Hehehehe gimme that fuckin red book cos this is my life!

it’s this man’s fault

So, some freak was definitely born in a volcano BUT he actually genuinely came into existence after Rob Fangle read this.

It’s a review of a party I went to that Rob put on. I had bought my first set of turntables about a week before this party and blagged my way onto the decks at the very end of the night. When writing about the party I didn’t really want to mention the fact that I’d played at it as well so I just referred to myself as some freak.

It got capitalised by the subeditor and Rob read the review and as I’d just got decks and didn’t have a DJ name, he said ‘Well then Si, that should be your DJ name then.’

And Some Freak was born. Thankyou Rob Fangle!

PS This was a big night in more ways than one – I met Sofie that night for the first time, who became my mentor and dear friend. And later on, in the pub the following morning, Dub Cricket was born. What a momentous 24 hours indeed!

Yesssss nice and dramatic to draw you in!

Is true though, Some Freak is going to die…

dead – soon

A bit more than a year ago I made a bunch of really rough, quickly-made disco tunes. I set up a little myspace under the name Ruf Dug and added a bunch of disco ppl as friends. I mailed them as they got added and offered to send them copies of the tunes.

I got a really good response! A bunch of DJs that you’d have heard of got in touch asking for copies of tunes, and one of them who runs a very well-renowned label got in touch just before Christmas last year and said he wanted to sign one of the tracks – ‘Dirty’…

In the meantime, Chris Duckenfield had a copy of ‘Dirty’ and at the Electric Chair party in Manchester last Xmas he dropped it, prompting Luke unabomber to ask him for a copy, and for Chris to subsequently write to me, also asking to sign ‘Dirty’ to his label.

This little tune was causin a fair bit of trouble!

For my part, I was in the depths of a heavy depression; nearly all of my plans had died in the arse and I was back in my mother’s spare room with no cash (in fact I was in debt), I was bloody miserable, the weather was shit, I was lonely and didn’t know what the hell was going to happen next…

I resolved I had to clean myself the fuck up and so began a long process that started by going totally straight – no cigs, no herb, no booze, fuckin NOTHIN for three months straight… this was a brutal start to the journey, and soon after came a job, a car, even a girl for a moment (brief moment tho! wrong time…)..

still my favourite beauty… got better pedals now tho

I bought a bike and started to take more notice of the way my body worked, exercising it and feeding it properly, warmly, with love and good food. No longer being addicted to nicotine was amazing.

And from time to time, some tunes came, reflecting my various moods.

And in the background, this Ruf Dug tune continued its life, I heard about it being played at Optimo, at Horse Meat Disco, at all these places I’d read and heard about… while I was nurturing myself, rebuilding myself in so many ways, this little baby of mine was living the life I dreamt of. It even made it over to Australia!

BUT, the famous label never got back in touch and so it was some time in May that I wrote to Chris and said look, if you still want to sign the tune, it’s yours.

Within a matter of weeks he’d gotten the remixes done – The Goddam Unabombers coming in with one! As a Mancunian, as someone who’d only been able to admire the Electric Chair from (VERY) afar, this represented a sense of homecoming, of acceptance to me – the completion of a circle, as I return to my hometown now knowing what it is I will do on this earth, for some of the true dons of this place to remix me tune – is that fuckin portentious or WHAT?

And as summer dawned, and I started to feel settled, and the sun came out and the depression melted away, the record arrived.

window @ piccadilly records… this was MASSIVE for me, still is…

And it did pretty well man… #1 at Rush Hour, record of the week at Piccadilly, made it into a bunch of charts and we sold 811 copies (and I only bought 1 of them myself!)

And the timing of all this was just so right… and here I am at the end of the year, surrounded by the first pressing on my very own record label, Ruf Kutz. I’m releasing only 200 of this record, and it’ll only be available in five specific record stores. I’m dealing directly with each store, so I am the producer, the manufacturer and the distributor, and by handpicking the retail outlets I can make sure that your Ruf Kutz experience is nice and RAW like it should be.

thanks Col for the logo!

Heheheheh check me and my sales rant.

