If you’re heading to fabric get your tickets here!

My God this summer is absolutely flying through. We’re already half way through yet I can’t even remember the summer beginning. We’ve literally been bitch slapped with great weather, festivals in parks, outdoor parties and for those lucky enough, flights to exotic places. Still dizzy from being sucker punched, here’s the run down for this weekend…

Friday

Ekstravaganza at Corsica Studios (Buy Tickets)

The Scandinavian returns to our shores for the fifth instalment of his Ekstravaganza, swapping the saunas and nudity of Norway for the gritty surrounds of South London’s Elephant and Castle. This Friday looks to be the biggest of them yet. Obviously Prins Thomas will be dropping some of his Norwegian branded cosmic disco, but alongside him the lusciously deep Mole will be wowing crowds with his live skills. Whilst in room 2 the gritty Parisian Ivan Smagghe will be stunning folk with his electronic weapons alongside Sean Johnston of Hardway Brother’s fame.  If you get down there before 10pm in you can get in for a fiver and sample the delights of the pre party BBQ with the Discosessions. That’s a family evening out right there.

Warm at Plastic (info)

If being south of the river is against your religion then fret not Hackney Council have just let Plastic People open its doors  again. Hazzar I hear you say? Hazzar indeed. For opening night they’ve got their familiar friends Warm to resume their brilliant residency. And for the headliner, who better than Berlin’s Prosumer to… erm… “warm” the place up for them. Delightful news and great to see the place back.

Saturday

T-Bar Closing Party at Scrutton Street Warehouse (Buy Tickets)

The other month it seemed like London was wheezing under the pressure of a club closure epidemic. One of the victims was T-Bar, already a bit sickly when it moved venues, it never really got back to its glory days and in June it finally bit the dust. We hope that T-Bar has gone to that happy place in the sky where the licensing laws are free, there are no sound restrictions and the punters are reliable and never ending. But apart from the wonky K memories and the countless mid week sick days what have we got left? Can’t remember? Well this Saturday is T-Bar’s wake to celebrate the once London weekday linchpin. Boston duo Soul Clap along with two brilliant young talents Floating Points and Nicholas Jaar will drop the soundtrack to this one last hoorah at the Scrutton Street Warehouse as people reminisce about the funny things T-Bar used to do. Ahhhh remember that time when T Bar opened on Monday night and Michael Mayer played that gut wrenching bass…ahhh yeahh… Rest In Peace

Sunday

Kubicle Birthday Marathon (info)

Blatant church dodgers Kubicle celebrate five years of sunday sin this weekend. From their humble beginnings at Public Life in 2005 they return to the scene of the crime to begin their 21 hour clubbing marathon. From Sunday morning till Monday morning the Kubicle rabble will transcend three venues across London’s east end. They’ll hope from Public Life to the Brickhouse on Brick Lane for Sunday afternoon before rounding off the night at Metropolis in Hackney. Across the three venues will see all Kubicle’s favorite people make an appearance from Dan Ghenacia, Jamie Jones, DJ THREE, Craig Richards and Clive Henry to Antonio De Angelis, FB Julian, Lee Foss, Derren’s Disco and jozif. Its going to be huge. You might need to take Monday off work though.

There it is… GET INVOLVED

A few bits and bobs going on this weekend with the big elephant in the room being the Lovebox weekender. Now extended to three days featuring the likes of Roxy Music, Grace Jones, Hot Chip, Hercules and Love Affair to name a few stellar names. Saturday looks like a hot tip with Roxy Music headlining the bill along with Mark Ronson. The terribly named Relentless Energy Stage hosts a solid line up consisting of Bookashade, Jesse Rose, Henrik Schwarz and personal favourite Dixon whilst Grandmaster Flash rounds off the Rizla arena on a old skool hip hop tip. A few tickets are left at Ticketmaster here.

On the Sunday Grace Jones will impose her diva stylings on the crowd whilst Hot Chip will be doing their thing in a more nerdy way. From the dancey side of things, Kubicle will be warming up for their birthday marathon with all their favourite DJs from Craig Richards and Jamie Jones to Lee Foss, Clive Henry and Lee Curtiss. Horse Meat Disco and Disco Bloodbath will be taking over the seedy derelict hotel of the NYC Downlow fresh from its outing at Glasto for a colossus disco hoedown. It is quite the temporary structure with a taxi crashing through the roof, plus what happens inside is so camp that your retinas will never be the same again. I’m not sure how the king of middle class bling – Westwood will handle the campness when he plays on the Saturday. Also the big gay bear from Chicago Derrick Carter will be in the house, or more so the Rizla arena with Larry Heard and the Hot Chip DJs. Tickets for Sunday are also still available but going quick at Ticketmaster here.

