Oxegen wouldn’t be Oxegen without the presence of Red Bull...
From acrobatic cyclists taking to the skies to the talented graduates of the RB Music Academy wowing crowds with their eclectic mixes, Red Bull has never failed to provide the festival with unmissable performances. Ever the innovators, this year they are set to raise the bar even higher with the introduction of the Red Bull Electric Ballroom. Featuring a grand art-deco style ballroom, the stage will evoke the glitz and glamour of the 20s ‘jazz era’ whilst furnishing concert-goers with thrillingly modern tunes.
Knowing that no swinging party is complete without era-specific drinks, the Red Bull Cocktail Bar will be on hand to mix the finest concoctions. Plus Red Bull invites you to get into the spirit on Fancy Dress Friday – make sure to pack trilby, feather boa and pinstripe pants. Wellies optional! Here Hot Press profiles the exciting acts set to thrill festival-goers at the Red Bull Electric Ballroom over the weekend:
The Red Bull Electric Ballroom was the place to be for dance fanatics over the weekend. the world’s top DJs, sensational live bands, and a host of flamboyantly-dressed eccentrics giving it their best Prodigy step? Here’s the lowdown.
The cavernous surroundings of the Red Bull Electric Ballroom offered a welcome respite from the rain on Friday, with UK electro pop outfit Fenech-Soler pouncing on their opportunity to impress with admirable vigour. Fan favourite ‘Lies’ proves a monster, its third-act dual percussion-assisted crescendo combining with the stage’s hypnotic strobe lights to create a wicked audiovisual assault.
How do you follow that? If you’re Bitches With Wolves, you throw out the rulebook and take your bow to the strains to The Lion King’s ‘Circle Of Life’ before delivering a retro-flavoured set that featured a barnstorming cover of Fragma’s ‘90s club anthem ‘Toca’s Miracle’. Inspired!
Continuing the covers theme was London-born MC supremo Maverick Sabre, whose heartfelt rendition of ‘Wonderwall’ captivated the crowd. Sporting an Ireland jersey and paying tribute to his long-time home of New Ross, Sabre proudly embraced his Irish roots with conviction amidst a breathless performance.
Further homegrown talent was on display as the Shit Robot show transformed the Ballroom into a futuristic wonderland and provided one of the most memorable images of the weekend, as the unmistakable green robot headset bopped away in the middle of a mesmerising video wall, while delivering a thumping set that didn’t let up for a minute.
As the dust settled, Justin Robertson capitalised on the momentum, unleashing a pulsating hour of infectious electronica, regularly teasing with slow builds that pay off in explosive fashion.
Not to be outdone on the visual front, Sven Väth was on hand to deliver his own bizarre imagery, the most notable of which saw the German disc-spinner clad in a knight’s helmet carved from a disco ball. A somehow oddly appropriate sight for his rumble-heavy antics and a great way to close out day one.
DAY TWO
As “Brunkergate” unfolds over on the Vodafone Stage, the Ballroom kicks Saturday off with its own celebrity curiosity, as rugby hero Cian Healy AKA DJ Church and his air horn-toting cohort Gordo treat the packed crowd to an impressive if slightly familiar set of tunes. While it’s more a playlist than a mixing session, Healy’s enthusiastic cheerleading shines through and it’s impossible not to get swept up in the fun.
Anticipation is at fever pitch later in the evening when Steve Aoki steps up to his decks. What follows is almost communal as an enraptured audience hang on every hook, beat and pounding kick-in throughout. The American DJ matches their spirit, gleefully feeding off their energy and eventually leaving his post to briefly join his loyal disciples in the crowd.
Before exiting the stage, Aoki makes a point of introducing Diplo to the packed arena. Utilising his superstar aura, the in-demand producer turns the ballroom on its head, transforming the crowd into an ocean of flailing limbs, nodding heads and waving glowsticks. Quite stunning.
