Future Breaks Featuring Krafty Kuts - 16.7.2004
Author: Persia
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Krafty's performance with A-Skills was my highlight of Summadayze 2004. They had the ability to get the whole crowd moving and shaking with pop songs merged with more alternative hip hop and breaks tracks. When I heard he was back, barely six months after his last performance, I had my dancing shoes polished and waiting in anticipation.
The night was not only Krafty's but also an event showcasing Australia's strongest breaks and hip-hop contingent, and was also the launch of the 'Futurebreaks' cd. Mixed by our local lads, Keltec and Ben Shepherd, it delivers funky breaks with a strong local lineup on the tracklisting.
I arrived at around 12 and proceeded to have a wander around the Metro - trying to decide what room would provide the best tunes to butter me up for the night. What an absolute dilemma I was met with as every room was awesome. Dan Mangan was launching full assault onto the punters, with a deeper, darker offering of breaks compared to the main room. He set the mood for the room with the 'Youngsters - Smile' track off Sasha's new album; such a haunting, melodic tune. In the front room J-Red was showcasing his turntable skills with lots of scratching and meddling of old skool hip-hop classics and their more modern counterparts. Then there was Ben Shepherd. I raced into the main room when I heard my favorite song of the moment, Freestylers' 'Push Up' being belted out. There I was strutting around in break-pop heaven. I stayed on to watch Shepherd and got to hear some more of my all time favs including Moguai's 'Get On'.
There was a strong crowd turnout and I was glad Metro was the chosen venue. It provides a choice of rooms and plenty of space to dance, move around and watch the crowd from above. The DJ booth is on the stage which means everyone has a great vantage point. I must say though that the rebounding main floor provides a strange experience, it constantly bounces along with the crowd - so if you're on it, you really have no choice but to move and bop around.
It wasn't long before I heard the announcement signalling the arrival of Krafty to the stage. The crowd roared and clapped with excitement. He launched with what is probably his most well known track, due to the recent album of the same name - 'Tricka Technology'. I was thrilled his set was going to last three hours, as it would provide enough time for him to deliver a performance that spanned an unbelievable range of musical genres. My thoughts were correct; we were taken on a journey, from commercial dance tunes (in particular Born Slippy vs. Groove Armanda), 80s hip-hop, Beastie Boys and the queen, Missy Elliott. Suddenly, he assaulted us with something nobody expected- ACDC!! There were more than a few people breaking out the air guitars for that one.
Throughout his set, Krafty mixed up all music genres; he's definitely not simply a breaks DJ. Some people have tried to call his style "new skool hip hop." Trying to explain Krafty's sets through categorisation just does not work - call it whatever you want, I just know it's damn funky and fun to dance to. Tags