Videos of the last 3 years

Posted on October 5, 2010 by Mr Elephant

Here’s some of our event videos from the last 3 years.

You can check all the artist weblinks and posters for each event here

Mr Elephant 3rd Birthday Part 2 – Live & Free #11 – April 2010

Mr Elephant 3rd Birthday Part 1 – Party Rockin Mammal Sessions – April 2010

Mr Elephant Live & Free # 10 – March 2010

Mr Elephant Live & Free Haiti Fundraiser – Feb 2010

Mr Elephant Party Rockin Mammal Sessions #12

Mr Elephant Live & Free #8 – Nov 2009

Mr Elephant room at Jibbering 10th Birthday – Nov 2009

Mr Elephant Live & Free #7 – Oct 2009

Mr Elephant Party Rockin Mammal Sessions 1st Birthday – Oct 2009

Mr Elephant Party Rockin Mammal Sessions #9 – Sep 2009

Mr Elephant Live & Free # 6 – Sep 2009

Mr Elephant Cinephonic #2 @ Hare & Hounds – August 2009 – Video by Jack B

Mr Elephant Live & Free #5 @ Adam & Eve – August 2009

Cinephonic #1 @ Hare & Hounds – June 2009 – Video by Jack B

Start of our set @ Mr Elephant’s Cinephonic #1 @ Hare & Hounds – June 2009 (Video courtesy of Tony from theLAB)

Our 3rd Live & Free Event @ Adam & Eve – June 2009

The Hidden Half @ Mr Elephant’s Live & Free @ Adam & Eve – June 2009

Flame of Fervour @ Mr Elephant’s Live & Free #3 @ Adam & Eve – June 2009

Paper Tiger @ Mr Elephant Live & Free #2 @ Adam & Eve – May 2009

Mr Elephant’s 2nd Birthday Video by Jack Brabant – May 2009

Dub Fx @ Mr Elephant’s 2nd Birthday @ Hare & Hounds – May 2009

Animation made in Mr Elephant children’s animation workshop hosted by Claire Evans – May 2009

Party Rockin Mammal Sessions # 5 @ Bulls Head – April 2009

Munch Break @ Mr Elephant’s Live & Free #1 @ Adam & Eve – April 2009

Playing Django @ Mr Elephant’s Live & Free #1 @ Adam & Eve – April 2009

Djing @ Night Times Presents “Celebrate Brummie Underground 2″ @ Custard Factory – Dec 2008

Mama Matrix @ Cid Music & Mr Elephant gigbeth fringe shows – Nov 2008

Djing @ Mr Elephant Presents “Party Rockin Mammal Sessions #2 @ Bulls Head – Oct 2008

Footage from our Mr Elephant part of Celebrate Birmingham’s Underground #1 @ Rainbow Beach – Sep 2008

Our Midnight Poodle Parade @ Mr Elephant Presents “Celebrate Brummie Underground 1″ @ Rainbow Beach – Sep 2008

Our Midnight Poodle Parade @ Mr Elephant’s Family Alldayer @ The Prince – May 2008

Mr Elephant’s 1st Birthday @ The Hare and Hounds – April 2008

Mr Elephant 1 & 2 @ Epic Skate Park – Feb / June 2007

Big Elephant Noises & bidding Farewell for a while

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Mr Elephant

As you may know we are taking a break from all the monthly events for the forseeable future, to concentrate on other projects, so until we return, we just wanted to say a massive thank you on behalf of the whole Mr Elephant crew for bringing the vibes to our last 41 events, and to everyone who has been part of any Mr Elephant event, workshop, radio show, or website.

We’ll really miss the events, and each one has been a truly inspiring experience, but the time feels right to move on to other projects until next year.

It was really important that we left things on a high, and we’re forever grateful to all the venues that have housed us throughout the last years, the Adam & Eve, Hare & Hounds, Epic Skate Park, Rainbow Beach, the Bulls Head & Prince Wales.

