A note to Sampology’s booker: Three support acts is overkill.
Sampology was scheduled to appear at 11:45 after a trio of DJ support slots. To be fair, DJs usually have longer sets, but having three in a row leaves the audience beyond impatient.
Out of the audience that was at the Oxford Art Factory to spend time with, there was the following:
-hipster couples making out
-drunk loud misogynists smelling of Beckham fragrance
-too cool for school hip-hop heads
So a huge variety as opposed to their usual hipster audience. Oxford Art Factory treads a thin line between being commercially viable and arty. Occasionally they pull it off, but its poor form to have a pokie machine when there is, two main performance spaces.
First act, The Hump Day Project had a very typical collection of mainstream hip-hop and R&B, including Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny From The Block”. Playing it safe, the sounds all melded into each other, a distinct lack of dynamic build up so it staled after a little while. The act seem to overstay their welcome starting off doing a change over at least half an hour before they officially finished their set.
Joyride followed, dressed like he’d just finished up his day at the office. Joyride’s mixing was strong with song choices of a more obscure taste, but similar to The Hump Day Project, failed to provide a great journey inside his mix. The songs melded so seamlessly together you wondered if it was a long electronic suite. However the music he did play had a more subdued and tender tone in contrast to the more party-oriented opening act.
Bad Ezzy was a charismatic DJ with great variety, but her set staled due to the length. The sheer image she represented was cool, optimistic and ready-to-party. Her mixes fusing in dubstep, breakbeat, drum n bass and rap. Whereas the former supports has no dynamic journey, Bad Ezzy made a mix where pauses were enhanced and therefore creating a good variety and a strong set. The real high point was “212” by Azealia Banks, which finally got the audience ready to start partying.
Sampology emerged from under his mop brimming with charisma, energy, honesty and a highly imaginative set. In a type of psychedelic minefield, Sampology exercised the extremes of the feet, eyes, ears and dreams. His visuals took from everything such as memes, film and anything Bruce Willis has starred in.
Sampology possesses mixing skills like no other, the accompanying visuals totally in sync with his great chowder of hip-hop, rave, film dialogue and basically any music that could be sliced or strained then served in his buzzing sonic cocktail. His claim was to make people “party like it was the end of the world.”
If it was the end of the world… what a way to die – being entertained by an energetic, unique performance with full knowledge of the upcoming Nyan Cat apocalypse.
– Patrick Weyland-Smith