And so to Saturday night’s main event. It appears that Italian noise terrorists The Bloody Beetroots are on a mission to unleash as much musical carnage and chaos as possible. The ballroom quickly resembles a sonic battleground as the crowd attempt to outdo the madness onstage. Perhaps in response, the masked men usher in the devastating one-two punch of ‘Warp’ and their frenzied take on Refused’s punk classic ‘New Noise’. As the smoke clears the Beetroots take a brief moment to survey their work. Mission accomplished.
DAY THREE
Making a late play on Sunday afternoon to steal Shit Robot’s ‘Most Amazing Visual’ crown is Brit electro whizkid Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Decked in his signature Native American headdress, he rocks the house accompanied by a trio of fright-wigged femme fatales, their presence creating a Plan 9 From Outer Space effect. Except you know, good.
With mere hours remaining at the festival, the remaining acts attempt to make every second count. Back-to-back sets from Alex Metric and Fake Blood keep revellers on their toes in frantic fashion, while Kid Cudi-approved duo Crookers bring their unique brand of hip house to the Ballroom, unleashing a rhythmic rollercoaster that nearly blows the roof right off the building.
There are also info sessions next month in Dublin and Belfast.
The sharp of things to come
06 Jul 2011
Having released his debut mixtape, The Travelling Man, late last year and collaborated with Professor Green in January, Wexford rapper Maverick Sabre is getting his sunblock and wellies ready to play Europe’s biggest festivals this Summer.
Raised in Ireland, playing Oxegen is a big deal for 20-year-old London-based rap sensation Maverick Sabre.
“Earlier in the year I’d been been booked for a couple of UK festivals but I hadn’t been booked for Oxegen or Belsonic in Belfast, so I was a bit disappointed. ’Cos I grew up in Ireland. Oxegen was always the biggest one.”
After losing his underwear and walking around barefoot at Oxegen for three days when he was 16, Maverick knows how to enjoy a weekend of camping and crunking. His ideal festival mates would be his manager Darius, Richard Branson (“he’d be getting the drink, and organising a helicopter ride in and out”) and Alicia Keys (“to add some beauty”).
“At festivals some people just wander in for a look,” he says. “They might have only heard your name. They might not normally go to your gig. It’s also about togetherness and unity.”
Having relocated to Ireland as a child, Maverick moved back to London to make music in his late teens. As such, he has a unique sense of belonging to two tribes.
“For me, playing to northern English crowds is very similar to playing to Irish crowds. Down south in London, we get so many acts and such a variety of music I think we get a bit complacent. We need to be impressed all the time. You hear a lot less up north and especially in Ireland so the crowd are more up for it. They’re just more open.”
The rapper, who was born Michael Stafford, has a South London accent peppered with a Wexford farmer’s lilt. Once the black sheep of the music scene in Ireland in particular, he thinks rap is well-represented at festivals nowadays.
“Over the last 10 years it’s become part of the culture. It’s less the ‘bad boy’ music and more the mainstream. If you look at the charts you can see that. You’ve got rappers that are on dubstep tracks, you’ve got rappers on heavy metal tracks, on indie tracks.
“In a way, rap has been diluted, as it’s spread into more genres. So there’s good and bad sides to it.”
Between playing the Isle of Wight, Oxegen and Glastonbury this summer, Maverick’s finishing a new album, due for release in November.
“I’m writing constantly, so it’s about getting 10 or 11 tracks down for the record.”
He says there is no single best way to write.
“Sometimes I’ll get a guitar riff, record it, loop it and play it over and over again and write to it. I love composing to beats. I’m a hip-hop head at the end of the day. I used to be an MC. I need to go to my room, close all the curtains, be in total darkness – and just be on my own. It almost seems like the room becomes the song.”
Maverick Sabre plays the Red Bull Electric Ballroom at Oxegen on the Friday.
London by the way of Wexford and back again, it's been a strange journey for the man with the voice you just can't pinpoint. Since Maverick Sabre last spoke...