Anyway, point is this – Ruf Dug is something I am feeling VERY strongly… there’s a sense of a developed and specific aesthetic surrounding the whole Ruf Dug idea… the label, the mixtapes, the tracks and the DJ Sets… and fuck, there’s a bit of heat there right now and if you got some heat why not do a bit of cooking, hey?

BUT see Ruf Dug is not doin too badly but then what about Some Freak? At first I thought maybe Some Freak could be the producer behind the Ruf Dug project but that just isn’t working out, and Some Freak is too dear to me to simply just let languish.

And so he must die.

Some Freak will die before 2010. This is his last week. It’s basically me having one last hurrah as Some Freak before concentrating on Ruf Dug full time. I have a bunch of treats for you coming, a bit of a retrospective, some old DJ mixes, a couple of rare tunes, AN ENTIRE NEW ALBUM FOR FREE and a lovely mix to finish things off.

So pull up a chair during this holiday season as I bring you The Death Of Some Freak.

Some Freak vs Brut 33… aaaahhh

So I just had a nice few days in London – Pixar 3D movies and LOADS of Pop Art thanks to the Tate - goddam their recreation of Keith Haring’s Pop Shop is AMAZING! Obviously the place is like standing inside Haring-world but the MUSIC!

Keith Haring in the original Pop Shop in Tokyo

They have a little sound system CRANKING out the tunes of the day… ‘One For The Money’ by Sleeque was playing when I went in (the acapella version too!), and then Adonis’ ‘No Way Back’ kicked in… boy I wanted to stay for ever but there were huge lifesize statues of Jeff Koons fucking La Cicciolina to go and perve over so I bought some goodies and off I went…

Koons’ Big Bunny

Some other great LDN business – going to a great club called Village Underground to check Harmonic 313 x Daedelus, the delight of meeting up with Brut 33 and BBK for some Lamb’s Testicles in Dalston (they actually taste great, but I couldn’t get past the ewwww factor), subsequent killer market action with the Brutal one at the FANTASTIC Columbia Road Markets and also some quite nifty finds on a digging mission around Soho.

A rare weekend in MCR coming up; we have Brennan Green playing in town on Friday night and I ordered a bunch of crazy legal designer drugs, is all very cyberpunk, should be a funnnnn weekend!

YES!

Check THAT out! Have been keepin this on the DL for a little while but now it’s on Vimeo so is time to tell the WORLD!

Richard hooked it all up with his crazy Austrian connections… I have no idea how we get this fucker onto the TV, dunno if we even could get it on the TV. Ah, who cares! I HAVE A FUCKIN MUSIC VIDEO YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

There is just TOO MUCH to update you all on I’m afraid, I just got back from Amsterdam which was RADNESS here have a picture or 4

This is where we stayed. Our houseboat! Nice in the morning to get up and sit on the deck and watch the world float by.

Better believe it

Fucking. Purple. Weed.

Nice to see ol’ Ronnie representin’ for SITP

WHAT ELSE well a few weeks ago I saw Paperclip People at a really shit festival in London, later on that night ended up at a KILLER club called the Corsica Studios, is behind Elephant and Castle, two rooms, warehouse vibes, beautifully tuned Funktion 1 rigs in both spaces. We were at an Innervisions/DFA party which was wonderful, great tunes and nice vibe.

Yeah just super busy with Ruf Dug stuff mostly though, working on a new EP, I finally got me some decks and have been getting my DJ skills back… there will be some fresh Ruf Dug DJ mixes coming through, as well as the long-delayed (and delayed again cos I spunked a load of cash in Amsterdam) edit 12″ and then I think it will be time, finally, to start hustlin’ for some gigs.

I’ve never really done it before – hustled – my policy in Sydney was to NEVER ask for a gig and I pretty much managed that, I think I asked maybe 2 or 3 times early on if I could play somewhere but everything else I did was always by invitation. I liked it better that way, it took a while but eventually the gigs came and I never had to feel like I was whoring myself.

But here it’s different – there are more nights, more DJs and I am nowhere near as connected as I am in Sydney. So I need to pimp myself out, and I’m not sure exactly how to do it and it’s doing my head in a bit grrrrrrrr… we’ll see though!