When we return to do events we will certainly be looking to promote local talent through smaller regular events, but there was a unananimous decision that we all wanted to return to another reason why we started Mr Elephant in the 1st place, and that is the larger more festival style events. Like the 1st 2 at Epic skate park in 2007, the family days at the Prince garden, the 12 hour celebration pf Birmingham’s Underground on the Rainbow beach/warehouse, and the workshops & multistage 2nd Birthday at the hare and hounds. Events that are one offs and that encompass all the areas of Mr Elephant in one cohesive event, or to put it another way, a balance of all the events over the last 3 years, and pushing some of the Mr Elephant ideas forward.

We’ll still be hosting our radio show on www.rhubarbradio.com with Marc Reck every monday evening at 6pm & Mr Elephant residents Skeleton & Dolhasz will be hosting The Beat Suite every wednesday from 11.30pm. However to avoid the whole website being taken up with the radio shows, it seems more appropriate for these to exist on their own websites & of course the rhubarb ones, so that the artists & events can remain on the front of this one. One of the main aims of Mr Elephant is to shine a light on great stuff, and so hopefully the videos of the events housed on this website helps further that.

There are many ideas and goals that we have as Mr Elephant and while we’ve achieved so much more than we hoped, (due to the ever expanding platform of talented contributors) there is so much we have yet to explore.

We have always been totally unfunded, and, as most will know, it becomes difficult to devote such a large portion of your life when you have to cover your own costs, and have other ambitions to explore. With that in mind we are looking at ways to fund future events so we can realise their true potential, and we’ll be taking time out to further our own interests in order to bring them back in bigger and brighter. We all want to keep the free party ethos alight wherever possible, simply because it allows the most accessibility to people, regardless of financial status, and therefore the most diverse mix of people, which is always a good thing… The logisitics of sorting the time and resources we can work out.

Anyway, once again, thanks to one and all for a truly inspiring 3 years, and on behalf of all the Mr Elephant crew, we wish you a beautiful hot summer.

One love
Mr Elephant.

Mr Elephant’s 3rd Birthday Part 1 – Party Rockin Mammal Sessions – Free Party

Posted on April 10, 2010 by Mr Elephant

Mr Elephant is 3 years, and almost 40 events old, so we are celebrating with 2 final free parties at our 2 favourite homes

Here are a few photos from the event

and a little bit of video (sorry about the sound quality) before our cameraman sorts the well shot footage out.

Update & here’s Jack Brabant‘s video

Massive thanks to all who came down and bought the vibes. Great night and one we wont forgot.

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Part One will be the phat underground floor shaking party rockin mammal sessions with 5 of Birmingham’s most versatile party rockin djs & the return of a new vj.

Headliners are the massive Doctor & Malicious ak the Brotherhood of Filth, and pioneers of http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/

DOCTOR http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/NewerTheDoctor.html plays many musical genres including Hip Hop, Dnb, Reggae, Dubstep, Oldskool & Breaks. With a massive reputation from his residencies at Scratch Club & Heducation, and his forthcoming releases, its safe to say you can expect the unexpected, with a host of genres cut up in his individual scratch style.

Malicious Dj – http://www.bassoperations.co.uk/NewerMalicious.html is another genre hopping turntablist who continues to create a floor filling party experiences for a wide variety of audiences across the country. Long time resident for Scratch Club and Heducation, Malicious dj has developed a unique scratching style mashing up his love for hip-hop, reggae and drum and bass during his versatile and creative sets.

MARC RECK – http://www.marcreck.com has been taking 6 months off djing to work on a brand new setup for May, but will be giving a sneak preview on the night alongside celebrating his own birthday. Coined as the Dj with no barriers by the Night Times and winner of best local dj in Dec 2008, Marc has 6 residencies, a radio show, and has supported a huge spectrum of live bands and headline djs, so expect peak time party rockin genre hopping.

THE BEAT SUITE – http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/beatsuite/ has been going from strength to strength, both behind the decks and on the airwaves. Here’s the men behind the show.

SKELETON – http://www.myspace.com/skeletonskratch is a diverse turntablist party rocker, with bookings every weekend, and an ever growing armoury of styles. A keen ear for dynamics and superb deck skills, expect everything from dubstep, glitchybreaks through to rolling jungle and phat drum and bass.

Dolhasz – http://www.myspace.com/dolhasz brings the party to the decks and the bass to the airwaves. Host of two radio shows, a producer with recent releases, and a dj who can drop the biggest tunes at all the right moments, Dolhasz’s party rockin style of bass music will be in full effect for our last session.

