How was BLOC?

[fitz]

Oh, and Benga and Skream were fucking awful....piss-poor mixing.....stopping n' starting tunes, taking the piss with rewinds etc.

they weren't that bad played some shit tunes but some good ones in between, like the last tune cn't remember the name (its going to be on skream album) but that was a sick tune (id anyone) and pokes was a badman!

also they both looked off their bloc which could explain the bad mixing.
your right about the rewinds they were a bit over the top.

Fair enough - wasn't there myself, but I'd say his description is reasonably accurate - think Skream should chill with the rewinds/taking the piss while DJ-ing malarkey......pisses people off TBH.

Saying that, I've seen him twice and enjoyed both sets; the mixing was fine, he didn't seem twisted, n' I would probably go to see him play again, even though I'm not into some of the stuff he plays

[uncle bill]

model 500

This is the one thing I was really gutted to miss because I had to come home on Sunday.

Was it the Model 500 “band” thing or Juan Atkins DJ set?

it was the "band" thing, shame you missed it! how was your trip home?

Damn, I wish I’d seen that.

Journey back was alright cos I was only going to Bristol. Didn’t finish writing my review til midnight though (writer’s Bloc – sorry) and then was woken up by my kid at 6.30 and staggered into work. Could have done with more sleep.

Big weekend though. Well worth it.

[dubluke]

model 500

This is the one thing I was really gutted to miss because I had to come home on Sunday.

Was it the Model 500 “band” thing or Juan Atkins DJ set?

it was the "band" thing, shame you missed it! how was your trip home?

Damn, I wish I’d seen that.

Journey back was alright cos I was only going to Bristol. Didn’t finish writing my review til midnight though (writer’s Bloc – sorry) and then was woken up by my kid at 6.30 and staggered into work. Could have done with more sleep.

Big weekend though. Well worth it.

ah that sounds alright, the initial bit of my journey back was grim, had a rotten hangover and going on that bus on all the twisty country lanes for an hour and a half did not do me any favours!

Send us a link to your review when it's out mate, I'd be keen to read it! Well impressed you managed to pen a piece after bloc, I couldn't have done the same

[uncle bill]

model 500

This is the one thing I was really gutted to miss because I had to come home on Sunday.

Was it the Model 500 “band” thing or Juan Atkins DJ set?

it was the "band" thing, shame you missed it! how was your trip home?

Damn, I wish I’d seen that.

Journey back was alright cos I was only going to Bristol. Didn’t finish writing my review til midnight though (writer’s Bloc – sorry) and then was woken up by my kid at 6.30 and staggered into work. Could have done with more sleep.

Big weekend though. Well worth it.

ah that sounds alright, the initial bit of my journey back was grim, had a rotten hangover and going on that bus on all the twisty country lanes for an hour and a half did not do me any favours!

Send us a link to your review when it's out mate, I'd be keen to read it! Well impressed you managed to pen a piece after bloc, I couldn't have done the same

Well, it’s going out in Venue tomorrow but that’s only on sale around Bristol and Bath. I’ll ask the editor if I can stick it on my blog so you can have a look.

[dubluke]

Well, it’s going out in Venue tomorrow but that’s only on sale around Bristol and Bath. I’ll ask the editor if I can stick it on my blog so you can have a look.

nice one mate that would be sweet if he let's you!

[gradiate]

Oh, and Benga and Skream were fucking awful....piss-poor mixing.....stopping n' starting tunes, taking the piss with rewinds etc.

they weren't that bad played some shit tunes but some good ones in between, like the last tune cn't remember the name (its going to be on skream album) but that was a sick tune (id anyone) and pokes was a badman!

also they both looked off their bloc which could explain the bad mixing.
your right about the rewinds they were a bit over the top.

Fair enough - wasn't there myself, but I'd say his description is reasonably accurate - think Skream should chill with the rewinds/taking the piss while DJ-ing malarkey......pisses people off TBH.

Saying that, I've seen him twice and enjoyed both sets; the mixing was fine, he didn't seem twisted, n' I would probably go to see him play again, even though I'm not into some of the stuff he plays

Skream was pretty wasted I would say, much more than other times. It was quite populist in its approach but it got the majority going. That tune was Listening to the records on my wall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkZNT-2Geo

[hackman]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

[magma]

This was a GREAT weekend.

