Simpel Session and Sugarcane

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend was the Simpel Session in Tallinn. I felt quite guilty going to Tallinn on friday because Kirke still had her final exam to do. I still went as I the guys were coming from Finland and the whole thing had been planned ages ago. Friday was a day of mixed emotions in that way. I felt guilty leaving Kirke on her own but at the same time I was happy to get out of the "madhouse" in Tartu and get a weekend away from all the stress.

When I arrived to Tallinn I headed for the hotel where the guys where staying. We soon headed for the official Simpel Session party which was once again held in Urban House. After getting the first beers we soon discovered that the place was packed with underaged BMX groupies who would do anything for a night with a BMX'er or skateboarder. We got a few good laughs while chatting with these girls and decided to head to the dancefloor. This year the theme of the party was disco. In my opinion the party flopped. The live band played tunes like Copacabana and the Dj's played Beegee's. We felt like we were on a cruise to Sweden. Not that there's anything wrong with Beegees and Disco but in a party full of skaters and bikers it wasn't going to work. We headed to Tommi's after 2am with a quick stop at Hesburger. There I had a funny conversation with this beautiful girl who tried very hard to cut in front of the line. I took it easy and despite her line-cutting attempts she ended up laughing at herself and I got my order in. We also met Brandon Turner (pro-skater) who was shitfaced and tried to buy ketchup and only ketchup from Hesburger. My friend B took a photo with him which turned out really good. A wasted black guy and a pale wasted finnish guy in the same photo is always good. After Hes we took a cab to Tommi's place and crashed.

Around 10.30 am on sunday we got up and headed to the venue. Got beers, watched skateboarding and had some laughs. As the other guys headed to town I stayed to watch the BMX qualifiers. After some time I also headed to town, got some drinks and went to the hotel where some of the guys were staying. After sinking the drinks we had and the guys doing their best at getting the fire alarm turned on we headed for Beer House. We ate and drank well and finally went to Hollywood where the second Simpel Session was held. This time the party was good. The place was packed, the DJ's killed it and finally around 5.30am after some guys drink fell on my t-shirt we decided to call it a night. E picked up a finnish chick and went to her hotel for the night and we went to Tommi's again.

I woke up in the morning still drunk which was good because I didn't feel very shitty. Once again we headed to Saku Suurhall and had a day full of good skateboarding. M and R had reached the semifinals on saturday so we cheered them on but unfortunately they both missed the finals. No wonder though as they where also drinking til 6am. After the finals we went to Tommi's and as the guys went to Popular for some shisha I took a bus back to Tartu. By this time the hangover had already kicked in and it lasted for a good two days.

On monday we got the news that Kirke passed her exam and that she still has a chance to reach the next semester. This was a big releaf. The rest of the week passed with me playing records and hanging out with Kirke. I felt pretty shitty the whole week and had a small cold of some sort. The finale of the week was still ahead though. I was to play at Sugarcane for the first time. I was excited about it as I had wanted to play reggae and dancehall for a while now in Tartu.

The party didn't turn out to be what I expected. First of all I had to play with CD's which I had never done before. This affected the quality of my mixing but later on I started to get a hang of it. I played the warm-up set which was followed by a very weird roots reggae/tropical house/electro set. By this time most of the people who I knew at the party came to me and said "I though this was a reggae party not an electro party". I couldn't have agreed more but this was only the beginning. This set was followed by hardcore Dubstep, Drum n Bass and Jungle. I got to play again at 3.30am and by that time everybody had forgotten that this should have been a reggae party. I stuck to my plan and played dancehall and soca. I wasn't very satisfied with my set though as in the beginning I didn't notice that they had changed the channels where the cd players were and the crossfader settings were different too. This resulted in a few shitty mixes but soon I got the hang of it. My final set was only 30minutes long so I didn't get much stuffed into it but it was decent I guess. By this time I was already sick of dubstep so we headed home. The party turned out to be a electro/dubstep/drum n bass party and because of this I felt that I didn't really fit in. It was a good dubstep party though but not what I expected. Well hopefully there will be a next time and hopefully I'll get to play longer sets. All in all it was a good experience and it introduced me to a wider audience. My soundcloud page has gotten over 120 plays and 30 downloads this week so I'm happy.

That wraps it up. I won't continue this marathon post anymore but I will post my latest mix here though. The best tunes in Reggae and Dancehall in 2010. Enjoy and I'll continue my thoughts tomorrow maybe!

Twenty-ten inna Jamaica Mix by Mängi/Masu