So, Spoonfed got in touch to find out a little more about the night... which COINCIDENTALLY is TOMORROW NIGHT at Public Life, 82a Commercial St., Shoreditch. It's FREE before 10pm...
What can Londoners expect from a night like Curriculum?
You can expect to find music from almost every continent, hand picked for it's specific energy, rhythm, or some unique nuance that makes it viable for a London clubnight experience.
As well as retaining the Curriculum world vibe.
I think we certainly challenge the contemporary club norm; since we don't just play straight up house, or purely clean well-produced, well mixed music; there really is a great deal of variety in the selection, with BPMs all over the place, and yet retaining this energy that will be familiar to the contemporary clubber over the course of the night.
You could start by sitting enjoying a glass of red with a candle to some Ugandan hiphop, or an Asian aria, and end it bouncing off the walls to South African House or some twisted bass heavy Lambada...
I guess basically, we will make you sweat, but it wont be to stuff you would expect - though maybe a baile funk rendition of Kernkraft 3000... Haha
So world music seems to be your thing, why? Is there an importance in branching out, and getting a sense of what's out there? Where, when and how did your love for world music begin?
I think the thing that grips my ears most of all about 'world music' is simply hearing noises that are new.
There are sounds that I couldn't even fathom before. And the fascination is not only on an aural level, but reading the history and the evolution of sounds and rhythms and dances etc. just blows my mind.
Tuvan throat singing for example, or listening to Alla Rakhar playing a tabla solo 108 cycles long, made up of cycles formed in 10 beats divided 2 3 2 3... WHAT!? Just, totally rinsing everything I ever learned about music theory.
I think there is a certain staleness about western music, and there is so much out there... its just fun to hear how other people do it.
How did the idea come about?
Curriculum is my baby.
My friend TLGB came up with the name when I said that i wanted a word that had Latin roots and also a powerful meaning surrounding notions of a journey; and Curriculum does
just that.
Not only does it have connotations of flowing, exploration, learning, and knowledge, but it also rolls nicely off the tongue..!
I think the idea really came about after Rob Swaine (Shooting Horses) and I were in his car listening to a CD with loads of Brasilian and Latin influence on it; stuff like Daniel Haaksman and Riva Starr, but a few years ago, when Riva Starr was making stuff like La Conga...
Then we all went to my house in the middle of nowhere to play with music and I did a mix with some wacky tracks from Mowgli and Solo and Justin Martin and I was just in love with the noises and the beats... So much soul.
From there it just blossomed I guess, exploring 'other' sounds, but also moving away from the likes of Fidget, and trying to find something a bit more organic.
Any comments on the other chaps hitting the decks come Friday night?
I think Rob and I are both stoked about Tom's (Trol23) set. Cant wait for the dancehall!
Other than that I think Friday sums up what we want from Curriculum; a get together of people for a good time. I'm not going to make any money from it, it's just an excuse to have a good dance and play some tracks I love with my mates, to my mates.
And if anyone else wants to come along then awesome.
What kind of tunes can we expect?
Best way to get a grasp of what we play is to listen to the PODCASTS, we upload them weekly and you can hear anything from a Greenlandic shaman hitting sticks together, to Sambass, to Baile Funk, Indian Jazz, all the way to Dub, Reggae, Dancehall, and then the more upfront dance like Midget, House, and Ghettopop.
So if we were jumping on a jet plane, heading off to find the music you'll be playing, where would we go?
I think you would have to go on google maps and just spin the Earth as fast as you could. That blue and green blur would probably be pretty close to Curriculum's sound.
What came first, the podcasts or the club night?
We put out a podcast most weeks. They go up on mixcloud, but soon you'll be able to subscribe on itunes.
The clubnight came first, a long time ago now, but the podcast and the blog have become really intrinsic to the evolution of the night, and I suppose to the broadening of our horizons.
Every time we get together to make a new podcast we just end up throwing music into the pot and getting hyped about something new that one of us has found.
It's a constantly growing beast. I love it.
What makes Curriculum so original?
There are other nights that have influences from various nations, or, which employ gimmicks to bring the carnival vibe, or whatever, but there seems to always be this desperation to be "cool" beneath all that and it just falls into yet another future garage night...
I think there is a rawness in Curriculum. We aren't pretending to be anything we are not. We just love this music. And here is a platform on which to play it. We aren't going to be playing THE LATEST TRACK FROM THE COOLEST DJ. I dont care about that kind of thing.
If Curriculum was an animal, what animal would it be and why?
A duck billed platypus; cute, cuddly, a total mish mash of constituent
elements, and just a little bit poisonous... with plenty of intrigue.
What are your hopes for Curriculum? Where do you see it going?
I hope people come down to see how we do things. I hope people tune into the podcasts and get excited by this kind of thing. It isn't going to be "London's biggest clubnight"; we aren't appealing to the masses, we aren't putting a boucey castle and playstations in a club. We aren't claiming to be in a wearhouse, or a squat, and we arent having a fancy dress night.
It is just purely about the music and the atmosphere. And if that appeals to people then I will be happy. Come down and try something different.
Looking to the future I hope to get the label up and running by 2011. I cant find the music here, so I'll bring it here. And maybe someone will buy it.
Massive thanks to Skye at Spoonfed! You could check out the preview HERE
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