Compass Point 2005 - International Festival of Urban Music.

As part of the Cardiff 2005 Centenary Celebrations, this years Compass Point will take place on Friday 5 & Saturday 6 August 2005 and will once again be staged in Coopers Field behind the picturesque setting of Cardiff Castle. In it's fifth succesive year, 2005's Compass Point looks set to be the best so far, with an array of live musical performances, dee-jay sets, free work shops, fairground attractions and more spread over two days.

Friday is dedicated to showcasing rock bands from all over Wales and further afield, while Saturday evening brings the best in hip hop and world music. I'll be hosting and introducing the acts on Saturday's proceedings which sees 679 Recording artist and former N.A.S.T.Y Crew member Kano, as the headlining act.Tickets fort the festival cost £10 and are available from the usual local outlets.

Todd Da Godd back in UK!

The man they call the 'Godfather of UKG' Todd Edwards, was this week's special guest on Blueprint (Weds. 27th July). Over in the UK to promote a new mix compilation he's done for his record label i! Records entitled 'The Best of i! Records - 10 years of UK Garage', Todd also revealed he'd been in the studio with Matt ' Jam ' Lamont working on tracks due for release on Solo Recordings around October.

1Xtra listeners were treated to first ever radio plays of new and unreleased productions from the New Jersey resident. The track which stood out for me had to be Todd's remix of 'Lacrymosa' from an artist called Libera. This was Todd's "un-official" reworking of an English choir, over his typical bumpy 4/4 beats and disco bassline. Amazing!

The Best of i! Records - 10 Years of UK Garage

July gigs...

This Saturday 16th July, catch me at my exclusive monthly residency in Swansea for Escape Nightclub. The third Saturday of each month sees me touch down at the same club that bring you Wales' biggest outdoor dance festival each year, Escape Into The Park. This year's event was held back on June 11th and was another day of blockbuster proportions. Featuring the world's biggest DJ talent across five massive musical arenas and with over 20,000 people in attendance, yours truly blessed the Urban Arena where the mother of all black music stations 1Xtra broadcast sets from me and my brother Eugene Vee as well as my 1X cohort DJ Cameo. Undoubtedly, this was the biggest date in any Welsh ravers calendar this year!

Thursday 21st July, I return to play at pioneering producer MJ Cole's clubnight (with the same namesake as his record label) 'Prolific'. Each month MJ invites the cream of both established and up and coming DJ talent to join him in entertaining the 'Prolific' massive, on the awesome sound system of Herbal, in Shoreditch, London. This is without doubt the flagship UKG night for those who like their music bumpy. Here you are guaranteed to hear nuff exclusive upfront dubs, with a handful of classics thrown in for good measure. Watch out as 'Prolific' will be moving to a new monthly slot of second Friday in the month as of September. July's event is guranteed to be sick, with the man like MC Kofi B joining me on mic for my set. Gonna be big!

Escape, Swansea

Prolific Recordings

Big Skandizzle on Blueprint, 1X!

This week's show (Weds. 6th July), saw creators of 2004 anthem 'Watford Weather' Skandalouz Unltd, bless us with a heavyweight guest spot. Listeners were treated to two live and exclusive first ever performances, from artists that Stanza and Alex of Skandalouz have been working with recently.

First up to perform were Carly Bond and Purple (Renegade Boys), who smacked it with a wicked rendition of the remix to their track 'My Life'. Carly and Purple explained that their lyrics in the song dealt with the issues that can arise when in a relationship with a person of a different race / religion. Stanza said people can expect the remix package to land separately at a later date once the original version was released on their own True Tiger imprint imminently.

Next up were West London's Dynasty a four man mcee unit that consists of Marcie Phonix, Hyper Fen, Ripper and Hitman T. They performed their Skandalouz produced 'Bare Face', which the guys also explained had been picked up by 679 Records to be featured on the forthcoming Run The Roads Vol.2 compilation. Then Dynasty joined Purple on mic as Stanza took to the decks to showcase some sick, new instrumental joints.

Stanza also told listeners that Skandalouz' 4/4 productions were taking a back seat for a while as the group were concerntrating on working with artitsts and that they were busy putting together the first ever True Tiger mix tape entitled 'Eye Of The Tiger Vol.1', due to hit the streets in September. He told listeners not to fear though, as the label itself was very much still bringing the 4/4 vibez to the masses with highly anticipated releases such as Misty Dubs 'Third Chapter EP', ODM's 'Doesn't Have To Be' and Duncan Powell's ballistic remix of their 'Watford Weather', still to come.


True Tiger Website

R & R Presents.. Another ram jam session for July!

Friday July 1st was another ram jam session from R & R Presents.. as it held it's 'Underground Anthems - Old Skool Special (Part 1) @ Red Rooms, Cardiff.

After years of talking about coming together to put on a night, talk finally became reality in May of this year as myself and Cardiff's number 1 RNB DJ Raheem (Vibe 101 fm) launched R & R Presents. Looking to inject some much needed energy and fun back into the Cardiff club scene, the night has been an immense success in such a short space of time. The first Friday of every month sees myself and Raheem dj-ing exclusively together at Red Rooms in Cardiff, alongside invited guest dj's from around the region.

The first 75 people at our July event were treated to a free copy of a new mix CD of mine entitled 'Nu Vocal Vibez Vol.1', featuring 20 blazing hot and exclusive tracks. The night was pure vibes, as all dj's dug in the crates for those classics. Tunes of the night for myself personally had to be Rosie Gaines - Closer, Ex Men (vs) Brandy - Angel and Robin S - Show Me Love (which I must add, had the rudest of rudeboys holding their hands in the air;)).

You can check out the flyer for R & R Presents.. forthcoming events at any time by visiting

http://www.randrpresents.co.uk

Hello and welcome!

Easy folks. This is my place to let you know what's going on generally in my world, as well as reporting on the music scene that I am passionately involved in. Keep checking back regularly for updates. Peace!

Tune into Blueprint with Richie 'Vibe' Vee on 1Xtra (BBC), Wednesdays 7-10pm. Playing all styles of UK Garage.

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