When five-year-old Michael Stafford was uprooted from his life in Hackney to a new home in County Wexford, it seemed unlikely that the wee innovator would be...
Messiah J & The Expert and Captain Moonlight have some competition in the credible Irish hip hop stakes with the emergence of teen rapper Maverick Sabre.
Poo kid on the block
06 Jul 2011
A member of the DFA family and close friend of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot has had a remarkable 12 months, with a rapturously received debut album and a star spot in LCD’s end-of-an-era madison square garden show. He tries to put it all into words.
It took 40 year-old Dubliner Marcus Lambkin, AKA Shit Robot, a while to get around to recording his debut album. But when he finally did, with last year’s From The Cradle To The Rave, he made it count. A star-studded affair produced by DFA, it featured several tracks co-written with James Murphy as well as vocal contributions from LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Whang and Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor. For good measure, it received excellent reviews and Lambkin’s music has received the thumbs-up from the likes of Simian Mobile Disco and Thom Yorke.
Marcus himself is based in a rural area outside Stuttgart, and says that the locale is heavily populated by Swabian farmers. I wonder if he ever sees the farming community brandishing DFA 12 inches?
“No, definitely not,” chuckles Marcus. “They have no idea who I am!”
Of late, Marcus has been busy working on new material, DJing and doing live performances, which are billed as ‘The Shit Robot Show’. These gigs are elaborate affairs, which involve Marcus playing beneath a robot headset and in front of a screen. Earlier this year, he took the set-up to Madison Square Garden, where he and fellow DFA artist The Juan MacLean contributed robotic voices to the epic ’45:33’ during LCD Soundsystem’s final gig.
How did the show go?
“It was amazing,” enthuses Marcus. “I got to play all of the Terminal 5 gigs, as well, in the build-up, and to cap it off by playing Madison Square Garden was something else. But I was so nervous before that show; obviously it was going out live on the web and I didn’t want to screw up. The evening itself was quite hectic – there were a lot of celebrities present, and Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs were running around filming stuff, which is going to be included on the DVD release. They’d filmed a little insert that was played on the big screens before myself and Juan arrived, so we had to get our timing right!
“Luckily, the after-party was in the hotel I was staying in, so that was handy. Susan Sarandon was actually at the gig, and it’s not the first LCD show she’s been at either. It’s one of those things where you go, ‘Really?’ – because you wouldn’t imagine she’d be into it, but she is. Also, Courtney Love was there and even joined a group of us onstage for the finale.”
Does Marcus have any idea what James Murphy’s next move will be?
“Well, they’re putting together that DVD and he’s working on a couple of film things,” he reveals. “But I also think he’s just enjoying not having a schedule for a while. I wouldn’t rule out the LCD crew making music together again, but in terms of them being stuck in a rigid album-tour-album cycle, that is absolutely over and done with. It’s funny, because during that last week of shows in New York, I was thinking, ‘I’m so happy my friends are going to get some time off and fulfil other creative ambitions’. But then after the shows you’d think, ‘God, LCD Soundsystem really are one hell of a live band right now’. It made me a bit sad to realise I was never going to see them in that setting again. So there were some mixed emotions.”
Marcus is currently working on material for his second album and feels that hooking up with some of the DFA crew once again is a distinct possibility.
“That’s the way it’s worked so far,” he acknowledges. “It’s a cliché, but DFA really is like a big family. What happened on the first record is that I got some basic ideas together and then took them to New York to finish them off. But it was all very organic. It just felt right that I should ask Nancy from LCD to sing on a track, and then we went to see Hot Chip one night, and when we were hanging out afterwards I asked Alexis if he fancied working on a track. He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll come down tomorrow and do it’. So I imagine it will be a similar kind of process this time around.”
A member of the DFA family and close friend of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot has had a remarkable 12 months. with a rapturously...
A protegé of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot is one of the hottest new forces in electronica.
Cut Some Rugger
06 Jul 2011
An Irish rugby international and chum will be setting the decks on fire at Oxegen
The only act to perform two sets at Oxegen 2010, DJs Church and Gordo – aka Ireland international and Leinster rugby star, Cian Healy and his side-kick, Gordon – return this year as part of another wonderfully eclectic Red Bull Electric Ballroom line-up. Both long-time friends from Clontarf on Dublin’s north side, the pair have forged a unique partnership behind the decks, and one that has won them a huge following wherever they appear. Not surprisingly, they’re both chomping at the bit to get back in action again.
“Last year was absolutely brilliant,” Healy enthuses. “I’ve been doing this with Gordo for about three years and it was a definite career highlight. We couldn’t believe the reaction and we were lucky enough to be able to play two sets. One in the Red Bull tent and the other in the dance tent. We had a huge crowds for both. They were really into it.”
For their set this year Church & Gordo will be doing a mix of old favourites and some newer tunes, according to Healy
“We play a bit of everything,” he proffers. “With different crowds you have to be flexible but for something like Oxegen we’d go for a lot of newer stuff, which tends to go down well with a festival audience. We’re just back from Ibiza. We’ve brought back some great new tunes which we’ll be premiering on the night “
How does it usually work in terms of performing. Do they take turns on the decks or is it a collaborative effort?
Gordo: “We do a bit together for a while then he’ll play a tune and I’d play a tune. It works out well We usually play for an hour or an hour and a half or so. The time flies. I noticed that last year a lot of people liked the stuff they’d never heard before which was surprising. I’ve been DJing since I was about 15. I’m a bit of a ‘90s dance nut. Stuff like Afrojack and something like say, Avicci’s ‘Levels’ always goes down well.”
Healy: “I’m big into hip hop as well as dance so I like to hear something like a mix of Snoop Dog and a dance tune.”
Finally, will they get a chance to catch any of the other acts at Oxegen?
Healy: “Yeah, we’ll do a good bit of hopping around the place. I enjoy the fact that there are so many unbelievable artists playing this year, way too many to choose from but I’ll catch as much as I can.”
Gordo: “We find we end up listening to a lot of new bands that we haven’t heard of before but I’m looking forward to Coldplay myself.”
Church And Gordo play the Red Bull Electric Ballroom on the Saturday.
Dance overlord Justin Robertson is back with a new project – and the same dapper dress sense.
“It’s been so refreshing to make music that’s really ‘defined’, finding something I’m happy with that’s new and fresh but honed down to one sound.”
This is the last thing you’d expect to hear from one of dance music’s true renaissance men. Manchester’s Justin Robertson has thrilled clubbers for 20 years, with a trademark eclecticism, his DJ sets blazing through any genre you care to name with dazzling panache and skill. Starting in 1991 with Lionrock, he fused an unlikely mix of metallic techno, baggy indie and hardcore rap – the group’s joyous big beat ska romp ‘Rude Boy Rock’ even gatecrashed the UK Top 20 in 1998. He has adopted many aliases since. With his latest project, Deadstock 33s, the chaotic glory of his previous work has been whittled down to a pin sharp blend of psychedelic acid disco. It’s the sound you can expect to hear at his upcoming appearance in the Red Bull tent.
“I’ve always loved Ireland,” he enthuses. “When I was playing Temple Of Sound all the time, I was seriously thinking about moving to Dublin. I liked it that much.” He pauses, “I wish I had then because I can’t afford it now!”
Dublin’s Arveene & Misk contribute a viciously funky remix of Robertson’s latest release ‘The Devils Paintbrush’. He’s really fired up about the duo.
“I’ve known Arveene a long time. He’s a good mate and I’m really into what they’re doing. I play loads of their tunes. The response to the remix has been very good. It’s great to be able to support new talent.”
