A Quarantune pack from Slamboree featuring 40 tracks – including unreleased material and exclusive new goodies.
At a time like this where we have had loads of gigs cancelled we are just pulling our resources to make ends meet and we would really appreciate your love and support – Slamboree
Picture the scene. It’s a festival on the banks of the River Wye near Rhayader. Landed Festival to be precise. It’s really early in the season. February. Well, probably April actually, but it felt like February cos it was snowing.
All the live music had finished and everyone was heading towards either the massive fire or the tent where Mike Freear was about to do a DJ set. I felt more drawn to the fire, I’m not really into watching someone else play records, but I thought I would give him a chance for five minutes.
Within five minutes the collective grin that was wrapped around the crowd was cracking this miserable bastard’s face and within ten minutes I was even dancing uncontrollably. The boy Freear had the crowd in the palm of his hands, for an hour or so we forgot how cold it was, we sweated, we grooved, we smiled and we laughed.
This was my introduction to the world of Mike Freear and I have made a point of paying attention to his every move ever since. And do you know what? He has not put a foot wrong since. At least not in terms of releases. I know, cos I’ve been watching.
As well as doing his own stuff Mike is an integral part of Slamboree.
In their own words
Slamboree has manifested itself in many different guises over the years to form an anarchic pack of revolutionary… performers and musicians that have poured their hearts, energy and pure insanity into a unique and extravagant stage experience unlike anything you will have seen before. You’ll hear them coming and they’re coming in full force.
If you want to know more, there is a cracking BBC documentary about them linked below.
But here, we have the Amazing ‘Long Game’ album, which on its own is worth the asking price, but we also get thrown in another twenty six juicy remixes and unreleased gems to keep you dancing around your home whilst on lock down.
The ‘Long Game’ was first released in 2018 after several years of perfecting and tweaking. It was written and produced with the amazing Slamboree live show in mind, which is a multi-media circus like show that attacks all of your senses.
But even if you haven’t seen the live show, this album is an invigorating and uplifting masterpiece that spins around the dancefloor taking in electro-swing, big beat, drum ‘n bass, Balkan beats, funk and all points between. It is a masterclass in how to not get stuck in a pigeonhole.
There is just the right mix of vocal samples and vocal contributions from the Slamboree crew, proving they are not just pretty faces.
Several guest drop by such as Beans on Toast, who explains the ‘Reasons Why I dance’ and the Reverend Captain Liability Eden gets all philosophical for ‘My Game My Rules’. “If the word’s is not playing your kind of music, then sing your own song”. Quite.
Then we get the extra stuff. A mixture of original Slabmoree tunes remixed by others, remixed by Freear and other people’s tunes remixed by Slamboree.
The ‘Zorba Remix’ takes the classic Greek dance track and dirtys it up with a big beat treatment, whilst. ‘Prokofiev’ takes the Russian composer’s version of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and gives it a drum and bass reboot.
Four versions of ‘Big Love’ and five versions of ‘Big Bada Boomtown’ might sound excessive, but they all stand on their own two feet and are worth a listen
There are forty tracks, I’ll be here all night telling you about them all, just take my word, it’s all killer, no filler. Guaranteed to have you dancing around your abode during your isolation and no matter how long we are locked down for, you won’t get bored of it.
But get in there now and grab it, cos it is a ‘limited edition’ and once the pubs open back up, it will be taken down.
Keep an eye on the Bandcamp page though, with all the Slamboree gigs cancelled for the foreseeable – you can be sure he is stuck in his bedroom making more unmissable tuneage. And we can tell you before they have even been written, they will be ace.