Just Jack All Day Partaaay - Motion, June 3rd
Posted on: 2017-06-06
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Bristol-based party-throwers Just Jack return to Motion for their latest all-day party, bringing leading lights from the world of house and techno with them.
Just when you thought that their line-ups couldn’t get any better (following the 11th birthday party shenanigans at Motion in February, with Robert Hood, Optimo, Midland and Soichi Terada all on the guest list), Just Jack upped the ante once more when they issued invitations to their All Day Partaaay (sic) in February.
Though 2016 was a fallow year, fond memories of the sun-drenched alfresco bash the June previous, which brought pride of Detroit Omar S. and Marcellus Pittman to the skate park’s exterior, have ensured a place for the Just Jack day-time party within Bristol dance legend.
Thus the crop of 2017, which combines names as large as Motor City Drum Ensemble and Objekt with prodigious talents like Beautiful Swimmers and Shanti Celeste, had a great deal to live up to – even if the stages could not have been more perfectly set for them to do so: in the thrall of sunshine and wafting summer breezes, Motion wears its outdoor resplendence easily and really looks the part. And, as it turns out, it doesn’t sound too bad either.
First port of call is Objekt (above) out round the back of the Marble Factory in the space dubbed ‘the Crane Yard’. An gentle introduction this is not: the young German rolls out an impressive array of thumping techno, keeping it around 125bpm for much of a set which includes a spinning of ‘Up’ by DJ Zozi, in turn laying the foundation for the increasingly austere beats like Lena Willikens’ take on ‘Orutu Run’. Moody, doomy and immensely enjoyable, it is slightly incongruous to the mid-afternoon sunshine - so we nip off to the Carpark, where Shanti Celeste is beginning a stint slightly more weather-appropriate.
Shanti Celeste is someone who knows Bristol very well - and particularly Idle Hands, its coolest record store/label. During the time in which she worked behind the counter (while the shop was still open on Stokes Croft), the Chilean-born producer made enough of an impression for them to release her second single ‘Days Like This’ way back in 2014.
Three years later and in the midst of a rapid ascendancy, Celeste returned to her formative label to release her latest single ‘Make Time’ / ‘Thoughts’, last week. Both tracks mark a return to the warm, deep house of her early endeavours, and it is this sound which informs much of her tenure of the main stage. Sunny, soulful, sumptuous, her set is a highlight of the afternoon.
Once Beautiful Swimmers (above) have taken the Carpark through a suitably gorgeous tour of their crate-dug obscura, headliner Motor City Drum Ensemble takes to the booth. Danilo Plessow’s set is reflective of his extraordinarily worldly record collection, which he draws out as a string of grooving, glittering jewels. Setting the tone early with a couple of horn-laden beauties, including the timeless ‘An Hô’ from Guadeloupe’s finest The Henry-Wenceslad Thenard Band, which well befits the Bristol sunset.
A brief sojourn down a techier avenue allows a nod to countryman Marcel Dettmann and a spin of his 2011 track ‘Deluge’, but the rest of the set marks a much more international affair. He trots out an infinitely movable of ‘Highrise’ by Ghanaian hero Gyedu Blay-Ambolley, which travels into a flirtatiously-teased play of Karizma’s ‘Work It Out’ – a sure-fire contender for track of the summer. And, as daylight wanes, he crashes a mixed-down version of Duane Thamm Jnr’s ‘Jump Trax’ into ‘A Gira’ by Trio Ternura, mingling Portuguese with old school b-boy MCing to the delight of the assembled.
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Dropping a couple of unreleased disco heaters in conclusion, he leaves the party as he found it - and, to be honest, as it as been all day: dancing.
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An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
