Flashback: Hampshire Jam 7

I've been a fan of so-called "Berlin School" electronic music since discovering Tangerine Dream's "Stratosfear", Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre, etc. in my teens. I bought a modular synth a couple of years ago and through the community of modular users/musicians I found that Berlin School is alive and well...largely in the hands of new(er) practitioners. Some of it is really quite stunning.

So last year I decided to make the trek over to England in November to experience an event called Hampshire Jam: a day-long festival dedicated (more or less) to Berlin School EM. The big motivator was the fact that Mark Shreeve's Redshift and Ian Boddy would both be performing. The former representing the height of form for Moog sequencer-driven Berlin School and the latter being an accomplished creator of many forms of electronica (and on that day playing both solo and as part of Redshift).

The event was truly more than I could have imagined. Rather than give a full review, I'll just provide some personal highlights.

I arrived early, while the musicians were setting up. I managed to sneak in and take some snaps. Due to the specialist nature of the musical genre, it's something of a "club". So I didn't stand out TOO much (I'd like to think). I did feel like a real interloper after awhile, though, so I slithered back outside until the doors opened proper.

Sitting awash in live Berlin School by the likes of Free System Projekt for hours was amazing in its own right. I've been a fan of Ian Boddy for some time but seeing him perform live took it to another level. And the Redshift set was a real treat. Not just to see Mark Shreeve, Ian Boddy and Julian Shreeve do their thing live. But because when Mark started having trouble with his big Moog modular they (literally) rocked out to two older MS numbers from the 90's. It's an odd and wonderful treat to see a fully electronic band do its own version of head banging!

Afterward I had the pleasure of meeting both Mark and Ian, who were each quite approachable and pleasant. They did seem to be a bit surprised that an American would come over for the event. Mark asked me if it was worth it, even with the Moog breaking down! When I told him I had a "dotcom" modular, he quipped "That might have worked!!!". Great guy. It's always nice when your "heroes" turn out to be good people on top of being talented.

You can find my photos from the event here.

And here are a few short videos I took: