Dave Clarke – Live @ Locomia Club (06-08-2003)

So will we be seeing Dave Clarke behind the decks at art-fashion electro clubs like Nag Nag Nag soon? "I’ve got nothing to do with that scene," says Clarke. "I find it really funny that I was one of the first DJs to bring attention to this music and I’ve never been asked to play in those clubs. I prefer League of Gentlemen clubs anyway, local clubs for local people." Although he will be taking the heavy sounds of Devil’s Advocate live, debuting his set at Creamfields. "It’ll be me doing my thing, but in a punky live way.

Devil’s Advocate is an adrenalised album, cherry-picking the best of the last three decades and hammering it into a record laden with funk, groove and attitude. Take highlight ‘Dirtbox’ a totally rude boy, death-disco moment with a narcotic bassline to knock your socks off. He’s also pulled Chicago house lynchpin DJ Rush into the record, on the jack-track blastin‘ opener ‘Way Of Life’. It’s a tune that Clarke has road tested over the last twelve months, at clubs worldwide, from Portugal to Sao Paulo.

"It’s a statement of intent," he says. "I’d got so fucked off with people ripping of my Red (Clarke’s Red 1, 2 and 3 provided three of dance musics most recognisable anthems) stabs that I thought I’d rip myself off one last time. Rush came over, gave me two hours of vocals which I cut and pasted into a single song." He also corralled politicized Indie hip hop head Mr Lif onto the record. "I saw him at the ICA and thought he was great. He comes from the heart." Lif’s track, a screeching, slo-motion story of death and resurrection titled ‘Blue On Blue’ highlight’s Clarke’s hip hop roots and moves the record further away from the house and techno that Dave Clarke is best known for. "That’s another reason I called it Devil’s Advocate" explains Clarke. "The music will challenge people’s preconceptions about me. If you’re unaware of my first album or my remixes then you might think that my whole life revolves around techno. It doesn’t."

Clarke is indeed a man of many sounds but he’s undeniably an international techno ambassador of the highest degree. He’s been criss-crossing the globe every weekend for the last fifteen years playing the best in funky electronic music. "Funny enough I’ve shied away from electro in my sets at the moment," he says. "There just aren’t the records right now. I still play a lot of ghetto booty electro though. I like it. It’s filthy, it’s got a charm and it’s got the funk."

Having the funk matters. Whether it’s funk shaped like a jacking Chicago house party, or funk shaped like a post-punk b-line (Clarke’s favorite new band, incidentally, are Radio Four) it’s here. There’s even a reggae track, hidden away at the end, which was inspired by a fortuitous meeting in London’s equipment mecca, Funky Junk. "I was talking to the guy behind the counter, saying that the only reggae I could relate to was Mad Professor because it’s so precise but really laid-back. He was like ‘Have you met him? He’s standing right behind you.’

But what about the cliched version of Dave Clarke, the opinionated, cigar-chomping gourmet speeding around in fast cars? He’s still there, in the background, and, currently driving a double-glazed Mercedes S500, "for hacking up and down on motorways" which makes PJ Harvey’s Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea sound "amazing" plus a brightly colored Honda NSX. "I do smoke cigars, I do like fast cars and I do wear black, but there’s more to me than that." You want to see past the cartoon? Just take one listen to Devils Advocate and it’ll all become crystal.

Artist: Dave Clarke
Tittle: Live @ Locomia Club
Rls date: 06-08-2003
Genre: Techno
Source: WEB
Type: Live Set


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