This event was created by our resident Vj monsieur Blendstate, but as he will now be in Japan on the date, we will be welcoming back our last guest at cinephonci.http://www.mrelephant.com/events/featured/cinephonic-5-photos-review . All the way from Italy, Vj Delsyd will be adorning the big screen with her beautiful blend of visuals, keeping our vision enthralled throughout the evening.

And our crew will also be bringing you Elephant Crafts to get your creativity a flowing when you need a sit down from the party rockin tunes.

As a little way of saying a big thank you to everyone for their incredible support of Mr Elephant and the events over the last 3 years, these parties will be free all night and the venue have kindly given us an extra hour til 3am.

NB a lot of people have been asking why we are stopping Mr Elephant events at a time when they are seemingly going so well, and so in answer to anyone who may be wondering the same, it’s mainly because the regular events, while hugely enjoyable, take up a lot of time & with us all working for free, there was a consensus that we need to drop them for a while in favour of moving back to the original reasons to why we started it, which is the bigger festival events, and various related strands. Plus this year some of the core members need time to focus on other areas.

We will still be running the odd free event, and our radio show will continue every week, but for now we just wanted to leave things on a high, so these will be our last two for the forseeable future.

You can check all the associated video, photos and blog posts for every single event on our website http://www.mrelephant.com by clicking on the events menu item.

One love
Mr Elephant

Cinephonic #5 feat Blendstate martial arts av set, Smokedog & Shelley Roots

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Mr Elephant

A few photos from a couple of our elephant crew. 1st half from Marc, & 2nd half from Emily (who both contributed this little review of the evening)

Bass love in the air at Cinephonic #5

Mr Elephant Presents hosted another audio-visual encounter in Venue 2 of the Hare and Hounds. Saturday saw a martial arts special that encompassed the visual wizardry of VJ Blendstate and VJ Delsyd with DJ duties expertly wielded by Smokedog, Shelley Rootz and Mr Elephant residents Skeleton and Dolhasz (The Beat Suite).

Shelley Rootz made her Mr Elephant debut playing a superb eclectic mix of funk, reggae and soul. Great selections with each and every track and it definitly wont be long before we ask her back.

DJ Smokedog, was up next. A man who has rocked 2 of our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions with his love of Jungle. This time however we were treated to a trip to the old school, with a big selection of music that is almost impossible to find these days and which triggered a loyal band of old-schoolers to bust out all the old rave moves. Catch Smokedog’s audio documenatary on our upcoming 23rd radio show.

And last but certainly not least our inspiring residents, Skeleton and Dolhasz, did their usual duty of playing floor filling underground hiphop, glitch-hop, at funk at the start, and those massive breaks, dubstep and drum ‘n’ bass bangers at the end, with Kipp dropping his skilful scratching & Dolhasz vibing the crowd with his energy and sick basslines.

Catch them next month at our 13th Party Rockin Mammal Sessions on Saturday March 13th 2010.

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//Martial Arts Special // Only £1 Before 12!!!//

Mr Elephant returns after a massive free party in January. Big thanks to everyone who rammed out the room and made it such a great night! This month Mr Elephant returns with Cinephonic, a night of all things video thrown in to the usual Mr Elephant mix of great vibes and great tunes. We’re on a martial arts tip this month, so look out for punches, grabs and kicks to accompany all the phat beats.

We thought we’d keep it nice and cheap (Only £1) and just have fun with it this month. To keep you moving we welcome back DJ Smokedog. Returning after a massive set (but sadly not nearly long enough) at our last party, Smokedog will be hitting you with some more proper old school breaks and Jungle. This time around though he will be performing an amazing Bruce Lee AV collaboration with VJ Delsyd. Treats for the eyes and ears…

http://www.myspace.com/smokedog5

Bringing the funk we have Shelley Rootz of Rhurbarb Radio. If you never caught her before, her set went down a storm at Shambala fest last year. Expect some seriously funky tunes to get you moving with sprinklings of reggae, soul and anything else she pulls out the bag.