Highlights of Friday were Ms Dynamite and Youngsta for me. Disappointed that we couldn't get into Joy Orbison or Instra:Mental and D:Bridge... the only place with a queue all weekend was the JakBloc, it seemed... didn't get in there once!

Saturday was definitely the big day... started off with Punksi vs N>E>D in Overkill which pretty much worked any midrange filth out of my system along with some really nasty tunes leaving me to enjoy a bit more 'intelligence' later on. 'Blim/Peverelist were good, but a little lowkey for my headstate.

Pinch and Distance got the evening going for me... brilliant set. You just can't stop dancing with Pinch anywhere near a set of decks and Distance's influence on the set was brilliant... such a heavy selection. The beautiful thing is the separation of the sexes on the dancefloor - if you're amongst a crowd during a techno set, the dancing tends to be quite androgenous, but when Pinch is around men dance like men and women dance like women... it's bloody brilliant.

The 3 way split was agony... I actually could've stayed for the whole of Salt n Pepa - surprisingly brilliant. Kay's right about Spindarella too... plus she can really handle those decks! We did about 20 mins of them, then Joker for 30 minutes who played brilliantly, but quietly. I had a little 'moment' when he dropped Dead Prez - Hip Hop and mashed it into When I Look At You - yeah, crowd pleasing as fuck, but it was great.

We turned up to FlyLo a bit late really and by the time I got into the groove it was time to prepare for Kode9/Martyn... he looked like he was playing a decent set, but it was maybe a bit straight for my liking. I didn't see enough of it to compare properly, but it didn't seem as world-beating as the set he did at Bangface last year.

Kode9/Martyn - vibes, vibes vibes. Beautiful garage tunes plus Nine Samurai dropped, Black Sun dropped.... gorgeous.

Luke Vibert stole the night. Masterclass of just about everything he could throw at the crowd... always with a good acidy edge, but the beats were from all ends of the spectrum. He's a fucking God to be worshipped. Best set of the weekend.

T++ was good. I'd not really heard his stuff before... intelligent rhythms, plenty of sub... intricate stuff. He had me entranced for quite a while! Good stuff. I'm glad the programme was wrong and he didn't turn up with MCs, it would've spoilt it a bit.

Then we finished our legs off with a stomp to Surgeon (great as ever) and Luke Slater followed by getting very weirded out by whatever was on BlocTV at 6am on Sunday morning... something about a superhero saving a princess from having her nipples mutilated by an evil doctormonster. Nice.

Great to see the Ninjas in full effect - sorry we didn't spend more time with you guys, but we were on a bit of a mission most of the time!! ROLL ON BANGFACE!

Edit: Shitting hell that was long. Apologies!!

[uncle bill]

Black Sun dropped.... gorgeous.

I got so excited when this happened. It was my tune of 2009 and I haven't heard it out much.

[whineo]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

Dbridge and Instra:mental were hammered and their sets were faultless

[dubaholix]

Skream was pretty wasted I would say, much more than other times. It was quite populist in its approach but it got the majority going. That tune was Listening to the records on my wall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkZNT-2Geo

nah it wern't that tune, I rememmber it kicked off to 'Listening to the records on my wall' tho.

[frebentos]

diagnosed with toncilitis and an ear infection on the friday afternoon after having to get off the bus 4 times to whitey. The friday was absolute hell on earth.

Perked up enough on saturday to start bevvying and caught some good music.

Human Sheild i.e casionova, Ali Renault, pete mangalore and Tommy Walker the Third was the overall highlight for me. Ali and Tommy brought all their kit with them and treated us to a jam packed few hours of analouge electro covering the stlyes between hard UR and the west coast sound of holland.

Joe Hart, BLOC resident was amazing. Sleazy Chicago and house classics.

Chanell One were unbeatable.Lots of amazing tunes with lots of crowd particiation. Really enjoyed this.

dexcorcist and bass junkie was my other MAJOR highlight. Three hours of seriously hot electro. Every track was a BELTER. Considering there was fuck all electro this year, those three hours more than made up for it. Plenty of Debonaire records, Dominance Electricity and body locking, vocoder drenched tracks. SERIOUS SHIT!

model 500 were amazing. When Mike Banks was putting the wee flourishes through the whole set. Jamming those keys for the gospel number, unbelievable music.

Dubstep wise appleblim and pev, mungo's, joker and unlikely's full on garage meltdown were all outstanding.