So there is lots to tell you about… record of the week @ Piccadilly, new decks, more records coming soon etc etc etc

BUT

I have been gettin into Yoga lately, after many years of thinkin about it. I LOVE the Yoga! I have a great teacher and go to a nice class once a week (though I am gonna up the frequency I think).

Anyways, if you have done Yoga you will know that the last 10 mins or so of the class is just lying down and relaxing and getting into a semi-meditative, semi-asleep state… our yoga teacher will sometimes put on some mellow music to help set you off, and so I was lying down tonight, nice and mellow, eyes closed, and this beautiful drone seeps into the room. And repeats. And repeats.

And I’m there, tryin my best to have an empty mind but all I can think is,

“Fuck me he’s got a buddha machine! Hang on, yes, definitely, yep absolutely that totally sounds like a buddha machine”

And I was far too excited to have an empty mind so I don’t know if I totally relaxed but HOW FUCKIN COOL is it that our Yoga teacher uses a goddam BUDDHA MACHINE!

This is like maybe the first ever documented case of somebody buying one of these things and actually finding a productive use for it!

Such a cool yoga class… and he lights nag champa at the start of the class. BODEGA YOGA!

We did a party last night  with the fantastic Hoya:Hoya crew – we brought the one and only Dâm-FunK to Manchester and he FUCKIN SMASHED IT… I played a bunch of disco early on which I enjoyed, everyone played rad tunes…

The show was a roadblock, we were over capacity and turnin ppl away… inside a wicked crowd lost their shit to Dâm’s crazy stylings. GREAT NIGHT!

So they were the absolute musical highlight of my glastonbury experience, taking me to magic places. I tried to get my other mob members to go with me to see AC but they were all off to neil young or ray davies or whoever… and so it was that I went on my own, in my wellies, on a misty Friday evening to go stand in a field and have my MIND BLOWN…

BBC recorded the set, only the audio though, and here is a link to Peenko’s blog where you can download the set from. DO IT NOW, this is the best tuneage I have heard in AAAAAAAAAAAAGES….

GO TO THE MOTHERFUCKING LINK NOW DICKS! CLICK HERE FOR MUSICAL SALVATION

Invisible Motorbike

GODDAM it has been an AGE since I updated this fucker… jeez… ok let’s go chronologically…

Right then, June saw quite a few trips around; I was in Leeds for the RBMA info session which featured Joe Bataan and James Pants, both having some pretty interesting things to say. The gig that followed was a scream – Joe backed by a full band, with Mr Pants on cowbell. No shit.

Joe Bataan and James Pants

The week after I was back in London for a couple of special gigs – first up was Four Tet and Steve Reid playing live together at the South Bank centre, supported by Dorian Concept and none other than Moooooooooken who kindly stuck me and Tiago on the door (what a man, he put us both on the door PLUS THREE I mean seriously I have NEVER been +3 before, not even at my own parties) and so we invited some beautiful ladies and went on down, boy it was a great show. VERY chinstroky/wire-reading crowd – everybody was sat down on the floor cross legged! HIGHLY appreciative mob though – I was really enjoying Dorian Concept (this being the first time I’d seen him live) and was a little anxious that the crowd wasn’t feeling his twisted business, but at the end of his set he got some major applause.

Dorian Concept @ South Bank Centre

And then it was the Kieran and Steve show, again first time for me witnessing old Four Tet and boy what a great show it was. To be honest, Hebden’s electronics were completely upstaged by the drumming of this living legend. That being said though, the sound system at the SBC was pretty pants and the acoustics of the space not so great and that doesn’t really help electronics but you see some dude banging on a drum kit doesn’t matter what the acoustics are like, does it? Reid had himself a couple of natural advantages I guess. Hopefully I’ll get to witness the whole thing again in a better sounding environment. And maybe with less people sitting on the floor!

