You are invited to "Jukebox: The best of high five records"

Over the course of a year, we threw 12 High 5 parties, each themed to a very different sub-genre of the wide wide world of rock & roll. Each party was presented as an imaginary compilation, the "tracklisting" of which, was the lineup of the night. Generally this was Ri & I, plus 3 of our favorite DJs. Over the course of each night, 7 and a half hours of dancing were divided up by that month's "High Five".

On Saturday the 17th we'll be hosting "Jukebox - The Best of High Five Records!" a wrap-up event to celebrate the end of the series! Sonically, the night will span the full extent of all the genre's explored over all 12 installments of the series, from swing to surf, proto-punk to post-punk, 50ies soul to 80ies new wave to 90ies indie. The real surprise is, breaking away from our formula of 5 DJs in 7 and a half hours, we won't have a "High Five" , but rather a "High Fifteen"!!! Yes, we are being as ambitious and crazy that we think we can squeeze 15 DJs into 1 lineup and what's more we think it's gonna work out pretty damn well!

If you're wondering about the maths, we have 7 and a half hours from 8:30PM - 4AM, a total of 450 minutes. Divided by our 15 DJs, it leaves each DJ with a power set of 30 minutes each. Whether they try fit 20 doo wop hits into that time, or would rather just play two epic disco jams for the whole set, that's totally up to them. Seeing what people do with a micro set like this and the madness of giving the dancefloor a new selector every 30 minutes, we think this is gonna make for one of the most fun, crazy nights-out that Joburg has seen in ages!

RSVP here!

You are invited to Do the Doo Wop

RSVP here!

We do this all the time: She Vox!

Hi5's "She Vox"

Kitchener's, Johannesburg

Sat 8 Aug 2011

Good weekend: She Vox and The Vinyl Vultures

This past weekend was definitely one of the most awesome variety, and what's more an extra long one at that. Starting on Thursday night, Cam, under his Turn your Light Up High banner, hosted Vinyl Vultures. As the name suggests it was a party soundtracked entirely off records, and Cam assembled a pretty great collection of Vultures to provide it. Ash, Ri, Chad, Cam and Ben to be exact.

By the time I got there at 8 Kitchener's was already uncharacteristically full for a Thursday. Ri started the night off with a lovely laid back set, but as soon as Chad took over things broke down into a killer little dance party. Cam kept the part going and then it was time for me to break out my crate of precious black gems.

Back when Ri and I started DJing we used to squeeze a bit of vinyl into our sets, but pretty early on decided it'd be best for us to stick to CD. I haven't tried playing off the format since. With the mountain of records Anja got me while she lived in the UK, dusty gems I've dug up myself and intercontinental presents from Jun and Evan, I was atomically excited to play my first vinyl only set.

And as much as I was excited about my set beforehand, I was double as excited with how it actually went. There's something so satisfying about flapping between a crate of covers, picking something out, counting grooves and putting the needle down. It just so much more rewarding than playing off CDs. Needless to say I had an amazing time. Said amazingness was undoubtably highlighted by spinning my Los Camp 10" and an insane mass-handclap-athon breaking out in Kitcheners. It was beautiful.

And then more amazingness would follow, in the fom of Ash, most-certainly one of my favourite DJs around.

And after his awesomeness some 1 on 1 fun followed. Some time around 2 Cam brought his massively succesfully first vinyl party to a close with a record of African Animal sounds, it was just perfect.

I had to be up rather painfully early on Friday morning, but I couldn't complain - I had to race around and buy art supplies for the installation Feiyue had asked me to do in the window of Mooks that afternoon. There's little in life that makes me as happy as drawing, and having people ask me to draw whatever I want for them is always a very welcome surprise. The last time I was invited to do something like this was Ke Ai's Popobe designer toy exhibition, where I got to turn a giant white bear into a giant mecha-kitten monster.

For Feiyue's Shapes campaign, i decided to invent an imaginary band called the shapes. This "kittencore" band involved little cats driving giant robots and making them play instruments. bringing this concept to life in a very short time limit was a little daunting, but as soon as I got into the window and started drawing i just had the best time. The guys at Mooks were super welcoming, Cam paid me a little visit and best of all the whole thing was soundtracked by some of my favourite music. I wish I could spend every Friday afternoon drawing in shop windows listening to TV on the Radio.

I spent the rest of the normal weekend not doing too much outside of animating things for UK 70ies prog-rock icons, playing X-Box and easing into life in my new home.