http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/sundaycitymusicbox/

As if that was not enough, we have the Mr E resident duo Skeleton and Dolhasz who are without a doubt running one of the most popular and top show’s on Rhurbarb Radio at the moment: The Beat Suite. Skeleton’s residences around Birmingham (including Trigger and Secret Wars) are testament to his skills and versatility on the decks. Dolhasz brings his production skills to the mix via a live ableton setup. Check out his latest release on FHT: http://www.junodownload.com/products/1492801-02.htm

http://www.rhubarbradio.com/programmes/beatsuite/

Joining all of the above on the visuals is Leicester’s finest VJ, The Lab. And Resident Mr E VJ, Blendstate.

http://www.thelab.org.uk/

Saturday 13^th February, The Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath. – 10pm – 2am

A very happy new decade from all at Mr Elephant!

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Mr Elephant

Yes another year is almost passed and as we enter a new decade we would like to whole heartedly wish you all a very happy 2010 on behalf of the Mr Elephant crew.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who bought their vibes to any of our 25 events this year, lent their ears to any of the 16 radio shows, or took part in our community workshops back in May.

And of course a big shout to the 50+ artists who delivered their magic at the various Mr Elephant events, and the 100 + people who came together behind to make it all happen, and platform and share their unique skills, with us (and each other.)

You may have noticed that this year we wanted to focus more on showcasing as many Birmingham artists as we could (hence the 3 very different monthly residencies at 3 great Birmingham venues) but we haven’t forgotten why we started Mr Elephant, and in 2010 we will be looking to hopefully bring a balance to both with slightly less regular events and slightly more of the larger events.

Because they require so much time we have had to look at how best to move forward so we will be playing the next quarter by elephant ear, but suffice to say there are plans already in action for another festival style event with the return of the mr elephant midnight parade and featuring all the trimmings of the 1st 2 at Epic from 2007, the 12 hour celebrate underground from 2008, our 1st birthday also from 2008 and our 12 hour 2nd birthday from 2009. We are also aiming to grow our regular monthly events and showcase some great live artists,underground djs, and forward thinking vjs at two of our favourite Birmingham venues.

Our Party Rockin Mammal Sessions will be the first to return with a new home @ the Hare & Hounds room 2 on Saturday Jan 9th (http://www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/party-rockin-mammal-sessions-free-party/) with a huge free party featuring around 10 of our favourite underground djs in brum, and will of course be on rotation 2nd Sat of every month thereafter with our Cinephonic A/V cinematic dancefloor sessions both bringing you a host of great djs, vjs, and live electronic artists.

Along with his unique visual talents, Vj Blendstate has taken over the promoting reigns of both of these events since mid October, along with our super skilled elephant residents the beat suite (aka skeleton & dolhasz) rocking the decks, and Liam has some big plans afoot, so if you like underground dance music and quality visuals, keep it locked.

I’ll be continuing with our live and free residency at the Adam & Eve which will feature more great live bands, eclectic djs and solo artists on the last saturday of February and each month thereafter, and will of course remain free entry til 4am, and will be returning with our eclectic radio show each monday to its home on rhubarb radio from 6pm – 8pm – (Check out/hear all our past shows and artists here) . – On a personal note i’ll be returning to the decks in around April/May with something i been working on since having a break in October.

Along with Jack and friends we will continue to capture and post footage of all artists as best we can on this website and make a loud elephant noises about the wealth of talent that exists in the city we live in. BIRMINGHAM! and our resident journalist Emily P will be continuing her cool column on the news and reviews front, and is rumoured to be bringing her interviewing prowess to the site in the new year.

The website (like the events, workshops, and of course radio) is totally unfunded, and features over 140 posts, many of which with video, photos, and of course links to all artists, so please have an explore round the various posts, check the videos and support any of the artists you enjoy by following their links and making a noise about whatever you’re into.

We would like to work the site better, so if you know about websites or have any ideas, feel free to let us know on how we can improve the community side of the website, or by dropping a comment. (We’ve had major issues with the mailing list plugin which has now been discontinued, hence no mailouts for almost a year now, but we are migrating to another option in jan)

And finally we would like raise the collective trunk and make a huge elephant noise to everyone who is, and has been, involved with Mr Elephant thus far, (which deserves a post in itself!) Whethers it’s bringing music and events this great city, using the platform to showcase and develop a creative passion, or trying a creative interest with experienced artists in hands on situations, the shared grass roots ethos that seem to run through all people who get involved with the phat mammal, is a testament to the abundance of opportunities that it continues to create.

