Artists: Krafty Kuts and A-Skillz
Venue: Motion, Bristol
Date: 21st October 2011
In:Motion is known to Bristonians and beyond as Motion’s biggest season of club nights that range in their flavour, from grime to dubstep and back to DNB again. Motion is renowned for bringing some of the biggest names of the underground to the venue (for those of you that don’t know, the venue itself is also a thing of wonder as it’s a large industrial building/skate park in the middle of nowhere, kind of). So you can imagine our excitement when we heard that both Krafty Kuts and A-Skillz were going to be playing at one of In:Motion’s biggest nights known as ‘Blowpop’, which was celebrating its 15th birthday in style.
In the moments before A-Skillz was due to take pride of place on the Motion stage, the crowd had certainly almost doubled in size and the people were liquored up and ready to hear what the British breakbeat DJ had to offer. Perhaps the choice to play his most infamous rendition of ‘California Soul’ was undoubtedly a massive hit with the crowd and saw every person bobbing up and down. Amongst Mr. Skillz set which consisted of a unique fusion of funk, soul and breakbeats, he also played his mix of ‘Come Together’ which contains a sample of The Beatles classic which goes by the same name. Once again the crowd united and one audience member exclaimed “This is the fucking shit” and rightly so. From seeing A Skillz live it is seemingly obvious why he is one of the biggest breakbeat DJs in the UK. As the A-Skillz set came to an end Krafty Kuts came in, he certainly continued the great energy we had just seen from A Skillz set.
Krafty Kuts is arguably one of the most prestigious DJs in the UK, he is an international success and has played alongside artists such as The Prodigy and Fat Boy Slim, and we can see why. If we had to pick a favourite of the night Kratfy Kuts would definitely snag first place as the crowd went into a frenzy as soon as they heard “Ladies and gentleman we introduce to you Krafty Kuts”. From this moment forward it seemed as though the night went in double speed as everyone jumped together for Krafty’s mix of hiphop, funk, breakbeat and dubstep. Some of the artists featured in his mix alongside his own tunes were the likes of The Prodigy, House of Pain, Skrillex and Flux Pavillion (when Krafty played Bass Cannon by Flux Pavillion the crowd certainly wobbled and even the drinks in our cups vibrated in time). From observing Mr. Kuts from the front row, you would have thought this was his first major show in regards to his energy and enthusiasm for his music, which clearly hasn’t tired as he showed every aspiring DJ in the building how it’s done, well.
We have to say once Krafty Kuts had left the stage with an encore, the crowd slightly thinned and the night continued with some great offerings of both resident and not so resident DJs and some questionable dance moves from the adoring crowd. Overall, the night was a winner and yet again Motion didn’t disappoint by providing one of the best nights the City of Bristol has to offer, with two amazing acts. Krafty Kuts 9/10, A Skillz 8/10. Nice stuff!
However, one thing that did cross our mind was the question mark the creators left us with, stating could this be the last ‘Blowpop’ event? We here at HTF are left wondering whether this was in fact the last ‘Blowpop’ night or will it come back with a massive re-brand and slightly different name?
If you were at ‘Blowpop’ or have a love of all things Krafty Kutz and A-Skillz then share your thoughts below!
Reviewer and photographer: Emilie Hickling