Another young act Justin’s been working with is Stopmakingme,. “I met Dan (Avery) online. We instantly found we had very similar tastes. There was so much common ground. It’s one of the things that’s really positive about the Internet. You can get in contact with so many like minded souls and get to know them, have banter. You can be on the same wavelength musically without ever physically meeting them.”
A former sales assistant at seminal Manchester dance outlet Eastern Bloc (regular customers included then-students The Chemical Brothers) Justin thinks the decline of the record store has left us all worse off.
“There was a great sense of being the selector, knowing peoples tastes, being able to say to people ‘have a listen to this, you’ll love it’. The camaraderie of it, being down the pub with your mates after record shopping going ‘look what I got today’. It can get a bit lonely staring at a computer screen.”
In a genre where artists often pride themselves on their anonymity, Justin stands out with his snappy dress sense.
“I suppose it is important to me, that sense of dandifying myself around town with a whirly moustache” he laughs, “I am a bit sartorially eccentric and like to dress up”.
Justin Robertson plays the Red Bull Electric Ballroom at Oxegen on the Friday.
DANCE SINGLE OF THE FORTNIGHT
JUSTIN ROBERTSON
‘Have Mercy’ [Bugged Out! Recordings]
Sven Väth
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Friday July 8
Väth is godfather of the techno scene and Germany’s most acclaimed and accomplished DJ/producer to boot. Since his career began in 1982 he has been at the forefront of innovations in techno. His Cocoon Nightclub in Frankfurt is a Mecca for fans of all things minimal. His 14-plus hour sets are the stuff of legend.
The German techno hedonist brings us a more diverse selection than usual with electro house classics from Tiefschwarz, NY punk funk from !!! and visceral...
The predominant sound on Fire is of the grungy dance floor techno persuasion Vath himself spins, but there's light relief of 'Je t'aime' and the deep house...
Tiga
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Friday July 8
Canadian electro hero Tiga is a DJ and producer par excellence. He has remixed Soulwax, The xx, Fever Ray. Boyz Noize and Felix The Housecat and Scissor Sisters. He won a Juno Award in 2007 for his album Sexor.
Superstar DJ TIGA tells us that he’s paid too much for spinning records and will never take a band on tour. And, oh yes, he can’t wait for Christmas –...
The camp Canadian covers PE. Predictably, his deadpan vocal strips the original of all intensity and anger, leaving an unpleasent aftertaste. Still, the...
Shit Robot
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Friday July 8
Shit Robot, AKA Dublin’s Marcus Lambkin, released his debut album From The Cradle To The Rave last year, with guest collaborations from Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem. For his live show at Oxegen, he will perform from within a specially created screen with custom designed visuals. We are intrigued!
A member of the DFA family and close friend of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot has had a remarkable 12 months, with a rapturously...
A member of the DFA family and close friend of LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot has had a remarkable 12 months. with a rapturously...
A protegé of LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Dubliner Shit Robot is one of the hottest new forces in electronica.
Maverick Sabre
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Friday July 8
Garnerning acclaim for his hip hop inspired soulful folk, Maverick's sound is eclectic in the best sense. He won over a diverse crowd at the SXSW festival in Texas. Known for his eerie delivery, this London-Irishman appeared on Professor Green's 'Jungle' track earlier this year.
London by the way of Wexford and back again, it's been a strange journey for the man with the voice you just can't pinpoint. Since Maverick Sabre last spoke...
Having released his debut mixtape, The Travelling Man , late last year and collaborated with Professor Green in January, Wexford rapper Maverick Sabre...
When five-year-old Michael Stafford was uprooted from his life in Hackney to a new home in County Wexford, it seemed unlikely that the wee innovator would be...
Messiah J & The Expert and Captain Moonlight have some competition in the credible Irish hip hop stakes with the emergence of teen rapper Maverick Sabre.
Justin Robertson AKA The Prankster
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Friday July 8
This Mancunian has remixed dozens of high-profile musicians over the years. As frontman of Lionrock, the north of Englander has also unleashed albums and singles galore since the late '80s.
