later running to meet Mr. Reggaenerator of Vavamuffin to work on some riddims. As we perform together soon with Mad Professor & co, we need to be prepared!
Checking some new CDs, I love new unusual compilations like this one: "Lagos Stori Plenti - urban sound from Nigeria".
Rain outside helps to focus on work....