The other day at precisely 4.55pm I logged onto Resident Advisor on a mission. A mission in which many participated, and few succeeded – to buy Hannah Wants tickets. Since achieving thid, I’ve had chance to come to terms with my actions and I’ve realised I don’t really know anything about Hannah Wants. I now ask myself why, at the time, did it feel like these tickets were the missing piece to my musical puzzle? And why, oh why did I fork out 15 quid for *that* one song, ‘Rhymes’. FYI Hannah, ‘touch it’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘watch it’. Putting my book of grammar rules back on the shelf before I get carried away, I’m gonna ask you upright – is Hannah Wants worthy of the hype, or utter tripe? (That’s how it’s done). During the process of purchasing, it seems a false hype was created by the rapid rate at which the golden tickets for Module’s 17th event disappeared. With phase 1 of 4 suspiciously selling out at 5.00pm on the dot, it felt as though few tickets had been allocated to this first phase to create the illusion that they were moving quickly. In Hannah’s defence, the whole event did sell out within a day which is impressive. But, is she just the ‘in’ DJ at the moment or does she really provide banging tunes? When I started watching her Creamfields set on Youtube the desire to cringe at the fist-pumping fools in UV paint was overwhelming. But, my heart skipped a beat as Gala’s 90s jam ‘Freed From Desire’ infiltrated the mix and from this I’ll admit she chooses her music well. Luckily, I don’t need to draw a conclusion on this matter as a friend already did it for me. ‘Hannah Wants is a good selector, just not a very good DJ’.
You Need To Hear: Urulu
Don’t let this leave you disheartened, as my chosen producer of the week is a pro at both. Urulu, also known as Taylor Freels, is of Californian heritage but abandoned the chilled glitz of LA life for the grimy authenticity of Berlin’s techno scene. Having played at Newcastle’s best-kept-secret warehouse SR44 at the end of October complete with live sax player, the city is now aware of the talent behind Urulu’s own melodic, bass-y house tracks like 2013’s ‘Things I Didn’t Mean’ which prides itself on a mind-numbingly percussive drop. As does year older ‘1991’, the hi-hat sound in this one conjuring up the sensation of floating away. Urulu’s recently-released podcast ‘Thump Mexico x Vicario ltd Mix’ couldn’t create more different vibes to this intense house, with its tasty bass guitar hooks and sultry synth-y Soul & funk. Here we have a producer who attracts the masses for the right reason, versatility, and not because it’s fashionable to like him.
Preview: DJ EZ, 3rd November, World Headquarters
This event has also been the cause of stress and excitement, with the remaining 50 paper tickets recently being scrambled over by students at Worldies’ box office. But EZ’s case, this is fully justified. If you’re one of the lucky ones who managed to cop a ticket, need I say more beyond the fact that you’ll be witnessing a complete and utter legend in the flesh? Having selected the biggest UK garage compilation to date in 2000, Pure Garage, this is set to be one of Pirate Material’s best ever sets following the likes of Preditah and Flava D. During his live events, EZ mixes up UK garage and bass music cuts with a few classics thrown in for good measure, and thus we have a DJ with a sound understanding of crowd-pleasers as well as faultless technical ability. It’s true that things were better in the old days so be grateful that EZ has endured almost 20 years on the scene.
Listen to: DJ EZ Essential Mix on Radio 1, April 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vobX52RCTVU
Sophie Ahmed