LEGENDARY beat-maker DJ Format will playing in Ipswich for the first time this weekend.

Wayne Savage

LEGENDARY beat-maker DJ Format will playing in Ipswich for the first time this weekend.

The scratch DJ will be appearing at the Swan, in King Street, alongside his friend and the pub's resident DJ Ben Marr as part of Rhythm Happening on Saturday.

“I used to live in Brighton and DJ-ed there quite a bit. He lived there at the time and I knew him from beat-digging and we hooked up to trade records.

“I've always wanted to get him here,” said the 34-year-old who has been staging semi-regular DJ nights at the venue for nearly two years.

Format - aka Southampton-born Matt Ford - is one of the hottest hip hop tickets on the circuit thanks to his unique blend of hip hop, funk, jazz and alternative music.

He has appeared at Reading and Leeds Festival as well as touring the whole of Europe, North America and Australia and London's famous fabric club.

He's also worked with hip hop groups such as Jurassic 5 and released several solo albums.

“This isn't really pop or stuff you hear in the charts,” said Ben, who'll start the ball rolling from 8pm.

“It's underground to a point but accessible. He plays things that may be from Turkey or Brazil, everything from hip hop to perhaps prog rock.

“It's taking things that shouldn't be together and putting them together, which is one of the things of being a DJ - mixing the selection.”

Entry to the event, from 8pm to 1am, costs �5 and tickets are available from the pub and Blacksheep shop.

“If you're open-minded, like good music, in to hip hop or even if you're not and don't know that much about it, it'll be worth checking out, there'll be some ear expanding sounds,” added Ben.