If you are looking for some good entertainment then look no further than this video of last week’s inaugural Sleepin’ Is Cheatin’ live stream. Seemingly an attempt to subvert the Boiler Room machine, the Leeds SIC Records gang have decided to do it themselves instead. This two hour session starts with K.O. Kane warming things up nicely and is followed by Cleary and MC Scorpz who bring a tangible live energy to the event. After this a series of other acts including Vital Techniques, Synx and Ma?k, amongst others, perform or play exciting, unreleased and released music made by themselves and others in thirty minute segments.
What made this whole two hours stand out for me was the obvious proficiency and experience at live DJing that is demonstrated. Early in K.O. Kane’s set he plays a track which has a sample in it that sounds like someone messing about with the volume faders and before this at the very start there is a repeating warmup loop for two or three minutes. Immediately you know that K.O. Kane is preparing us for live performances that will include warm-ups and mistakes that other streaming platforms might not consider okay. There are plenty of other tricks on display such as the overall volume being reduced at strategic points such as in between acts and to change the vibe. The last DJ, Ma?k (or “Question Mark”) displays some incredible mixing skills, slowing tracks down and cutting in new tracks but all with the intention of building back up again or to change the flow of what is happening. Throughout there is no annoyance displayed at mistakes, only an eagerness to build those into the set or for them to be used in order to set up something forthcoming.