Whatever you are interested in and however you celebrate, may 2010 bring you all you wish for, and the decade be an evolution of all that interests you.

One Love

Marc (on behalf of Mr Elephant as a whole)

Cinephonic #4 – Xmas Movie Mashup feat RCAINE

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Mr Elephant

Cinephonic returns for a big ol’ christmas knees up. To get you seriously moving this month we’ve got the prodigious RCAINE joining us with his driving basslines and techy energetic breaks. Old friend of Mr Elephant, he absolutely smashed it for us back in at our Celebrate Birmingham’s Underground event last year and went down a storm at our Party Rockin Mammal’s event more recently. Be sure to check out his full bio below.

Joining him on the decks as ever are Rhurbarb Radio stars Skeleton and Dolhasz, who are without a doubt running one of the most popular and top show’s on Birmingham’s own www.rhurbarbradio.com at the moment. On the visuals we have resident VJ Blendstate and this month a special guest, Leicester’s finest VJ: The Lab. Having worked with Roland/Edirol around Europe and now working as Lisa Lashes Tour VJ his work has to be seen to be believed.

This month we are going to get in the Christmas spirit, we’ll be mashing up any and all the Xmas movies we can get our hands on to accompany the massive tunes. We wanna hear what your favourites are and we’ll get them in there for you. Just leave a comment below or email us mrelephantpresents@gmail.com.

Also for reduced £2 entry leave us your name below:)

RCAINE

RCAINE has been DJing since 1998, and like most DJ’s, he experimented with many different genre’s until finding his feet with Breaks, Techno and other associated forms. Things got a bit more serious when he won the DJ Mag/Pioneer DJ competition in June 2006 @ Earls court and has since gone from strength to strength. He’s been part of the backbone for many promotions over the years, from London to Birmingham and in his home town Wolverhampton. More recently Drop Beats Not Bombs, Rockfall and his new venture ‘Scandal’ with Boogie Dave @ Gatecrasher Birmingham. Now a regular on the Birmingham scene as well as guesting at parties all over the UK, playing alongside the biggest headliners the world has to offer, fullfilling his early years ambition. He continues to push new innovative music which also inspires his production. With the release of ‘System at Risk’ on ADHD digital featured on the ‘It’s good for the soul’ album, and a remix for a forthcoming Subsource track, from the new album due out March 2010, his productions go from strength to strength.

http://www.myspace.com/djrcaine

Friday 11th December
The Hare and Hounds

Kings Heath
9:00pm – 2:00am

Free Early/ £3 After

Cinephonic #2 Review – Sat 8th August 2009

Posted on August 30, 2009 by Mr Elephant

After kicking off to a great start with Quantic back in June, Cinephonic well and truly settled into its groove with it’s second outing this month. It was a monster weekend with the Mr Elephant team also ramming the bull’s head the night before with a funk flavoured Party Rockin Mammal Session. A little sleep later and we’re back again at the Hare and Hounds for a very different animal.

Video by Jack Brabant

As always with Cinephonic we base the visuals of the night around a theme. This time around it was all about the road movies. Marc Reck opened us up with a great bit of chilled trip-hop, the room nicely filling up to the warm sounds of artists such as Kruder & Dorfmeister, Thievery Corporation & Barry Adamson.

Mr Vj Blendstate was on the light fantastic, craftly mixing up some killer clips from Thelma & Louise, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/ David Lynch’s lawnmower powered movie “The Straight Story” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/, and the classic Easy Rider http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064276/ as the pace picked up ready for our special guests.

Rhurbarb Radio favourites Skeleton and Dolhasz perfectly translated their radio show ‘The Beat Suite” http://thebeatsuiterhubarbradio.blogspot.com/ into a live environment. Covering a massive range of genres just like a certain resident of ours loves to do, the experimental pair seemed a perfect match for Marc and the night.

