Krafty Kuts @ Syrup, Hobart (12/07/02)
Reported by Tristan Thursday, August 8 2002
Despite having a glut of big name acts making their presence felt in Hobart recently, and more on the horizon, when a man of the stature of Martin Reeves touches down, Tasmania sits up and takes notice. Firmly cemented as a breakbeat pioneer, Krafty has a lot to live up to wherever he goes and especially coming off the back of huge performances around Australia over the last week.
Arriving shortly after 10:30, SB Jamm was banging out a set of driving tech-house. While the sounds were to my liking, it was perhaps a touch too full on for the opening slot. The McCreadies then asserted promoters privilege as SMC followed by Damon took over the decks for some three and a half hours.
While tech-house was the central element of SMC?s set, he covered a large area during his offering to the Hobart faithful. Adding equal doses of tech, tribal, funk, electro and percussion, Scott cooked up a mixture Gabriele Gate would be proud to call his own. He clearly knew his record box inside out and back to front, with some extremely effective chop mixing introducing some booming baselines of Bukem territory. Not a big one for vocals, SMC?s exciting set ensured the computer generated woman on the visual screen was only the second most arousing thing.
At the end of SMCs set, and to my dismay, the MC for the night came alive. Obviously trained by D12, with equal parts gangsta hand movements and inane comments, this was undeniably a ?different? addition to the Hobart scene. While the enthusiasm was there, after the tenth time of ?Step up?, ?Get up?, ?Put your hands up? it does start to grate. One thing I will say is that his timing was good, it?s just I hope he?s not expecting a call from So Solid Crew later in the week.
While poor Damon had to bear the brunt of the MC?s performance, his sharp mixing throughout his progressive breaks set took centre stage. Mind you it is hard to call a set progressive when we revert to playing ?Dooms Night?. Also spinning Felix and Simon?s ?Where?s Your Head At? as well as a breakbeat mix of ?King of Pain? by The Police, Damon worked the crowd, and had them at his mercy, getting extra points for having the courage and skill to pull off some very brave choices. Throughout the McCreadie?s sets there were only two slip ups between them but I do go partly towards a graduate certificate in chin stroking for noticing.
Eventually Krafty Kuts decided to grace us with his presence, producing a two hour set of the highest order. Forgive me for not noting every specific sub-genre, but I can safely say he shook Syrup and Hobart to the core. Making strong use of all the DJM 600 can offer, Krafty played a selection of breaks, reggae, hip hop, and DnB.
While dropping sure fire crowd pleasers, such as his own "Funky Ass Beats", ?Out of Space? by the Prodigy, during which crowd participation went through the roof, the Drum'n'Bass mix of The Fugees "Ready Or Not" and EMF?s ?Unbelievable?, it was his scratching abilities which amazed me. As ADrock would say, he most certainly has the skills to pay the bills, with his speed of movement as well as musical awareness remarkable. Numbers were absolutely packed in but thinned out to a degree perhaps due to the culling of those audience members continuing to gesture as though they live in South Central (I can dream can?t I?) Although maybe they were the hoods on the left and right, and punks at the back that Krafty seemed so fond of.
While the visuals and sound were not excellent, they were more than adequate for the night, with the camera relay of Krafty on the decks a high point. Spin FX then took centre stage playing a selection of chunky nu-skool breaks complete with live scratching. At 4:30 though, the overdose of breaks had left me weakened so I departed to get my booster shot of 4/4 from Dr Danny Howells.
Quite simply Krafty Kuts ripped Syrup to shreds, never relenting through a set showcasing all of his experience and abilities. The plethora of jumping bodies and cheesy grins means this can be chalked up as another success for the promoters. Punter opinion can be summed up, I think by the comments of the sweaty bloke who shouted in my face ?This blokes f?king awesome?. Simple yet effective. I thought of enlightening him on what Mr Reeves had done to develop the genre through his career but I thought it might be lost to a degree and besides he wouldn?t have heard me over the sound of his teeth grating. While I now appreciate breaks more, I am eagerly anticipating the restoration of the balance when Chris B, Gillie and Mark Dynamix set the record straight next week when Club Nation hits town.
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