Saturday 14 April 2012

Carbonmade porfolio

I've taken the plunge and created a Carbonmade portfolio account. I was drawn by its simplicity and Project foldering format - very easy for me to put the commercial and playful stuff on there but keep it separate. I've also given Google Analytics a try to track any visits.

Here's the address:
http://ianjgavin.carbonmade.com/

Sunday 26 February 2012

Brunk poster

I knocked up a poster for Brunk




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday 25 February 2012

So what is Brunk?

I've begun DJing in Selly Oak at the Bristol Pear (upstairs). It happens each Tuesday night from about 9pm to 12pm.

I fell that I had to give the venture some sort of identity (or at least a name) so that I could keep a sense of continuity if I ever played a different venue. The name I came up with is 'Brunk' - that's 'Brum' and 'funk' smashed together in case you're curious (plus some of the Urban Dictionary definitions of brunk are quite funny).

I've wanted to do this for a while because I was getting quite frustrated with music on offer in most of the pubs I'd been to lately. It's all jukeboxes with chart rubbish or lazy DJs playing... yes, chart rubbish and obvious tracks we've all heard a hundred times.

Using Wefunk as my inspiration I decided to make hip hop and funk the backbone of what I'll play plus any other tracks that fit or that I think are too funny or cool to leave out. At the time of posting, DJ Format, Quantic, Bonobo, Baby Charles, T-Love, Abdominal, Moderat, Mr Scruff, Naughty by Nature, Mike James Kirkland, MF Doom, The Free Association and Blackalicious have featured - some of whom I hadn't heard of before I started playing. I haven't played any of my own music yet but I think I will try one out soon as it's just too good an opportunity to pass up.

The Bristol Pear is a student pub. Sometimes the room is busy, sometimes it isn't. I believe in being patient. If you build it they will come. I just need to be consistent and let the audience decide.

Brunk has definitely re-ignited my interest in finding new music. I'm getting a lot out of it and if anyone gets into something that they hadn't heard before as a result then that would be the icing on the proverbial cake.

If you've read this and you're in the Birmingham area, you should come down. You might hear something you like.