The Beat suite’s 1st set saw some great scratching from Skeleton & some seamless blending from Dolchasz. Taking it from the trip hop into the hip hop and building up into choice dubstep and big room breaks, their style, vibe and mixing was 2nd to none and kept the tension building and the party rockin vibe flowing!

Despite the soaring temperature the place was nice and full by 11:00 and our DJ’s responded accordingly cracking the tunes up and getting everybody moving. The visuals hit overdrive with some feedback powered cliff driving, motorcycle acrobatics, and Lawnmower action for good measure.

Midnight came and it was time for Marc’s 2nd set. Starting from breaks and switching it up with each track, it seemed our resident was looking for what was the crowd wanted in order to set the place off.

After breaks, a little swing, it was the huge bite from the liquid drum and bass which set the place on fire and took us into a great hour of crowd pleasing jungle & drum & bass!

Blendstates visuals were creating a filmic visual narrative that bought the cinema to the dancefloor with impressive skill and inspiring imagination! Skeleton & Dolchaz took to the decks for their 2nd set and displayed why they are two of the moste versatile djs in brum, effortlessly jumping from jungle to drum and bass, from breaks to dubstep, dropping in some cheeky numbers and keeping the floor locked and jumping all the way through.

Massive thanks to all those who came out and created a truly lovely vibe creating a proper night to remember. Also special thanks the venue for staying open an extra half hour allowing our DJ’s a unanticipated B2B set at the end!

Cinephonic will return on the 10th October with details to follow soon. If you’d like to keep posted automagically, please subscribe to the rss, or join the facebook group (invites for each event)

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Cinephonic returns with its blend of party tunes and big screen movie visuals, in room 2 of the Hare & Hounds on Saturday 8th August 2009, and this time around we’re be taking you on a journey with a road movie theme.

Cinephonic poster 2
We have some very special guests in the form of Skeleton (Trigger/Open Beats/Secret Wars) & Dolhasz (The Beat Suite) who will be journeying with a varied set of beats and breaks ranging from dancable funk and hip-hop to glitch-hop, breakbeat and dubstep.

They will be joined as by resident dj Marc Reck, who will be revving it up on the decks with party breaks, classic jungle, and big room drum & bass, and VJ Blendstate who will be crashing you through the road movie theme with a visual mashup of films you know and films you don’t.

We’re also celebrating a big birthday from one of Mr Elephant’s collective so head on down a join us for the audio visual celebrations.

Catch Skeleton & Dolhasz experimental collaboration live every Wednesday at midnight on http://www.rhubarbradio.com

And of course our own Mr Elephant Radio show every Monday from 6pm – 8pm on http://www.rhubarbradio.com

Saturday 8th August
The Hare and Hounds
10:00pm – 2:00am

Free before 11 / £3 after

Our 1st Cinephonic was..

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Mr Elephant

A lot of hard work, but ultimately a great experience

Liam & i have been working on getting an a.v set together all week with 3 am finishes most nights. Hard work but necessary as we were both using new technologies, and obviously wanted the launch to be something special, not least because Quantic was also on the bill (after a chance call from Adam asking if we could fit him and his new film into the night)

What was interesting to learn on a personal note (once again) that pre planned sets aren’t suited to djing. Its was essential that Liam knew exactly what was played so he could create video clips and an av set to accompany (for our first one at least), but we both learnt that there is only so much planning that works in this environment.

After watching the Transition in Tradition filming, Paul our guest percussionist played an inspired solo set while we plugged the cd decks back in (as they were obscuring the screen) and then we launched into our 1st cinephonic set. The set was a real pleasure building up through all kinds of music, from the opening track (Bombay by A R Rahman) through Tipper, Thievery Corporation, Kruder & Dorfmeister, into some funk, swing, and then Quantic style rolling house tracks.

The response was just as i’d hoped up until one of the swing hop tracks. It was here when the dancefloor went from everyone up to some people getting a beer. Normally as a dj you wouldn’t think twice about switching it up or back, into something that works, but as we had a set plan, there was no way out. It was the first time i’d had this experience for a while, and is best accustomed to taking the wrong bag of records out. I’m always a bit overly critical if the floor doesn’t stay remain full/build up, and people said positive things afterwards, but iwas reminded that some styles of music just work better played end to end.

