http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Sun, 19 May 2013 04:00:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/08/mr-c-on-his-early-years-family-and-the-future/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/08/mr-c-on-his-early-years-family-and-the-future/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 08:00:28 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34654 I have very distinct memories of being an 11-year-old, watching The Shamen's video for Ebeneezer Goode and being completely hooked by the vocals of the group's rapper, Mr.C. I was a big fan of The Shamen, but what I didn't know was that Mr.C had already been around as a DJ and MC for a good few years before the group hit the charts. Fast forward 21 years and he's still involved in rave/underground culture - travelling the world as a DJ, hosting his Superfreq parties, running a label of the same name (which he recently relaunched) and maintaining a lifestyle based around meditation, creative visualisation and positive thinking. Here's an excerpt from my interview with him.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/05/08/mr-c-on-his-early-years-family-and-the-future/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/30/lokee-because-we-care/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/30/lokee-because-we-care/#comments Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:39:49 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34508 One of London's best loved, and least promotion-focused, parties is Lo*Kee. The event's name has become synonymous with good parties, full of good people, good music and providing nothing but good times. I was fortunate enough to be granted the first ever interview with the Lo*Kee team, here's a snippet of what they had to say.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/30/lokee-because-we-care/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/pedestrian-far-from-middle-of-the-road/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/pedestrian-far-from-middle-of-the-road/#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:41:07 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34301 Every now and then I hear a piece of music that completely throws me. As a music writer I'm constantly listening to new stuff and, while I love most of it - being a complete glutton for house and techno - sometimes it can get a bit samey.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/29/pedestrian-far-from-middle-of-the-road/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/25/question-time-with-metro-area/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/25/question-time-with-metro-area/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:05:01 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34039 A number of years ago, before digital media became the norm, I remember being handed a mixtape by one of my friends. It was a collection of techno delights from various artists, at the time I didn't know the names of any of the tracks or their producers but, as time went on I discovered some of them.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/25/question-time-with-metro-area/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/23/quickfire-a-few-minutes-with-timo-maas/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/23/quickfire-a-few-minutes-with-timo-maas/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:05:19 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34355 Timo Maas is a busy man with a hectic tour schedule and a new album to promote so, of course, he's pretty pushed for time at the moment. However, I managed to grab a few minutes with him for a quickfire interview.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/23/quickfire-a-few-minutes-with-timo-maas/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/silky-i-knew-that-this-was-me-it-was-my-sound/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/silky-i-knew-that-this-was-me-it-was-my-sound/#comments Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:26:55 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34058 At some point last year I was talking to my friend Matt Hardinge about music, as per usual, and he put me on to an up-and-coming artist called Silky.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/22/silky-i-knew-that-this-was-me-it-was-my-sound/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/18/maceo-plex-on-nina-kraviz-the-return-of-maetrik-and-juggling-fame-with-family-life/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/18/maceo-plex-on-nina-kraviz-the-return-of-maetrik-and-juggling-fame-with-family-life/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 14:04:34 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=34135 Last week Maceo Plex took to his Facebook page to voice his opinion on the already controversial short film made by Resident Advisor following Nina Kraviz 'on the road' for a few days. His post opened the flood gates for more people to join the discussion, which went viral and caused a furore with accusations of institutionalised sexism within the world of DJing. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/18/maceo-plex-on-nina-kraviz-the-return-of-maetrik-and-juggling-fame-with-family-life/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/proxy-music-from-the-eastblock-jungles/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/proxy-music-from-the-eastblock-jungles/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:47:46 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33698 Proxy hails from Russia and makes music that is often as tough and uncompromising as the Russians who are stereotypically portrayed in western films and TV shows. He was inspired by a now legendary show by The Prodigy in Red Square back in the mid-Nineties and has been fascinated with making his own music ever since.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/04/11/proxy-music-from-the-eastblock-jungles/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/26/rip-duncan-michael-wilson-aka-despojustin-case/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/26/rip-duncan-michael-wilson-aka-despojustin-case/#comments Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:39:12 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33635 At the end of last year I learnt Duncan Michael Wilson, a Leeds-based DJ who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer at a young age. Rather than let the diagnosis get him down, Duncan decided to create a hilarious character called Justin Case and made a few YouTube videos which were highly amusing. Sadly, Duncan passed away about a month after we'd spoken. As a tribute to Despo, here's the interview we did just a few weeks ago.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/26/rip-duncan-michael-wilson-aka-despojustin-case/feed/ 2 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/21/hiem-wed-do-jools-holland-if-we-could-blag-it/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/21/hiem-wed-do-jools-holland-if-we-could-blag-it/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:14:41 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33450 Bozzwell And Nicco Eastwood are Hiem, a musical production duo based in Sheffield and responsible for some really well-made, alternative dance music, although still readily accessible and not too far leftfield to ostracise people. I interviewed Bozzwell last year and found him to be a great subject and so I followed up with this second interview focusing on his collaborative project with Nicco. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/21/hiem-wed-do-jools-holland-if-we-could-blag-it/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/exclusive-stream-rbma-fireside-chat-show-with-seth-troxler/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/exclusive-stream-rbma-fireside-chat-show-with-seth-troxler/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:43:08 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=33165 Here's an exclusive stream of Red Bull Music Academy's Fireside Chat show with Seth Troxler, one of the people who inspired me to throw myself in the deep end of house and techno - and to follow the career path I have taken over the last year or so. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/08/exclusive-stream-rbma-fireside-chat-show-with-seth-troxler/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/01/robert-james-from-mortar-attacks-to-dancefloor-destruction/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/01/robert-james-from-mortar-attacks-to-dancefloor-destruction/#comments Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:35:30 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=32893 Almost a year ago to the day I met Robert James at WMC in Miami. I was already aware of who he was and what he did – as a member of the Hot Creations crew, he'd had numerous releases via Jamie Jones' popular label and its subsiduries and he'd also been travelling the world as one of the crew's main DJs. Here's the resulting interview...]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/03/01/robert-james-from-mortar-attacks-to-dancefloor-destruction/feed/ 4