GRINDIE

Last year when people used to ask us about the 'grindie scene' in interviews James coined the phrase; 'it's not a scene, it's a mixtape,' because it seemed to us that there wasn't really a massive crossover going on beyond Statiks infamous mixtape. However since then it seems we've been proved wrong with loads of collabs popping up on record and live... Dizzee with Arctics, Bizzle with Gallows/Kate Nash/Doherty/Yourcodenameis:milo, Kano with Damon Alban, Ordinary Boys with Lady Sov , Statik with all sorts and possibly, the most unexpected of all The Hoosiers and Tinchy Stryder?!?



Damon Albarn, Kano and Scratch Africa Express.



Bizzle and Gallows on tour.



Arctics & Dizzee at Glasto.

It's easy to be cynical and say the relationship exists because it allows indie bands to grab a bit of credibility while grime artists get a bit of mainstream exposure, yet if you hear any of the acts involved talk about what their doing it more often than not comes across as sincere mutual admiration for what different groups of people are doing. Regardless, whats really exciting about all this is that the young fans coming through now seem totally open to 'urban' and 'indie' music co-existing on the same stage. For example Blaise Belleville, at All Age Concerts has been putting on gigs for under 18s that feature JME alongside Foals and Jack Penate alongside Tinchy Stryder, all of which sell out, while at the 18+ side of things Styleslut have been put on Wiley alongside BonoMustDie.

Next week we've got the Reading and Leeds gigs which are a massive deal for us as we've been going to the festivals ourselves for years. We're on Friday in Leeds and Sunday in Reading. For those going to Leeds, make sure you get up on the Thursday to see the finest Leeds bands (Forward Russia, Sky Larkin, Shut Your Eyes) play a special welcoming party on site organized by DTTR.

Also, check out our myspace blog, for pictures from our trip to Japan.

HOLD STEADY,

pilau

(NOTE: thanks to Chantelle Fiddy, where I found the Damon/Kano vid.)