Ri had moved in during the week, and outside of the general awesomeness of sharing a rooftop with on of my favourite people ever, this fact was made even better by Ri bringing Chi along with him.

One winter's evening back in 2005 I helped Ri move into a new home in Brixton. As we were bringing in Ri's stuff we discovered a box of abandoned kittens in the empty house. I obviously freaked out, although the litter mostly wanted nothing to do with us stupid humans. That was of course, other than one little grey and white kitten that wouldn't leave us alone. Needless to say Ri adopted little kitten, called him Chi and he would go on to be a ray of sunshine in my life everytime I'd see him. Fast forward 6 years and I'm lucky enough to call this little guy my third housemate.

So the weekend would usually have ended with the final hours of sunday evening, but this past one was special. With the public holiday of Woman's Day on Tuesday, Ri and I threw She Vox to celebrate on Monday night. Lindi opened things up as Calamity Jane, and for the first time since winter struck, the high Five Dancefloor started rocking right from the first set.

Ri played some loveliness after that.

And then it was my chance to bring The Sass. For each of our themed High Fives I've needed to prepare some music for the night (it's not like I usually play much surf or swing), but with She Vox I didn't have to at all. Ever since I started DJing my collection has featured a hefty chunk of awesome songs featuring awesome girls.

My set flew by in a blur. The crowd was just lovely and I got a huge kick out of dropping femme favourites from Le Tigre, YYYs, We Have Band and Saturday Looks Good to Me. Honestly it was the most solid set I've played in ages and by the time I had to finish I still had a mountain of planned rockers I hadn't even gotten to play.

Luckily Maude was bringing more awesomeness, so I couldn't complain.

And Shady Lane ended my awesome weekend off with more of the same.

You are invited! She Vox!

This month we're throwing our High Five a little earlier than our usual end of the month slot. With Tuesday the 9th being Woman's Day, we figured a little party on the night before would be a pretty awesome way to celebrate our great great love of girls with microphones in their hands. As The Sassquatch, songs with girls singing in them (or at least boys singing like girls) formed the backbone of all my early sets. "The Sass" has obviously remained a prominent feature since, but I gotta say I'm dead excited to play an entire set of all girl vocals!

RSVP here!

You are in invited: Dance, wrestle and roll!

Internationally the sport of Roller Derby has only come into it's own over the past few years, here in South Africa the first league for the sport only began last year. This Thursday, some girls starting up their own team, are holding a fundraiser. I'm glad to be contributing my DJing skills and projector to this good cause and look forward to spinning some rock & roll alongside a radically little selection of some of my favourite DJs in the city!

RSVP here!

Good weekend. Dance Dance and the Pregnant Seabass!

Usually an animal calls good weekend starts on a Thursday. Since last week Friday was a public holiday, I think it's only right that this episode of Good Weekend starts on a Wednesday:

After work I drive through to Jason's place. We hang out for a bit and then head through to Tanz for this.

I went to the old Tanz cafe once, years ago. The venue was pretty underwhelming and seemed a lot more like a little restaurant than a live venue. Even after hearing it moved to a new venue I've never again driven to the otherside of the city to go to Tanz. Until now.

As we're climbing the huge staircase into the venue I realise I've been seriously missing out.

The "new" Tanz is massive. Huge stage, awesome sound and best of all a big plasma dead centre at the top of the stage. I patch straight into it and we have a great set (which you can watch a section of here). Us Kids Know's set it more than great. After a good break Colin's Jazzmaster makes it's triumphant return alongside the return of a awesome selection of the old songs. Between us and them I see Murkwood for the first time. It seems yet another exciting young band are emerging out of our city. Murkwood's combination of sounds is far to strange for me to even try make comparisons, and that alone should tell you they're doing something right.

Thursday, being the Friday of this week, is highlighted by an awesome party. "I'm not a DJ, I'm in a band" goes down at Tings and as I walk through the door it feels like it's been way too long since I was last here. PJ from The Havoc Vultures is finishing off what sounds like the end of great set. Liam takes over and proceeds to lay down what most definitely is a great set. Chemical Brothers, Ian Brown and Fela Kuti- how can this not kick ass?

Before Liam finishes Joe comes over to me. "Ben! You gotta rock this! You're gonna play the hits right?!" "Yeah, yeah yeah" I reasure him, but honestly I'm not sure what "the hits" even are anymore.

