In June I went to Bristol to do a Still In A Dream event at Strange Brew. Wandering around, we saw all these posters for jungle raves and drum and bass club nights. I thought, "wow the scene is more pumping still to this day than I could have imagined"
But then I looked closer and they were all for events in the 1990s and 2000s - turned out it was some kind of exhibition, the vintage posters stuck on fences around a venue called Lakota, that used to be the hub of the Bristol jungle scene
The last previous time I was in Bristol must have been 2013, for a Energy Flash re-release event at a record store
I hadn’t noticed then the extent to which Bristol - along with being the second home of jungle and then the second home of dubstep - was also Banksy City
Not that the below are by Banksy but it vibes that vibe
Portland, it reminds me of a bit, Bristol (the dream of the '90s is still alive)…. but with a maritime port vibe (seagulls) …. Also the black music 'n' culture influence.
Fascinating that you compare Bristol to Portland (Oregon I presume). I lived in Portland for 6 or so years and the city seems very UK in vibes rainy or overcast with a lot of industrial zones (perfect for illegal raves) graffiti, and ket. Overall more so bohemian and artsy than ravey but still has an established rave scene
ReplyDeleteThe Bristol visit was on a grey overcast day, with intermittent speckles of rain, which obviously encouraged the Portland connection (the one time I went there it was bucketing down!).
ReplyDeleteAlso a lot of scraggly bearded, bed-hair young white men wandering around.
Contrasting with the crisp look of the young black men on the same streets.
pre-tech bro San Francisco would be another vibe parallel, and it's a port too.
ReplyDeleteThe fog...
I met someone who lives in Portishead who said it wasn't as atmospheric and romantic as the band's music would suggest