Live: Sounddhism Fourth Birthday All-Dayer

Images: Daniel Whiston

Anyone in Notts the least bit interested in music loves a good owd Sounddhism. Not just because it’s packed wall-to-wall with lovely people and nice vibes, but because of the delectable selection of artists pooled together. With a base coat of soul lying firmly underneath what Sounddhism offers, it’s not uncommon to come across an evening flying off in every genre’s direction – from reggae, to jazz, to electronica, to hip hop and then some.

Perhaps that’s why the consistently strong line-ups have kept the night ticking over for a good four years. The birthday party was a celebration of just that, with twelve hours of beautiful sounds brought through by mainly local artists – live and proud.

Not only the musically gifted were about; artists from the Mimm Collective were hard at work outside, putting together black and white pieces using mainly marker pens. It was amazing to see their art work come on in the fag breaks throughout the evening: from the light, unsure sketches to booming, in-your-face images that reflected the sounds echoing around The Bodega.

Yazmin L

TakeOver DJs warmed up the afternoon with their sunny reggae tunes from 3pm, keeping the bounce going between alt-pop duo Molly and Jack, and local singer-songwriter Josh Wheatley. Sibley then took over the ones and twos, selectively filling the silence between four equally awesome artists. Cheekily sweet Robyn Hughes-Jones hopped on the downstairs stage with her own, fresh material, setting off sparks for the incoming crowd. Onto an acoustic set from folk-pop fella Chris McDonald, and then Yazmin L. Yazmin makes hairs stand on end, and the accompaniment of young Sam Moore on guitar gave the set extra brownie points. She has a sumptuously smooth voice with a hint of rasp to create an addictive sound. A personal favourite, A Mother Lost, with the contrast of its relaxing tones and pinching lyrics, captivated the attention of even the rowdiest boggers.

Major label-signed Natalie Duncan was up next and I'd been eager to see the lady’s return to Nottingham. Now sporting a shorter haircut, she was difficult to recognise having seen on-repeat videos of her with long locks, but as soon as she opened her gob, it was clear who we were listening to. Her set was mainly filled with new material, effortlessly flitting between heavy classical piano influences and a more experimental, bluesy vocals. She’s truly mesmerising to watch and, with such intensity throughout her set, left us gasping for breath afterwards. Her rendition of Dolly Parton’s Jolene was something to be admired – adding several unique, soulful layers to the song. Amazing. UJahm were upstairs at the same time and by stubbornly refusing to move from Natalie’s set, I regretted not getting a taste of the local quartet after hearing their praises from several people. 

We caught the last of Sibley’s spinning, with echoes of Dawn Penn’s No No No and Roots Manuva’s Witness The Fitness keeping arses wiggling and arms flailing. Chloe Charlemagne owned the upstairs stage; a singer-songwriter with a strong, soulful voice and occasional cheeky glimpses of reggae beats woven into her r’n’b vibe - a pop queen on the rise. Meanwhile, Omah and Fair Revival were keeping everyone entertained in between sets downstairs. Motormouf came through with his beatboxing prowess, a multi-dimensional display of his talents served up not only through skankable tunes, but through sound effects to make you wonder how the shit he makes them noises with his mahf.

Jamie Joseph

Crate-digging Spiceman had us all drunkenly boogying the night away to funk and soul tunes galore in the upstairs room, right before Jamie Joseph made time stop with an a cappella rendition of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. A crystal clear, on-point voice hit everyone right in the chest, with massive amounts of control and power creating a polished performer to make jaws drop. His band kicked in, complete with two delicately synchronised backing singers – they played some faster tunes along with slower ballads, hitting the nail on the head with each style.

At times, the set was almost a little too polished; we could easily have been listening to a recording, which is amazing in one sense, but I’m eager to see a touch more fire in terms of group performance in the future. Throughout the evening, the microphones upstairs could have done with being turned up a notch, especially during this particular act – Jamie’s voice is something special and deserves to be the focal point of his set.

Bru-C, the rising emcee with a finger in every pie, was downstairs doing a solo set, while I was tomfoolin’ around somewhere. Short and sweet, half hour sets made it difficult to catch a lot of people, but luckily I caught him later on after seeing headliner Ego Ella May who, along with her three backing singers and band, completely smashed it.Her soulful, electronic tunes are simultaneously bouncy and smooth, with a sultry voice to make you judder. The group performed a cover of a Common track which went down a treat with the hip hop heads in the room, many of who had also bundled downstairs to catch Stan, the emcee who started out in grime and infuses his influences into a myriad of sounds, rapping with a thick Midlands’ accent. Always nice.

NG64’s Can B was up next downstairs, another local emcee, who raps effortlessly in a deep, Chester P-esque voice, with mind-exploratory lyrics to match. Words with dark undertones, relating to modern-day society are pinned to looming, looping beats that are enough to get anyone’s head nodding. He performed tunes from his latest album Don’t Sleep as well as a few new tracks - setting the standard for Nottingham emcees..

At the same time, the upstairs stage donned an act all the way from Melbourne, Australia. Two-piece Alta consist of a bloke pumping out trippy, down tempo beats on the decks and MPC, while his missus belts out this astonishingly multifaceted voice and bounces around with a twisted bass-face, flicking her long, black hair from side to side. They’re completely freaky, absurd, and fucking amazing. A couple of their tunes mirrored feelings of being introduced to Digital Mystikz – a fresh dose of music that somehow manages to speak to every muscle in your body like an old friend. A particular favourite of their tunes is Stepping Out. Get to know.

Origin One

Dub reggae stars Origin One were the last band to perform. Kev, the producer of the sunniest, funkiest sounds in Notts, took his place on the decks while Parisa, Trekkah and Bru-C were interchangeably on vocals, with a special appearance from Percy Dread for absolute tunes Don’t Dweet and SOS. The crew consistently bring with them a massive energy to infect the whole crowd – you can tell they’re all fully loving it on stage - something to be envied by many performers. Their songs are becoming soundtracks for nights out at local gigs in Nottingham, with their lyrics now being sung back to them enthusiastically. Parisa’s rendition of You, Boy had everyone going crazy, belting out the lyrics, while Heartless Dub made its mark as an official anthem, the whole room following Trekkah in singing “She took my soul. She took my heart, she took my soul.” Bru-C, on top of his featured tracks from the new Origin One EP, managed to weave in a few lines from High Day which slotted in nicely.

The cherries to top the night were Mr Sounddhism himself Adam Pickering on the decks upstairs, and Animist hitting them downstairs. Funky jams and lots of stumbling to finish up – which was fair to say that we’d all been on it for twelve hours straight.

Sounddhism’s Fourth Birthday took place at The Bodega on Saturday 2 August

Sounddhism website