Red Bull Music Academy Hits London

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Culture Clash

The Red Bull Music Academy has finally arrived in London for the first time since its inception back in 1998. As a breeding ground for fresh talent and a vehicle for those taking their first tentative steps up the musical ladder, the Academy has travelled the globe, providing both the facilities and the environment in which this talent can be nurtured.

Taking place over a five week period, 60 participants are chosen to take part and are invited to the host city where they attend lectures and workshops and are encouraged to collaborate with their fellow students, who are drawn from literally every corner of the world. Applications were received from 85 different countries for places on this year's course. The Academy HQ based in Tooley Street, London Bridge is fully kitted out with the latest studio gear and pretty much everything is laid on for the participants.

Co-founder and organiser Thorsten Schmidt explained the selection criteria: "We're not necessarily looking for finished producers but more people that have talent. I'd rather have a demo that doesn't sound perfect but has some genuine content. We have participants here that grew up in different places with varying backgrounds, politically, musically, socially, whatever and they need to function as a group which can be tense at times! It's not a popularity contest. In a way it's like a summer camp for all the people who hated summer camp or hated school trips".

One of those lucky enough to have been selected is Austrian drum & bass producer Camo. He revealed what the experience means to him: "It's pretty exciting to be here. The location is cool, everything is really special. There are eight little studios for the participants with access to a lot of analogue synths and the monitors are really good. There are also rooms for live musicians to record. The people here are pretty interesting too, I've met people from all over the world: Russia, Nigeria, Columbia, Mexico, America and so on. Everything at the Academy is really well organised, they have bus shuttles if you want to go anywhere!"

Coinciding with the Academy, Red Bull is hosting a series of nights and events over the course of the five weeks, ranging from techno pioneer Carl Craig at the Royal Festival Hall to Brainfeeder at Fabric, via the Culture Clash at the Roundhouse (more of which later) with many of the evenings performers dropping by the Academy HQ during the daytime to host lectures or workshops. In previous years these have included the likes of Derrick May, Skream and ?uestlove from The Roots. The Academy also runs a radio station which broadcasts throughout the five weeks.

So what, you may be forgiven for thinking, does Red Bull ask in return for the vast amount of money they are ploughing into this project? Torsten explains: "They are taking this initiative because they realised that they grew out of club culture and certain types of extreme sports so they had to give something back. They are acting like an old school patron of the arts, if you like. So in the end the participants get a network of professional people that will support them, and they come back to Red Bull with their own ideas in the future."

One of the evening events organised in conjunction with the Academy was the Culture Clash at Camden's remarkable Roundhouse venue. Much has been written about the events that took place, including on the Kmag website itself, but through all the conjecture and opinion, as all who were in attendance will agree it was truly an evening to remember. With Goldie's Metalheadz pitted up against dubstep crew DMZ, Jazzie B's veterans Soul II Soul and dub legends Trojan, the Roundhouse was set up in traditional soundclash style with the sound systems situated round the edge of the cavernous venue, all set to battle it out. With the one and only Don Letts hosting, the crews were given 15 minutes for each round, covering the following categories: Selection, Entertainment, Mixed Up Styles and The Decider.

Right from the first round, the gloves were off with Headz and DMZ trading early blows. There's no doubt that Goldie played his trump card by placing Andy C at the controls, as he fired out classic after classic with his usual precision. The DMZ camp replied with Sgt Pokes stirring up proceedings on the mic but he overstepped the mark with some ill judged comments about the other systems and had to be reprimanded not only by the Headz crew but also host Don Letts.

The Mixed Up Styles round provided the most entertainment with DMZ drawing for Roots Manuva's Witness which blew the place up, but Headz throwing down a selection which included Voodoo Ray, Total Confusion and Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was simply next level. Soul II Soul and Trojan also had their moments, but it was clear that this had become a two horse race. There's no doubt that DMZ truly brought the bass and they definitely had the loudest system in the place, but Metalheadz brought a vibe that was simply unparalleled and a soundclash is all about crowd reaction. Every time Headz came on, the place quite simply went off. Fact.

There was always likely to be some controversy, this was a soundclash after all, but it felt like a totally unique event to witness with four of London's finest systems gathering to battle it out in one of the city's most historic venues. Not something you see every day.

Red Bull Music Academy also recently announced the events for term two. Highlights include Flying Lotus bringing his Brainfeeder label to Fabric on Wednesday March 10th. Check this for a line-up: Flying Lotus, Kode9, J.Rocc, The Gaslamp Killer, Martyn, Dorian Concept, Dimlite, Daedelus, Nosaj Thing and TOKiMONSTA.

12x12 at the Scala on March 11th also looks pretty special. 12x12 brings 12 seminal anthems, 12 heavyweight producers, all playing for 12 minutes each. Acts on the night are: Robert Owens, Guy Called Gerald, Shades Of Rhythm, Zinc & Dynamite MC, X-Press 2, Peter Hook, Roni Size, Jazzie B, Arthur Baker, Shy FX and Stamina MC, Martyn Ware and MJ Cole.

Check the Red Bull Music Academy website for more details on the other events happening.