Good Lord. How did we get to this time of year again so damn quickly? As much as I’d like to ponder that question, I don’t have time…That’s right, next weekend sees the Blunt crew taking to the stage for our 5th year at the Rhythms Of The World festival with our Urban Picnic Sounds Project.

For those of you that know the score, it’s gonna be more of the same, which is no bad thing! – For those of you that don’t, well, Rhythms Of The World is the largest free world music festival in Europe, attracting over 30,000 people, hundreds of bands and solo artists from all over the globe, and your favourite Blunters run the 3rd biggest (and the only DJ) stage at the event, with our Urban Picnic Sounds event.

Basically, we set up a whopping big sound system in a Victorian bandstand, in an ornamental park, right in the heart of this 2 day festival in Hitchin, Hertforshire. Then we take it upon ourselves to play a laid-back, quality mix, of reggae, funk, soul, electronica, hip hop, cinema scores, and anything else we see fit to allow the assembled throng to chill and catch some rays.

The whole setup costs you, the punter, absolutely nothing, and its runs for 2 days over the 14th and 15th of July (12-8 Sat, 12-6 Sun). As per form, we’ve got some special guests playing alongside the Blunt Beats family over the weekend. Sets this year from hip hop maestro Prolifik (once again), fresh back on these shores form Barcelona. It’s good to have you back, my man…and really looking forward to hearing you do your thing once again for the people. You can catch a recent J Dilla tribute mix from Prolifik here, to give you some idea of what I’m talking about.

Joining DJ Prolifik will be Blunt cohort Adam Williams. You may have caught Adam playing on our live radio show in the last “Destination Midnight” series. Needless to say, it was quality stuff, and he’ll be making his debut at UPS this year. Well worth a check, I can’t wait to hear what he’s gonna drop on the day. Another Dj debut this year comes from reggae veteran Swainy Roots Souljah from Solution Sounds. Sweets roots vibes on tap, for sure!

Of course, we’re digging through the crates, scratching our heads, dancing about, and selecting out tunes here at Blunt Manor. I won’t give too much away, but I will just say that, yet again, the tracks being chosen for this session are the cream. The best. The soundtrack to a lazy weekend in the sunshine with a few hundred (well, more like thousand) close friends.

There really is no excuse not to make this one, and those of you that have been before won’t miss it. I’m sure of that.

For those of you that are out of the country/in prison/lacking legs or wheelchair tyres/or are just too damn lazy, we’ll be recording the entire 14 hours of this musical marathon. Rest assured, this will be one for the archives for some time to come. There’ll be lots of filming and photography going on of our Blunted mugs, too, so we’ll keep you posted with the outcome of that.

Next weeks radio show will be something of a showcase for some of the music we’ll be getting through at Urban Picnic Sounds, so be prepared for some serious chill, and tapping feet with wide grins. You have been warned!

Right. Enough of this. I’ve still got several crates of tunes to look through to get my shit together for this!

We’ll see you there