As I walk through the dancefloor to take over from Liam, Henry grabs me:

"Play teen girl fantasy!"
"Huh!"
"Teen girl fantasy!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about..."
"Come on Ben! What new stuff have you been listening to?!"
"Les Savy Fav, Tokyo Police Club, Thermals..."
"That's not dance music!"
"Yeah... You see my problem here?"


I put on my headphones, not feeling very confident after my chats with Joe and Henry. But the nexy hour is total affirmation that, (even if I am an old, out of touch rocker) I can still work a dancefloor.

The hilarious horror of Isochronous's "DJ Virus" are next. Followed by Makkie and Wim from Pity the Fool who are mixing incredibly well for two band dudes that have just got into DJing.

Friday should be a chilled public holiday. Instead I spend it editing, driving, stressing-out, laughing and planning for Pregnant Seabass. We're literally working on it right up till we leave for Tasty Tasty Heritage, but once we get to perform our "improvised noise set" it's so totally worth it. We have tons of fun (which you can read about here). Make Overs are up next and they're just awesome. So so solid for a band that have just started up. To be fair though, Andreas and Martinique have been playing music together for 6 or 7 years, so it's not all that surprising their new band is fantastic right from the get go.

Us Kids Know make my life yet again. Gotta say, with the return of the jazz master and Cam's incorperation into the band I am so totally in love with the current incarnation of this constantly changing band.

Atom Band are next. Been looking forward to seeing them again ever since The Slumber Party. Their first song is great and they kick right into the second really solid. I think how impressive it is that they're so together for a band playing their second show, but then things start going wrong. I won't dwell on particulars, but the rest of their set is just problematic, and I'm left feeling like I still haven't seen the band properly since that first Pretoria show.

I sleep till crazy late on Saturday. Wake up to an SMS from Anja offering to come over with Sushi so we can play some Heavy Rain. Execute said plan. It's awesome. I get a little bummed not being allowed to play Heavy Rain without Anja, but being forced to play it in these little episodes is a great way to experience the game.

Patrick drops by. Then Cam, Richard, Lindi, Chad, Maria, ADK, Chris and Derek. Killer braai times ensue.

At 8ish we dash through to Dance Dance Dance. Lindi's about to start when Ri discovers the display on one of the CDJ isn't working. This means you can't read the pitch, remaining time on a song or even the track number. In other words you're screwed if you wanna try play on this CDJ.

I say we might be able to rent one of Suttner's. He doesn't answer his phone when I call to hear if they're in, so I just drive home. When I get there I discover the CDJs are out, so I came through for nothing.

I figure, while I'm home I'll grab some records; play on the working CDJ and rock one of Ash's turntables on the other side.

I drive back to Kitchener's. Ri tells me he's made a plan. Chad drives to fetch said plan. Lindi starts her set with 1 CDJ with no screen. I start turning the old Canned Applause lightbox into a sign that says "Slow Jam". Crafting in the Kitchen isn't the best way to experience Lindi's set, but at least I hear the whole, radical thing. Warren takes over and more goodness ensues.

Finish off the light box. Ri installs it at the back of the DJ booth, allowing the DJ to now alert the dancefloor of good times to slowdance.

Kodiak takes over. Being outside of Africa for a few weeks has definitely not caused him to loose his edge.

And then it's Sasstime. I have the best set. Sure Ash isn't here so I can't play any of the vinyl I packed. Yes, the replacement CDJ is sticking like a stuck record. I choose to go back to the CDJ with the broken screen so, although my songs are playing properly, I feel like luke trying to blow up The Deathstar with his eyes closed, but playing to a dancefloor like this it's impossible not to love every minute. The place is just full of kids wearing huge smiles, shaking their hips like crazy and screaming when they hear songs by TV on the Radio, Us Kids Know and Johnny Foreigner. If only this would happen even half the time when I play.

Ri's next. I head outside to get some air. Before I make it out the venue I run into Patrick, his camera and a small hoarde of friends. Figure that even if I didn't get to drop the crate of records I'm holding, we should at least give them some play. Full post on these shenanigans here!

After my crazy run of 4 totally different gigs over 4 nights, not playing on Sunday feels awesome. Anja and I hang out with my dad and mom. We eat fantastich German food to celebrate my mom's birthday. Later I stress about things I don't need to stress about. But it's not all bad, at least I've got Mass Effect 2!