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[ClaireFu]

MIXTAPE PRESENTS CAGEDBABY // FRIDAY 30TH JANUARY // SNAFU



Cagedbaby aren’t babies. Neither do they live in a cage. But they do make quite splendid electro-synth-pop-dance tunes and they’re coming, via those record things...

Tom Gandey aka Cagedbaby has many guises but is most known for his seminal 2006 Album ‘Will See You Now’ released on Southern Fried Records. This was Post punk disco Psychedelia at its finest, sexy avant-garde synth pop with slickly produced love songs that popped out the speaker with a martini in its hand. Like Neil Tennant on Acid Cagedbaby’s Bowie tinged vocals echo Hutchence in his prime & Prince’s funk meeting Becks humour in a back alley fistfight in Downtown 80’s New York whilst Psycho killer hums out of the boom box. Gandey does everything himself in the studio. A classically trained pianist and self confessed analogue synth head collecting vintage gear, Gandey’s wide musical influence shows in his unique productions, bringing the solo back from Toto and nodding to Pink Floyd, a darkly intelligent sonic tour de force. Pleasingly, the hot fuss began to grow and Gandey took a live act on the Road and notched up many fans including the Chemical brothers who invited Cagedbaby to support them on tour. This made him a firm festival favourite (gaining the nickname ‘Rave Mears’ among his friends), playing everywhere from the Big Day Out with Soulwax and LCD, to the Fuji Rock Festival with the Presets and the main stage at Creamfields to wide acclaim. Alongside the live shows, Cagedbaby’s DJ sets became stuff of legend. Happily embracing technology Tom was one of the first to use Ableton to its full potential giving him an early lead and signature style to his explosive DJ sets, always impeccably sequenced, layering up to 5 tracks at a time, crafting pace and systematically delivering monstrous builds, spaced out chordal drops and hair raising peaks noisily exploring techno, electro, new rave and even breaks busting genres along the way sometimes even playing keyboards at the same time. The DJ sets imbibe a mixture of his own productions as well as heavy edits of current dance-floor favourites and are designed for the colourful party set that always frequent his gigs. Touring Japan with Fatboy Slim led to him playing to over 100 audiences in 2007 including Glastonbury, Space, Bestival and Rockness as well as China, Seoul, Dubai and frequenting the Far East. He has also been busy working on DJ compilations including the fantastic Mighty Dub Katz vs Cagedbaby release on Southern Fried Records, and covermounts for DJ mag. Expertly balancing seemingly world domination as a DJ, Tom has been writing, remixing and producing everyone from Tracey Thorn to Shirley Bassey, David Byrne to the Presets, and working with good friends like Fatboy Slim and Radioslave. Drawing on all these influences and tapping into what he’s learned and experienced, he has been quietly crafting and finishing the second album and has already formed a great new band to tour with. If you were lucky enough to see his first gig containing the new material, in his hometown of Brighton at favourite club ‘Audio’ you would have seen him striding on stage with a naughty grin and a glint in his eyeliner, suited and booted like Gary Numan. “We’re Cagedbaby, it’s been a while, but we’re back…”, Tom confidently announces, never happier than when on stage. And so opens the psychedelic soultrain experience that is Cagedbaby. Theres hints of both Leftfield and Digitalism in there, but also shades of Human League and T-Rex and it’s this melting pot that makes Cagedbaby what he is. Gandey has succeeded in bridging the gap between DJ and band, artist and producer, singer & songwriter, remixer and musical director seemingly without it going to his head. 2009 is set to be another big year for the baby.

CAGEDBABY
SNAFU

EARLY BIRD TICKETS £4 AVAILABLE NOW HERE, and at Earl of Sandwich, Attic, One-Up, Snafu and Five in the coming days.
MEMBERS £3
DOOR PRICE £4 B4 12AM / £6 AFTER