Fri 20 AprThe Garage
Greg Wilson / Afrika Bambaataa - April 2012
This Month's Line up:
Video
Pioneers of Electrofunk and Hip-Hop
"Sub-Sonic Live is a key event for me on two fronts.
The first in presenting Reels Of Steel (where I add visuals to the music I play) for the first time in London. So far I've been developing the idea via a series of dates at Manchester's Band On The Wall, and also within the festival environment, at Glastonbury and Bestival last year. This London appearance will be another step in this process, leading up to a planned Reels Of Steel UK tour in 2013, and eventually international dates. It’s a work in progress that will, I hope, become an increasingly important part of what I do.
On top of this, featuring on the same bill as Afrika Bambaataa, exactly 30 years on from the release of his seminal "Planet Rock", which I regard as one of the 20th century's defining recordings, setting the tone for the oncoming electronic dance revolution, whilst helping take Hip Hop global in the early 80s. This was a true hybrid, its impact, influence and inspiration an absolute gamechanger. On a personal level it’s a big one, for I finally get to meet the man who had such a bearing on my own DJ destiny, spinning Electro-Funk in the North of England back in '82, and taking a lot of stick from the black music purists for daring to play something so radically different as "Planet Rock".
So, in a sense, the event represents both the past and the future for me, which is always the equation I’m looking to balance. From old school roots to new horizons, it all connects."
Greg Wilson, April, 2012
Reviews
"...If only other modern DJs, with their laptops and CD mixers, could spice a mix with such maverick personality. Little worry for Wilson, though – it simply means he still sounds like he's in a class of his own." BBC.CO.UK
"As Afrika Bambaataa, he changed music forever in the space of just two 1982 singles, the sublime slices of electro-rap "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat..." PITCHFORK