Mr Scruff @ Koko - 24/10/09

I've seen Mr. Scruff various times around the country (from Manchester to Wales, Wiltshire to Cambridge) and his gigs have varied considerably (from awesome to average). His selection of music from the world of funk, hip hop, latin, ska, electro and beyond is always spot on, with the soundsystem and venue (*ahem* The Junction) being the only real reason for an auditory let-down.



This was fortunately not to be at Koko. Reknowned venue it is, the bass came thick and heavy into the ears and got even those up on highest balconies getting their boogie on.
He does great build ups to heavy basslines and knows exactly how to make his audience move, even if what he's doing technically is pretty simple. Sometimes simplicity is exactly what you need for a knees up. He avoided the temptation to play 'the hits' - Get A Move On and Fish spring to mind. Instead he played a lot of new and exciting stuff off Ninja Tuna and Bonus Bait. This barely mattered at all as Scruff's selection will make you dance whether you know the tune or not

I've sometimes found Andy's animations to be irritating and twee, especially in its efforts to be 'oh so random' with pictures of pies and fish. This seemed to have been toned down in comparison to the other gigs and the animations updated a little to incorporate some pretty amusing saxophone-wielding characters, funky spinning records and other music-related visual delights.



Scruff has worked hard to merchandise himself - his tea stand is now something of a legend - but the need to sell felt a lot more toned down than on previous occassions. I was happy to see that they were giving away free online mp3s of the night (you simply have to input a code onto his website) and were selling a lot more actual music (as opposed to badges/bags/tshirts) that I remember.

As far as the crowd itself went, the place was packed. It was great to see such a varied age range dancing together - scruff certainly had a broad appeal. The number of people completely off their heads was pretty impressive, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves an awful lot. His bass and brass-heavy beats kept the place shaking on down so much so that we had to leave the dancefloor for a breather. Andy Scruff truly minced it.