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You are here: Live Your Life E-zine > Hostel Newsletters - 2009 > September E-Zine > Music Mashup

Music Mashup

Oh what a summer we have had and there is still a little more to come ‐ lucky us! This month there’s a special focus on ‘Soca’ music and after last month’s rant about the decline of pop, I’ve officially moved onto the strength of r‘n’b. I just can’t seem to get Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams and Soulja Boi’s Kiss Me Thru The Phone ‐ out of my head. Maybe there is hope for modern music after all …

Soca Music

I’m fresh from the Grand Carnival Costume Splash which is a weekend long costume competition for participators of Notting Hill Carnival. The costumes were truly amazing and of course Carnival is the one time of the year in the UK where Soca music rules. Being half Trinidadian, Soca music is in my blood and I’ve had many a fast paced night at popular Soca nights like Socalicious and Cocoyea.

If you have been to Carnival you would have heard the energetic beats pushing the floats along the route ‐ accompanied by many quick gyrations of the waist ‐ a trait favoured by all Soca dancers and commonly known as a Wine!

If you want a taste of this tune‐age then look out for the famous Trinidadian Soca singer Destra, who has long ruled the radio waves with tunes like Bacchanal and Sassiness, although her tune with Machel Montana ‐ Carnival, is still enjoying a heavy radio rotation.

Festival Fever

I was coming home on the tube the other day and there was a plump, smiling Australian lady laden with camping gear. She was on her way to V Festival and as she bantered with the drunken man opposite about the all cool bands she couldn’t wait to see (Lady Gaga, The Kooks and The Killers) I was struck by two things. One ‐ if these were the bands she thought were cool, she had an interesting taste in festival music. Two ‐ I don’t ever want to go to such festivals if I have to put up with such inane individuals! Unfortunately I can’t help but bump into these guys at the gigs I play and they even brand my play lists as cheesey from time to time, recognizing every tracjk on them. The lesson therefore is not to judge ‐ sometimes, the old school, well known tracks are indeed the best ones.

Online Tunes

I’ve recently rediscovered the joys of downloading music and browsing band online. When I was a student in Durham ‐ a city completely starved of urban music, I would regularly peruse music websites ‐ listening to and downloading white labels ‐ trend that recently resurfaced when an impromptu gig came up and I had to make sur my Dubstep collection was up to date! Now while I still maintain that Rusko’s Cockney Thug is one of the best Dubstep tracks to date, the rest of it doesn’t sound any good unless you are surrounded by some serious speakers, or you’re drunk! Check out the white label websites for the hard to find records and Rhythm Division, and Black Market for the latest releases, and the best in House, Grime and Dubstep.

‐ DJ Michelle