This Coreskills was held at The Bongo Club in Edinburgh and provided a better venue than the Nektar Bar previously. This time they had more acts and more time to perform.

Once again hosted by IQ (Immense & Quest) they introduced the first act Employee of the Month who were the headliners but had a previous engagement so started the night with a bang. This alternative Jazz band from Edinburgh were a delight to listen too and a good edition to the line up. Coreskills, considered a hip-hop night, has a great reputation for introducing different types of acts at shows in which the crowd may not necessary be familiar with. The guitar work from Sam is amazing to watch.

We were then treated to Coreskills regulars The Remedies who once again treated the ears of the crowd with tracks 'New Ways' and 'In Time'. I can not wait until these guy's come out with a long player. We have waited too long!!! Near the end of their set Northern called out to any MC's to freestyle which a handful accepted.

Project Mayhem then came to the stage with Spee 69 and Boomstick producing some top quality tracks like 'Flee The Scene'. This is the first time I have caught these guys live and I will be looking out for future gigs as I was impressed.

Next up we had Das Contras who kept the Jazz flowing with a funk twist. This six-piece from Fife combined Latin, reggae, jazz and funk to create an engaging set that helped the beer go down more smoothly. If your into bands like Ozomatli then Das Contras will not disappoint.

Lost property (formally Dead or Alive) then staggered on stage. Verse and Krafty once again took the long bus journey from Inverness to perform tonight and had a few drinks along the way. I will admit to being a little worried that the guy's would not be sober enough to perform but they snapped into action and did not disappoint. Performing some new material and freestyling over beats supplied by DJ Vadim both MC's stomped around the stage with the usual energy they bring.

Quest and Hyperstyles then treated us to some excellent beat boxing. I have not seen Hyperstyles since his days at Un-plugged with the Champaign Brothers around 10 years ago (showing my age) and I have to say, he was good then but now... amazing. I have never heard beats come out so fast of a persons mouth in my life. Outstanding. This provided a great end to the gig but the fun did not stop there.

Thirtynine hosted the afterparty upstairs for another couple of hours while outside 'Jumpoff' style battling was going on. A mixture of good, bad and the ugly was on show but in the whole a lot of fun to watch. Even if some passers by where offended!

The only thing I was disappointed in about tonight was that more people did not show up. A mix up with the printers of the flyers did not help this and if this can get sorted out for next time then all would be in for a treat! Get your ass down to a Coreskills night and be ready for a top quality night.

Review by Chris Torres

You can view photos of the night in our gallery section.

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