Clubbers: Backstory with Quantic & B+ is a big draw this weekend

Released in 2000, Quantic’s debut 7” single felt typical of the funk and hip-hop sounds emerging in the UK at the time. With its loose groove and brisk, crisp beats, “We Got Soul”, released on London’s Breakin’ Bread label, was your classic slice of instrumental hip-hop. By the time he signed to Brighton’s Tru Thoughts, a label he would remain with for the next two decades, the English DJ, record producer, engineer and multi-instrumentalist, his sound became more sophisticated. His 2001 remix of fellow traveller Bonobo’s trip-hoppy/ chill-out track ‘The Plug’ showed increasing sophistication and his debut album, The 5th Exotic, saw him acquire the weight and gravitas of a DJ Shadow through its crackly, haunted soundscapes, textured instrumentation and dynamic composition.

William Holland, the man behind Quantic and The Quantic Soul Orchestra, would prove to be an exceptionally prolific musician, releasing at least an album a year on average since that debut. His growing interest in more jazzy and Latin funk rhythms really took hold on 2002’s Apricot Morning, the album which incidentally saw him begin his ongoing collaboration with Brighton vocalist Alice Russell. Quantic has insatiably delved into tropical Latin American music, cumbia, salsa and bossa nova, and has extended to African, Indian and Caribbean sounds. His travels were not only made in order to seek out rare vinyl records, but also to seek out the musicians and studio engineers who might have tales to tell about how those records were made.

After making 2006’s I’m Thankful with veteran Philadelphia soul singer Spanky Wilson, Holland moved to Columbia with the intention of just staying there a month or two and ended up there for the best part of a decade, setting up a studio in Cali. It’s a period that saw him dive deep into Afro-Columbian regional music traditions and produced such key albums as Quantic Soul Orchestra’s Tropidélico, Quantic presents Flowering Inferno’s Death of the Revolution, and Tradition in Transition with the ensemble he formed, Combo Bárbaro.

Quantic continued to release critically acclaimed albums such as 2014’s Magnetica, which saw him go deeper into African rhythms, and the sweeping disco and house spirit of 2019’s Atlantic Oscillations. He relocated to Brooklyn a decade ago, setting up a new studio called Salva. Never content to tread familiar paths, his contribution last year to !K7 Records’ DJ-Kicks series consisted entirely of exclusive, original productions sourced by him from his collaborators and friends, reflecting the sounds and cultures that inspired him over his career. It also, he said, reflected him as a DJ.

The night is presented by Dónal Dineen’s Backstory. As a DJ and broadcaster, Dineen requires little introduction. Completing the night is B+. The professional alias of Limerick-born Brian Cross, B+ is best known as a photographer and filmmaker. Having created the cover image for DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing, Cross has also provided album photography for Flying Lotus, J Dilla, Jurassic 5, Company Flow, Madlib, Thundercat, and Kamasi Washington. His collaboration with Quantic goes back to Death of the Revolution, and through film projects like Keepintime and Brasilintime he was able to suggest Brazilian arranger and conductor Arthur Verocai as a collaborator on Tradition in Transition.

In New York, Holland has a bi-monthly residency in a club space called ‘Good Room’, and this event at the Savoy is brought to you by Cork’s own Good Room. It’s a small world!

Dónal Dineen presents Backstory with Quantic & B+ at the Savoy on Friday, August 7. 8.30pm - 1am