Reason i say that is because, Quantic and B+ plugged in, and just put on some great records. There was no mixing, just selecting, and the floor responded to the records it liked. For certain styles of music you need to be free to play, and the crowd will groove to the parts they like and that’s what they did. While it was a new experience for me and liam as a partnership, it reminded me that 5 days working out how to fit various genres of more difficult records together is not normally as productive as it can feel. That said there’s nothing that beats a proper dj set using the equipment and scratchig it up in terms of really setting a crowd off.

Nevertheless i have great memories of the night, and feel lucky to have been reminded of something i learnt so long ago. Paul’s Cole’s (free control) percussion was inspiring, and we were also joined by the equally inspiring Tony Coleman from The Lab who not only vjed with Quantic, but also recorded the whole set, and has even edited and uploaded a section while the rest flies its way over via carrier postmen.

I’ll be posting the full audio and hopefully sections of video as soon as it arrives, and i’ll leave you with the opening 10 minutes of our Av set courtesy of Tea.

Cinephonic @ the Hare and Hounds from theLAB on Vimeo.

Here’s the full tracklisting of our set

Cinephonic Av Set #1 – Marc Reck & Vj Blendstate

1. Bombay – A.R Rahman

2. Biotech – Tabla Beat Science

3. Speechless – Count Basic

4. Cat People – Amon Tobin

5. Dead Pixels – Tipper

6. Bug Powder Dust (Kruder Mix) – Bomb The Bass

7. Lebonese Blond – Thievery Corporation.

8. The State of The Union – Thievery Corporation

9. Life In the Rain – Quantic

10. Bitte Drehn – Dublex Inc

11. Enter the Haggis – The Haggis Horns

12. Magic Afternoon – Parov Stellar

13. Wanna Go Home – Angry Rabbit Productions

14. 34 – Angry Rabbit Productions

15. Zuzukus People – Up Bustle & Out

16. Get A Move On – Mr Scruff

17. Belleville Rendevous – Ben Charest

18. Hip Hip Chin Chin (Maxim Illion Mix) – Club Del Belugas

19. A Pomba Girou – Zero Db

20 Sabor Feat Tempo – Quantic

21. On the One Three – Zero Db

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A video by Jack Brabant of the Event

A video by The Lab of the start of Marc Reck & Liam Blendstate’s Set

Cinephonic @ the Hare and Hounds from theLAB

Mr Elephant in the Paper!

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Mr Elephant

Those lovely people at the Night Times have featured Mr Elephant twice in this month’s issue! An interview and a review! Click on the pics for a readable version

Update : It seems the workshops were also covered by the BBC website too – http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2009/05/21/half_term_highlights_feature.shtml

Thanks to Rich for the heads up

The Cinephonic Launch is almost here – Sat 13th June 2008

Posted on June 5, 2009 by Mr Elephant

Its only a week away til the launch of Cinephonic @ Hare & Hounds, so time for a little overview

: Cinephonic #1 Poster by Blendstate

https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/buy_tickets/events/?id=10007316

Cinephonic
Born out of frequent collaborations between Marc Reck and Blendstate Visuals at Mr Elephant’s various events as well as with Project X and The Night Times, this project aims to take the relationship one set further…

A new night from Mr Elephant, Cinephonic aims to be something a little different. A treat for both your eyes and ears, each night will take you on an audio visual journey. We take two films from a genre and remix them together VJ style with a carefully selected choice of tunes to take the audience on a trip start to finish. Expect seriously danceable tunes of all flavours wrapped up in beautiful big screen visuals.

We are launching the night with a very special headlining guest DJ, none other than Quantic, aka Will Holland. In honour of our guests beautiful South American surroundings, the tropical vibe of his latest albums and with a nod to Mr Elephant the first Cinephonic will be based around a nature theme.

Quantic
Jazz sensibility with future dance floor orientated grooves, deep funk and tough drums.

Will Holland is one of the most talented and prolific artists in the world of alternative dance music today. Recording under various guises, Will first found acclaim as Quantic. As well as Quantic and the Quantic Soul Orchestra Will is one half of The Limp Twins, a duo he formed with Russ Porter. Initially a deejay partnership, it wasn’t long before they started recording, with Russ taking on the vocal duties and Will adding the magic with his savvy production.

