Stem Cell Donor Drives and Star-Studded DJ Benefit Planned for Sonia Akow from Push Promotion

Sonia-Push

In January we reported that London-based music publicist Sonia Akow, who has worked with countless artists on the underground bass scene, was diagnosed with Leukaemia last November and now urgently needs a bone marrow transplant to save her life. Sonia’s mother died of the same disease a little over a year ago. Two stem cell donor drives have been organized in London, and Sonia is appealing for people aged 16-30 (especially those like Sonia who are of mixed heritage) to spare 20 minutes to register as a donor at one of the events listed below. To join the register (if you are 31-49 and live in the UK you can sign up at http://blood.co.uk; international registries can sign up here) all you need to do is complete a simple application form and provide a saliva sample.

Stem Cell Donor Drive 1
Tuesday 26th Feb 2-8pm
Shepherds Bar – Shepherds Building Charecroft Way, London W14 0da

Stem Cell Donor Drive 2
Saturday 2nd March 11-5pm
The Tabernacle, 35 Powis Square, Ladbroke Grove, London W11 2ay

DJ Mag’s Carl Loben, DJ Deekline, Terry Hooligan, Biff (Functional) and others are organizing a benefit club night for Sonia called Push Play at The Egg in Kings Cross, London, on Thursday, March 28. The benefit will feature performances by Krafty Kuts, Shut Up & Dance, MJ Cole, Dub Pistols, A-Skillz, Freestylers, Deekline & Ed Solo, Atomic Hooligan, Stereo MCs, Ragga Twins and many more. More names are expected to be announced shortly.

Sonia has been a true champion of underground music — breaks, ragga, drum ‘n’ bass, dubstep, electro — over the years. Please help someone from our scene who urgently needs help by going to the stem cell drive or by simply spreading the word.

Sonia Akow from Daniel Crouch on Vimeo.

Album Review: Dub Pistols / ‘Worshipping the Dollar’ (Sunday Best)

★★★★☆

UK bum-rushers Dub Pistols have festival goers ready to greedily eat from the palm of their hand. Wholly set up for the live experience, the instantaneous draw of house, drum ‘n’ bass, hip-hop and dub explodes with ragga hooks, regularly provided by Dan Bowskill, and a raft of scrumptious horn fanfares. It’s safe to say that the big beat tag that made them has long been left behind, though not totally dispensed with given the inclusion of Fatboy Slim cohort Lindy Layton, and the translation from stage to studio doesn’t come up short. With a little education lead by UK scholar Akala speaking up on “West End Story,” and narrative finding Brit-rap legend Rodney P going out of his head on the surging “Mucky Weekend,” its party-friendliness insists on pushing levels into the red. Opening ragga-house rumpus “Alive” has bass that can be heard for miles around, calling out the best of Groove Armada’s “Superstylin” and Funkstar de Luxe’s “Sun is Shining” in one fell swoop.

What the album lacks in outright originality, re-entering the home listening/live event argument again, it’s ever-ready to rev up a foolproof scatter & swing blueprint: clean, uncluttered, piece-by-piece production. More’s the point, the Barry Ashworth-helmed unit have been in the game long enough to know what makes a front row tick, pushing for crowd-surfing to become an Olympic sport so they can bring home gold.
File under: Groove Armada, Rudimental, Monkey Mafia