SATURDAY 13 MAY 2006
RALPH LAWSON & the 20-20 SOUNDSYSTEM - Back-2-Basics style booty-shakin bumpy house music with a live band! With support from HARVEY BAILEY.
£7. 9pm-3am

*** i-DJ Magazine will be coming down to do a feature of the night so thats one extra reason to make sure youre at Mud that night (as if you needed an extra reason!) ***

 

In three short years 2020Soundsystem have become one of the best live bands within an ever-increasing new wave of acts mixing up electronic music with indie, punk and p-funk. If you really have to find a name for it you can call it e-funk: a growing scene of heads happy to party with the best of them at a gig, bar or disco. They have established themselves firmly in the festival circuit as well as building up their reputation through the world of underground clubs and dirty discos. The aim with their debut album is to showcase their sound as recorded at Sweatshop studios, their base for the last three years in Leeds, as well as present the unique way that they perform live. So here you have a double CD featuring an artist album and a live recording taken from their set in June at the hottest music festival on the planet: Sonar in Barcelona.

 

2020Soundsystem was started as a new way of playing live by Ralph Lawson, original DJ at the legendary Back to Basics club in Leeds, and Danny Dubble D Ward. Tired of a jaded club scene they sought to find a different way to entertain and excite. By weaving live instruments into Lawson’s DJ set, they transformed the clubbing experience into something new by giving punters the best of both world’s: the continuity and diversity of a DJ mix with the raw energy and excitement of seeing a live band. The project became four when bass player Fernando Pulichino and Julian ‘keys’ Sanza, recent arrivals from Argentina, sent 2020 a demo under their Silver City moniker. Lawson heard the guy’s ability to play (as well as cook a mean steak), and asked them to join the project. At first it was a jam around Lawson’s jocking, but as the idea developed original material started to come out of the sessions.  “We would jam for maybe two hours and record it, it was probably horrible for about 1 hour 58 but in those two minutes we would find a place where we had all gelled and produced something fresh”, Lawson says.  These out-takes became the backbone of “dub” tracks.  The crew played very much as a dubstyle soundsystem for the first two years, attracting a loyal fan base open to new sounds and experiences.

 

They then started experimenting with adding vocalists. Firstly this was Diane Charlemagne, who is most famous for her vocals on Goldie’s ‘Inner City Life’.  Here she can be heard on ‘High’. The Soundsystem then started to get remix requests and one was from New York band The Glass.  They were so into the singer’s voice that they asked him to guest on the album.  This has resulted in a two-track collaboration with Dominique and Glen on ‘No Order’ and ‘Won’t Bother Me’.  But sitting right under their noses was a killer voice they hadn’t heard before belonging to bass player Fernando. After a bit of persuasion the rest of the band managed to push him up to the mic to represent.  His confidence has grown over the last year and he sings the rest of the vocals on the album, which put the final piece in place and turned them into what pretty much looks like a ‘proper’ band. The point is that the Soundsystem seek to go step by step and add as they progress.  So the album represents a snapshot of work to date. An hour recorded at Sonar highlights the fluid mixing from Lawson as well as how devastating adding live playing to tough electronic beats can be. The studio album showcases not only their song-writing skills but also their unique sound.

 

If you want to hear more from the Soundsystem crew you can check out last year’s massively acclaimed debut albums from Dubble D ‘Reachin’ Out’ and the self-titled Silver City.  Both achieved five star reviews across the board and created a springboard for the artists alongside Lawson’s more established work.  It is here that we can see the key to the Soundsystem as a unit, the wealth of diversity, experience and skills that each brings to the table. Between them they have worked with: Nightmares on Wax, The Pharcyde,  Blaze,  Fat Boy Slim, Felix da Housecat, Chicken Lips, Rae and Christian, Flora Purim, James Holden, AIM, Peace Division, Mondo Grosso among many others.  They have built up their live reputation at festivals such as Homelands, Sonar, Groove Parade, Tea In the Park, Triptych, Tribal Gathering and clubs from Fabric to Basics, Deep, The Loft, Slam, The Subclub, Sankeys and Bugged Out.

 

Live
April 14 Melbourne - Digital
April 15 Sydney - 360
April 16 Perth-Delerium
April 21 Melbourne-Burdekin
April 22 Sydney-Discopunx
April 29 Belfast - Shine
April 30 Derry - Nerve Center
May 5    Amsterdam-Club 11
May 6    London-Rhythm Factory
May 11  Leeds-Cockpit with special guest Nathan Fake
May 12  Brighton-Audio
May 13  Bognor-Mud Club
May 27  Cambridge University
May 28  Leeds Love Parade
June 2   Kendall-The Brewery
June 3   Paris-Nouveau casino
June 9   Glasgow-Slam
June 10 Edinburgh-Cabaret Voltaire
June 16 Isle of Skye Festival
June 23 Barcelona-The Loft
June 24 Madrid-Danzoo
July 28  Global Gathering
August 26 Creamfields