This Is UK SOUL @ MoHo Live, Mancs - Sun 25th May
Sunday May 25th 2008
‘This Is UK SOUL’
Moho Live - Manchester
Tickets £15 in advance, £18 on the door / http://www.ticketweb.co.uk
Tibb Street, The Northern Quarter, Manchester
10.30am- 3.30am
Tel: 0161 834 8188
Main room
• Reel People live
DJs
• Norman Jay MBE
• Oli Lazarus
Room 2 - DJs
• Irfan (Rainy City)
• Kelvin Brown (Electric Chair)
‘This Is UK SOUL’ is a new collaborative event to showcase the best in British soul music.
Fresh from the release of their critically acclaimed second album ‘Seven Ways To Wonder’, ‘This Is UK SOUL’ is headlined by London’s finest soul collective Reel People.
“Reel People really know how to throw a party. A stormingly joyous and warm atmospheric performance.” Metro, on the Reel people live experience.
“The future of soul music”, concludes The Voice following their sold out Jazz Café show in February
Norman Jay needs little introduction, but to recap, the London based DJ has been a cornerstone of the Notting Hill Carnival for many years with his Good Times Soundsystem and even netted himself an MBE for his 'services to DJing and music'.
Manchester club scene veteran plus promoter, producer and DJ, Irfan has been a Kiss FM DJ, gaining praise from the likes of Kevin Saunderson and Carl Craig. Irfan was also integral in the rise of clubbing institution The Music Box, home to the Electric Chair, plus nights City People and Drama at the Paradise Factory (location of the legendary Factory records). At yet another classic club, Speak Easy, Irfan programmed events which saw guests including Omar, Mica Paris and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings grace the stage. As a DJ, Irfan has performed worldwide and opened for Angie Stone, Seu Jorge and Tony Allen. His remix credits include Blaze and Telex to name but a few, and his label Rainy City Music has seen a prolific output, plus a spate of parties including The Roots aftershow party with Questlove.
Promoter and resident DJ at the monthly club night Eyes Down in Manchester, Kelvin Brown plays what he calls ‘interesting, left of centre music from any era, tempo, genre or scene. Just good, deep music.’ Brown has been joined at Eyes Down by the likes of Moodymann, Recloose and Mr Scruff. Kelvin was also resident at the Electric Chair plus Plastic People in London, as well as regularly spinning around Europe.
Critical acclaim for Reel People’s recent album, Seven Ways To Wonder
“Eminently listenable and beautifully played.” Sunday Express
“Another soulful masterpiece.” Irish Daily Star
“Oodles of club-savvy funk, jazz and broken beat rhythms: think cutting edge production combined with knowing retro flourishes.” Music Week
“Another UK soul classic.” Mixmag, urban album of the month
Reel People Biog
Hailing from London’s East End, Oli Lazarus spent three years of musical osmosis in Flying Records, a shop specialising in soulful dance music. After this grounding education and with very little song writing or studio experience under his belt, he produced Reel People’s debut single ‘Spiritual’. The entirely positive reception to his maiden voyage (plus a little help from production master Phil Asher and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Haines) helped spur him on to realise the lauded debut LP.
Oli and then partner Mike Patto set to it and in 2003 ‘Second Guess’ was released on Oli’s Papa Records label. The album was greatly received and led to the band being signed to Columbia Records in Japan, where they remain hugely popular, even supporting Herbie Hancock at the Tokyo Jazz Festival. In February 2006 the album was re-released on dance independent Defected Records. To enhance the new version, the guys penned the club classic ‘The Rain’ and the uber cool cover of Thelma Houston’s ‘You Used To Hold Me So Tight’. Accompanying this was a bonus disc of live versions which really showed off how the band had developed over the 3 years of touring ‘Second Guess’.
Live, Reel People have stormed auditoriums worldwide including week long stints at the famous Blue Note in Japan and Ronnie Scott’s in London. Other stand- out performances were delivered at The Southport Weekender, V Festival and T In The Park.
