Videocrash / Solid Steel XXmas Special!

Re-scheduled from Dec 18th.

We’ve got one helluva huge party lined-up for the third longest night of the 2010 celebrating 20 years of Ninja Tune in true Videocrash style, and this time we’ve teamed up with Solid Steel to make the affair even more spectacular!

Having started in 1988 as a show on Kiss FM with Matt and John of Coldcut fame (and of course founding members of Ninja) as a platform for their mixing skills, cut-up techniques and wide knowledge of cutting edge music, Solid Steel quickly became infamous for playing the ‘broadest beats in London’. In ‘93 they were joined by PC (Cinematics/DJ Food) and Strictly Kev (DJ Food), and in ‘97 DK joined as producer and stand-in while the regular hosts were away touring thanks to their well earned notoriety. Quitting the station in 1999 after being given a 2-4 am Tuesday slot they joined BBC’s ad-free London Live station, and in 2001 the first Solid Steel mix album, ‘Now, Listen!’ by DJ Food and DK was released. Since then a host of left-field luminaries have released mixes and albums on the sub-imprint including Hexstatic, Mr Scruff, Amon Tobin, The Herbaliser, Kentaro and Bonobo, establishing Solid Steel as an iconic international leader in the genre we love. Now with monthly pod-cast mixes, live events and more enjoyed by a huge, worldwide fanbase the Steel shows no signs of slowing down as it enters its 3rd decade!

With the awesome new set-up in the recently refurbished ground floor of Elektrowerkz lined-up as the venue for this massive shin-dig the next item on our agenda was picking which acts best represent this modern day musical institution. I think you’ll agree we did pretty well...

Long-term leaders of the audio-visual arm of Ninja Tunes, as well as Videocrash residents Hexstatic were naturally top of the list, being not only responsible for the second Solid Steel mix-album ‘Listen & Learn’ in 2003 but regular suppliers of the pod-cast mixes and mind-boggling AV sets at the Videocrash parties. With the wicked-cool, completely new live ‘Trailer Trax’ set based on the schlock and cheese of 'Grindhouse' style cinema trailers mashed with new-school dubs and beats Robin Hexstatic is an honoured guest at this musical banquet.

Joint-top of the list with Hexstatic was clearly going to be DJ Food and DK. They were on the original radio show; they released the first mix-album; they still manage, record and perform the monthly pod-casts and they have rinsed the Videocrash stage once before! Strictly Kev and Darren Knott are a real force to be reckoned with once they get behind a mixer, some decks and any other gadgetry they can get their mitts on, so with this being an AV set we can al expect something extraordinary and extra-special!

And finally, representing the new-school of Solid Steel, is our boy DJ Cheeba. A frequent recent addition to the Steel’s mix-tape roster as well as a long-term Videocrash (/Soundcrash) resident this Bristolian constantly mesmerises audiences old and new with both his awesome scratching dexterity and cutting edge Serato skills; he mashes sounds and images together so naturally that you can easily forget it’s a live peformance.

Line-up:

HEXTATIC Trailer Trax (Live AV show)
DJ FOOD & DK (Live AV show)
DJ CHEEBA (Live AV show)
more TBC