There are also info sessions next month in Dublin and Belfast.
Vogue Williams
05 Jul 2011
The model and Fade Street star is soaring in estimation around the Dublin club scene. Resident DJ at Gossip, Vogue recently joined the Phantom 105.2 team.
Having already supported dance giants Fatboy Slim and Calvin Harris, BWW will open for Hercules And Love Affair and Erasure over the Summer. Their darkly delicious music, high shoulder-pads and even higher hair, combine perfectly with their anything goes attitude, resulting in a musical and visual spectacle.
The electro-pop act will play their first live gig of 2011 next month
The Bloody Beetroots
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Saturday July 9
Bloody Beetroots have morphed from a high-energy DJ duo to a full-on frenzy-inducing live band. Clad in their signature venom masks, the electro revolutionairies blur the lines between fashion, art and music to stunning effect. With an attitude firmly rooted in punk rock, they've remixed tracks for The Chemical Brothers, Metallica and others.
He famously collaborated with MIA on her hit 'Paper Planes'. Last year Rolling Stone magazine hailed Diplo one of the '40 reasons to be excited about music'. His production credits include Santigold and Missy Elliot whilst his remix library includes Beck, Radiohead and Britney.
Four tracks of electro/hip-hop ‘riddims’ from the prolific Diplo – our favourite being the short ‘Percado’, featuring snatches of ‘Tour De...
Steve Aoki
05 Jul 2011
Performing on Saturday July 9
Aoki won the 'Best Mix Album' gong at the Billboard Awards in 2008 for Pillowface And His Airplane Chronicles. He shook Oxegen last year and festival-goers can expect to be blown away once again in 2011.
The London duo of Tom Neville and Serge Santiago will be pumping Italo-inspired electric music at the Red Bull Electric Ballroom. New single 'Mindfighter' was chosen as 'Song of the Day' on popjustice.com. It comes ahead of their debut album Motion. With pulsating drumbeat and bubbling synth both releases look set to be a huge hits in clubland and in the charts.
This Dublin DJ and producer hit the club scene in the early noughties as one of the long-running regulars at the now-defunct Backlash. He continues to perform in the capital and has supported international DJs throughout the country.
Ten years running, this Friday night dance music show remains hugely popular and highly influential. Hosted by Al Gibbs, the team has helped thousands of clubbers get into the
Swapping the rugby pitch for the DJ booth, Ireland and Leinster hero Cian Healy is sure to have festival-goers feeling the beat. He is joined by partner-in-crime Gordo.
Afrojack's collaboration with Pitbull, Neyo and Nayer, 'Give Me Everything' is currently at No. 1 in the UK singles chart and No. 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100. The Dutch DJ supremo has also remixed such A-listers as Madonna and Lady Gaga.
Italian duo Bot and Phra have just released their Dr. Gonzo EP on iTunes and Beatport to huge success. They've remixed the likes of Kid Cudi's 'Day'N'Nite', which made No. 2 in the UK.
One half of the Wiseguys, a British hip hop/big beat act that flew up the charts with 'Ooh La La', this DJ and producer has remixed Little Boots, Miike Snow and Noah And The Whale.
London's XFM crowned Alex 'Remixer of the Year' in 2008 for his debut album In Your Machine. He's also graced the sound systems of almost every major club in the world over and is set to shake up Punchestown in style this July.
Their single 'Stop And Stare’ was a recent BBC Radio 1 record of the week, and they’ve shone with a remix of Marina And The Diamonds’ ‘Hollywood’. Frontman Ben Duffy also cropped up on the Groove Armada track ‘Paper Romance’.
Their debut Stop And Stare album is out to coincide.
Totally Enormous Distinct Dinosaurs
05 Jul 2011
Bizarre instruments, glitter canons and, er, dancing dinosaurs – this Brit electro guru has ripped it up around the world with his spectacular live show.