So great to hear the dubkasm remixes (about four tracks back to back) from blim and pev, been chokign to hear them for a while and all those tracks were brilliant.

Soom T was AMAZING! Thats bird has got a VOICE on her!


As for Unlikely, thats the best I've seen him I reckon (purley in terms of selection, every track was stroking ma buttons ya saucy midden!). PERFECT way to end the festival for me, he really rocked that wee pub room to the floor.

Downsides

Mixmaster mike was baws. Too cheesy and sloppy. He's got nothing on Q-Bert who I've seen twice and always delivers precision action. Everytings in time and cool as fuck.he done nothing more than whip out quick cut after cut of cheese. When 'smells like teen spirit' dropped I was gone.

Derrik may started good, then got a bit samey so I left but apparentely picked up again the last half hour.

MJ Cole was another serious dissapointment.

Full on, dire uk funky. A few good tracks here and there but defintely no garage. Two female stage dancers at the start and three male dancers at the end.

Serious dissapointment

BLOC TV was good, super barrio was brilliant as was Bambi meets Godzilla

photos soon, I didnt take many but fayes got a power.

[gradiate]

Skream was pretty wasted I would say, much more than other times. It was quite populist in its approach but it got the majority going. That tune was Listening to the records on my wall - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkZNT-2Geo

nah it wern't that tune, I rememmber it kicked off to 'Listening to the records on my wall' tho.

Yeah you're right, that was 3rd to last or something. Sorry. I have the heard the other track but escapes me now.


Didn't realise I was lucky to get into Joy Orbison though was severly all over the shop at that point.

[gradiate]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

Load of people I went with said it was their highlight of the weekend so in that respect it worked. Wasn't flawless but got the crowd going. Not everyone there had to be a purist. My mrs couldn't name more than 5 dubstep tracks but loads of what I took her too opened her to knew things but she danced the most at Skream.

[magma]

Didn't realise I was lucky to get into Joy Orbison though was severly all over the shop at that point.

The queue was stretching almost all the way back to CentreBloc before Joy Orbison... the photographer we were staying with had a pass for the photo-pits and she couldn't even talk her way past the bouncer to get a couple of snaps!

You scored a massive ravewin there!

[fitz]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

Load of people I went with said it was their highlight of the weekend so in that respect it worked. Wasn't flawless but got the crowd going. Not everyone there had to be a purist. My mrs couldn't name more than 5 dubstep tracks but loads of what I took her too opened her to knew things but she danced the most at Skream.

That's not nesecarily a good thing though, is it?

[hackman]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

Dbridge and Instra:mental were hammered and their sets were faultless

well fine but if your wasted and it's making you fuck up/do excessive rewinds you just shouldn't do it, unprofessional

[kay]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

Dbridge and Instra:mental were hammered and their sets were faultless

well fine but if your wasted and it's making you fuck up/do excessive rewinds you just shouldn't do it, unprofessional

Well, to be honest, their rewinds at Bloc were nothing compared to at DMZ. OMFG, now *that* was annoying. I was able to live with the 5 or so rewinds at Bloc. It was also probably one of their better performances together lately I think, so I wasn't expecting much and therefore enjoyed it more. Plus Pokes more than made up for it.

I think Best Recovery Award for the weekend goes to frebentos! You really looked like you shouldn't've got on that train on Friday lol.

BLOC TV! I miss it already! Chatterbox - pure class!

Did Komonazmuk actually play in the end? He was supposed to come on after Unlikely but didn't? Unfortunately, they turned the sound down in the bar on Sunday. It had probably the best sound on Friday (out of the places I managed to get to). But having said that, the sound in general was probably the most disappointing thing about the whole festival anyway. Wish I'd made it to the Fenchurch Dome more than once.

[dom]

if i was a promoter and skream did a set like that i would demand my money back/refuse to pay
you can't play a set wasted when your expecting to be paid £500+

you could probably add on a 0 for a big festival like that...

[fitz]

Did Komonazmuk actually play in the end? He was supposed to come on after Unlikely but didn't? Unfortunately, they turned the sound down in the bar on Sunday. It had probably the best sound on Friday (out of the places I managed to get to). But having said that, the sound in general was probably the most disappointing thing about the whole festival anyway. Wish I'd made it to the Fenchurch Dome more than once.

Ya, he played in the bar on Sunday - heard he played some good stuff but it was an unsuitable venue