In its too-brief run (2012-2018), London’s Total Refreshment Centre made an indelible impact on the music community of the city. Housed in a converted factory in Hackney that once operated as a Caribbean social club, the venue and recording studio was intrinsically tied to the city’s cultural past; as such, it was the ideal home to nurture the city’s burgeoning jazz renaissance and to provide a space where the likes of Shabaka Hutchings and Nubya Garcia could connect with the past while creating their sounds of the future. This spring, music journalist and RBMA lecture host Emma Warren released (via her own publishing platform, Sweet Machine) her book centered on the history of this storied venue, Make Some Space: Tuning Into Total Refreshment Centre. On today’s episode, we’ll hear a conversation between Warren and Peak Time correspondent Lauren Martin about Warren’s early encounters with TRC, the cultural significance of the opening and closing of such spaces and some of her favorite memories. And, in honor of Soundsystem week on RBMA Daily, Vivian speaks with Damien Ashton of Brooklyn soundsystem and record label, Dub-Stuy.

Originally broadcast on Red Bull Radio on May 6th 2019

Peak Time with Emma Warren On Total Refreshment Centre

Writer and radio host for Red Bull Music Academy and Red Bull Radio. A selection of work for Red Bull Radio: programming for Choice Mix series, hosted live shows (Roll Call) hosted editorial shows (Counter Intelligence, Top Flight, First Floor, Peak Time), long-form artist interviews (Couch Wisdom, Fireside Chat), artist-led playlist shows (Headphone Highlights), more. If you'd like to hear any specific work pre-2017 from Red Bull Radio, please get in touch.