Droid’s a bad man.
That’s pretty much all you need to know, but let me expand.
I don’t believe in the great man theory of history, or the great man theory of management for that matter, but it is a fact that key people are nodes in the network and make cultural life happen. Sarah at Tempa is the classic example, tirelessly promoting a multiplicity if post-ardkore scenes. I had the privelege of bigging her up in person at the wonderful Beyond night a couple of weeks back. And it is no exaggeration to speak of Droid in the same breath. He is a man who links the dancehall diaspora with European electronica, arthouse with rough house, and text with sound.There are few like him and it has been a wonderful experience working with him on Woofah. Similarly, it has been a wonderful experience working with him on the Blogariddims series. Where else can you find such a high-quality series of podcasts that are both diverse yet connected, constantly stimulating yet not falling into the trap of mere electicism? Almost nowhere – there’s been nothing like it, and a vast reservoir of musical inspiration has been opened up by the series.
Now, after a monumental 50 episodes, the series is coming to an end, and it’s a special edition with contributions from a load of the regulars.
There’s a delightful circle-jerk across all the contributors going on; our predecessor is Paul Autonomic, John’s is up here (I’ve no idea what he’s going to write about, probably denounce the whole project!), while our successor is Leeds reggae supremo Matt B. Naturally me and John decided to do a Woofah-style instrumental grime mix. It’s only short – obviously – but pretty heavy, with the main cut being Big$shot’s massive Glitch, which is, this week, my favourite record of all time! The other guys are going to have to work hard to drop anything better!
Anyway. Big up droid. Droid’s a bad man!