Mr. Scruff @ Orange Rooms (23rd May 2009)
At last the magnificent Mr. Scruff returned to town, playing out the night at Southampton’s retro venue Orange Rooms. The DJ, Producer, Cartoonist & Tea Drinker couldn’t be a more perfect artist to play here, skillfully blending anything from: Soul, Funk, Hip Hop, Jazz, Reggae, Dub Step, Latin, African, Ska, Disco, House, Funk, Breaks, Soundtracks & loads more, into a vast seven hour set!
After being holed up for two years making his latest album ‘Ninja Tuna’, Mr. Scruff has produced his best yet, with tracks including: ‘Music takes me Up’ (feat Alice Russell), ‘Donkey Ride’ (feat Quantic) and ‘This Way’ (feat Pete Simpson) The album is a chilled affair with a funked up soul. The perfect post-rave chill-out?
Being a great fan of Scruff and always hearing how good his nights are, I leapt at the chance of going to see him - he didn’t disappoint! Playing the whole night starting at 8pm, finishing at 2am this man works hard to please his audience.
As the night got underway he warmed the place up with a healthy blend of jazz, soul and funk. Moving from this to some really nice soulful house, he dropped his own production ‘Get A Move On’ and the crowd went crazy, not forgetting the whole crowd singing along to ‘Shanty Town’.
Nearing the end of his set he went for the dub, ska and reggae and although by then the crowd had thinned out slightly, this only left room for some real easy skanking! This is what the people love about Mr. Scruff – you may never have heard the tracks he plays, but you know for sure that they’re full of funk, soul and so easy to dance and groove to!
Apart from the three Pioneer CDJ-1000’s, Mr Scruff’s set-up was pretty much unique. Hearing what a perfectionist he is when it comes to sound, tea and equipment, and how he likes having control over the sound system himself.
Throughout the night there would be a warning on the visuals of ‘Incoming Bassline Alert’ or ‘Hold onto your Trousers’ before he would crank the bass up – throwing Scruff standard ‘wobbly bass’ around the venue.
Tune of the night: Mr. Scruff – Get A Move On (From the album ‘Keep it Unreal’, out now on Ninja Tune).
Venue: 5/5
Sound system: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Check out Mr Scruff’s website. It’s worth it:
http://www.mrscruff.com/showscreen.php?site_id=9&screentype=site&screenid=9
Or his Tea Shop:
http://www.makeusabrew.com/showscreen.php?site_id=20&screentype=site&screenid=20
Review by Chris Fuller of underground-music.co.uk
Created with flickr slideshow.
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