He has enjoyed consistent success with his Quantic moniker, releasing his first album, ‘The 5th Exotic’ in the summer of 2001. It was picked up on by some of the most respected names in underground music. Richard Dorfmiester, Mr Scruff and LTJ Bukem all rated it very highly, not surprising when tunes like “Common Knowledge” and the near classic “Life in the Rain” had blazed across dance floors all over Europe. With elements of Jazz, Funk and Afro blended with tight breaks and Will’s distinctive production, ‘The 5th Exotic’ proved irresistible and won him many plaudits.

He built on this acclaim with the release of ‘Apricot Morning’ less than a year later, dispelling any talk of “the difficult second album”. His sound seemed to expand in every direction on ‘Apricot Morning’ and he became the first Tru Thoughts artist to collaborate with Alice Russell as well as recording with MC EQ and Bristol’s freshest hip hop crew, Aspects. ‘Apricot Morning’ is a perfect snapshot of everything happening at the jazzier end of underground music in 2002, as proved by Gilles Peterson who ranked it amongst his albums of the year.

The release of the album ‘Mishaps Happening’ in 2004 saw Quantic continuing to work with Alice Russell as well as recording two tracks with the legendary Spanky Wilson (with whom he went on to collaborate on a tour and an electrifying album for his Quantic Soul Orchestra…but that’s another story).

Quantic released a two-disc ‘One Offs, Remixes and B Sides’ album in 2005, which featured a collaboration with Mr Scruff and remixes by Pilooski and Seiji; and his fifth long player, ‘An Announcement To Answer’ followed in 2006, cementing his reputation as a 21st Century Quincy Jones.

Quantic regularly DJs across the world (and we mean the World not just America, Europe and Japan) spreading the unique Quantic sound with each set. His music has been featured on countless compilations and appeared in TV soundtracks, and as ever he has a busy schedule of remixes from respected labels across the board. In 2007 he relocated to Colombia, where he has had a studio built and is continuing to create exciting music at a characteristically prolific rate, taking inspiration from the heady mix of rhythms and sounds on his doorstep.

2008 saw a new project come to life, under the moniker Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno, a summery dub and reggae-inspired affair with an authentic tropical vibe. The album, ‘Death Of The Revolution’ came out in July 2008 and features Will Holland on various instruments with contributions from a host of Latin American musicians, including the legendary Peruvian pianist Alfredo Linares. This album pricked up the ears of many tastemakers and fans alike, including Gilles Peterson and Mark Lamarr (BBC Radio 2), who have been excited and curious about the new progression in Quantic’s music – and impressed that it sounds as stunning and original as any Quantic album to date.

The big story for 2009 is Quantic and his Combo Bárbaro, a handpicked band of internationally renowned musicians set to take over from The Quantic Soul Orchestra in realising the next stage of Holland’s musical vision.
(www.quantic.org // www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/artists/quantic)

Tradition in Transition: A Postcard from Cali

Shot in Cali and Buenaventura in Colombia. A Postcard from Cali is based around the music of Quantic and his Combo Barbaro from their forthcoming Tradition in Transition album on Tru Thoughts Records . (Screening starts 9pm)

Tradition in Transition: A Postcard from Cali (TRAILER) from Quantic on Vimeo.

Cinephonic gets Quantic!

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Mr Elephant

Great news and makes for a double header, but we’ve just heard that the fabulous Quantic is set to be appearing with us for our first Cinephonic event, which will start in June at the Hare & Hounds.

We’ve been keeping Cinephonic under wraps for quite a while now while our resident Vj Liam Blendstate was coming up with the identity of the night. Hes suggested making it a part of the Mr Elephant event as it would fit well with our other residencies, and as Liam is our resident, we jumped at the chance. Liams wanted to do a Vj led event for years now, and this is shaping up to be a suitably large launch.

More details soon, but we can reveal that Quantic will be debuting his latest project Tradition in Transition, and we’ll be showing the film at the start of the night, with a dj set from Will Quantic from around 12.30 am to follow. Here’s a sneak peek from the tru thoughts site – http://quantic.tru-thoughts.co.uk/