ANYWAY

After this mega show it was time to hotfoot it to shoreditch via chinatown (yum) to a carpark on hearne st where the BRAINFEEDER party was goin down. Oh yes, my dear old friend Flying Lotus was having a little party there with fuckin mad lineup – Dorian Concept once again, GLK, Joker, Kode 9 etc etc etc etc etc etc

Headz at the door @ Brainfeeder

Got there quite late and so missed samiyam which upset me a little cos I haven’t seen him before but Kode 9 was nearly over when I arrived. Got to meet up with Dorian Concept after years of emailing which was cool… Flylo came on and played a pretty good set, quite tough and ravey, he is definitely gettin into the UK sound a LOT… he played that mad DMT tune again, it’s just these beautiful big chords that sound like they were played on that crazy synth weapon out of the He-Man movie. Hmmm… should sample that.

Then Dorian jumped on and jammed with Flylo for a bit which was actually pretty exciting… they were clearly both playing/sequencing live and at first it was a bit wobbly but they found a groove soon enough and then it was pretty fun for a while… and they finished it before it got TOO noodly which was smarrrt.

Dorian played a KILLER solo set, DESTROYING the crowd and potentially upstaging FlyLo to be honest, and then it was time for Joker to take the carpark massive to a dark, ravey place, not as synthy or as purple as I was hoping for so we left…

Phew, this is a LONG recollection…

Well, after that weekend I stayed around in the south schlepping from here to there and THEN I went to goddam GLASTONBURY…

Yes, that there is Blur having it on the main stage… what a great show they put on!

Not really sure what to say about Glastonbury really. It blew my mind, I really like it, I will be going back. It definitely holds that alternate reality vibe that Burning Man has but in a different way, in a very English way. And you can buy stuff. NIIIICE food. But you also have to hike fucking miles with ALL your gear to get from car to campsite. And I can see how a really rainy one would be fucking oppressive. And Jeeeesus Christ I have never seen so many bulbs being nailed, non-stop. It is a fucking nangfest. So I fit right in obviously. 

Musically, well, fuck, who knows where to begin… good shit was Nick Cave, Blur, Spinal Tap, the whole of Shangri-La and Trash City, Easy Star All-Stars doing Sgt Peppers, Horace Andy, Little Boots DJing, Four Tet DJing (yes I saw him twice in a week!), fuck… so many good ones…

BUT

The standout for me was ANIMAL COLLECTIVE. Shit yeah it was. I have never seen them live before and they are fucking excellent. It was pretty much the best hour of music I’ve experienced all year. Serious. Their set was recorded and is downloadable – I am gonna make a separate post after this with the link. IT’S AMAAAAAAAZING.

So yes, Glastonbury chewed me up and spat me out oh yes it did… I took another 10 days off work and was originally going to hit spain for the nowhere festival but ended up staying at home – bought some monitor speakers, made some tunes, rode my bike and cooked nice food… it was a great time…

And now we’re here, a fucking wet cold Sunday in Manchester – it is slap bang in the middle of summer and it’s 14 degrees and we have the central heating on. This is why I am finally writing in the blog! Last Friday Theo Parrish came to town and I went along with a mate, oh boy what a fucking party that was – totally sold out, rammed, GREAT crowd – older, knowledgeable but plenty of pretty girls and party folk too, sense that it’s a lot of the old electric chair crew.

And Theo played all night and he was as dependable as ever and he played that LCD soundsystem remix and ohhhh he’s bloody good…

And now to the future… next Saturday is a great party – Hoya:Hoya VS Space Is The Place, with non other than DâM-FunK all the way from fuckin LA to come join us… me and Mooken and Ryan and Jonny and bloody DAMFUNK YEAH YEAH YEAHHHHHHH…. very excited about this, the Roadhouse is a special place for me, so it’s an honour to be playin there…

And THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is THAT… 

1 year since I wore those little leg warmer things

So a bunch of anniversaries are due to kick off. Well, a few already did.

1 year since I moved out of my house in Marian St.

1 year since my last Paradise Lost.

1 year since…

since

one whole year.

here’s a new tune I made to commemorate all these anniversaries, to remember all the goodbyes, to honour all that I miss.

Some Freak – almost 12 months since I

one whole year. fuck.