You can also get the both days for a cool £80 here.

All this daytime festivallng also means there will be swarms of people lost for things to do in the evening. Luckily though there are also swarms of DJs playing at Lovebox also lost for things to do. So conveniently there’s a few after parties happening to mop up the stragglers. Saturday sees Magic & Medicine make use of Dixon and the Bocking Street warehouse for a little post Lovebox shindig. I say little but probably mean massive as the pimp Seth Troxler and The Revenge will be joining in. Tickets are available from Ticketweb here.

On the Sunday Kubicle will be on after party duties with their entire Lovebox line-up heading back to Metropolis in Hackney to play eclectic sets to an intimate crowd of 500 jobless souls. With Craig Richards, Jamie Jones and Clive Henry on the bill its even worth quitting your job to be there.

If you’re not in the Loveboxing mood then A Night With… Cassy might be for you. The Berlinette will be smashing the back doors out of The Basement in Hoxton to a small and dedicated crowd. The atmosphere will no doubt be reaching fever point for this quality DJ. Tickets still going at RA here.

Finally on the Sunday Bread and Butter will be doing a day party at Light Bar’s roof terrace. Yep, turns out they’ve got a roof terrace… Ryan Crosson of wolf+lamb/M_nus/Wagon Repair fame will be keeping the rain at bay with house and techno records. Tickets available at RA here.

Not a bad weekend all in all. Lap it up, we’re half way through the summer.

Feel free to use it, point to it, shove it in the face of unsuspecting locals or taxi drivers, or even show off to other uninformed clubbers who aren’t as touristy to bring a map.

Get the whole map here.

View earPIPE’s Off Sonar Disco Map in a larger map

Update – Check out the earPIPE Sonar Disco Map Here.

This weekend Barcelona becomes the centre of attention as Sonar festival rolls into town. The festival itself is a jam packed 3 days and 2 nights of music and art featuring the likes of Plastikman, The Chemical Brothers and Roxy Music. However its not just the festival that garners all the attention, as for the same weekend Barcelona turns into a thriving party city with what are now known as the Off Sonar parties. This year we’re spoilt for choice in terms of party venues. We’ve got parties on beaches, on rooftops, on terraces, on boats and at secret villas. There’s even a few parties happening in them there nightclubs. There’s a lot to pick from so here’s what we think is looking pretty hot for the weekend.

Wednesday

Ovum at Boulevard Culture Club (Tickets)

If you’re arriving in the city before the festival starts, then you can start your sleepless campaign from Wednesday night. Josh Wink takes over Boulevard Culture Club with friends Shlomi Aber, David Squaillace and Luca Bacchetti from his Ovum record label. The clubs conveniently located on La Ramblas, so there’s no hassle in getting there.

Warehoused  at Mephistos (Tickets)

Warehoused is a new night for Off Sonar and it opens at Mephistos, a heavy metal club in Barcelona. So i’m not sure what the venue has to offer, but the line up looks pretty solid with Konrad Black and Stimming heading the bill. Not bad to warm things up for Wednesday night.

Thursday

RA by Day at Hotel Diagonal (info)

RA host one of the parties of the weekend. They’ll be getting things into motion with their Thursday daytime party at the beautiful Hotel Diagonal rooftop pool. A minor distraction from the views will be the stunning lineup they’ve got planned – Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Jesse Rose and Eric Duncan from Rub n Tug!! All for free!! But before you dust off you deck shoes and rolled up denim cut offs, entry to the party is by invite only. So you either need to know someone who knows someone, or you might have been one of the lucky 50 that won tickets.

Desolat Experience at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Sub Club at BeCool (Tickets)

Moon Harbour at Discotechque Club (Tickets)

Moon Harbour will be celebrating ten years with its sister label Cargo at the imaginatively named Discotheque Club. Matthias Tanzmann, Martinez, Boris Werner and Ekkohaus will be playing the labels’ blend of bumpy techno and house.

Friday

Watergate and Beatport Secret Villa Party (info)

Hot Natured at W Barcelona Hotel (info)

BPitch Beach Party at Playa de El Prat (info)

Cocoon at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Kompakt at Nitsa (info)

Kompakt have a pretty tasty party at Nitsa. You’ll be able to catch Michael Mayer, if you weren’t invited to the RA party, as well as Superpitcher, Gui Boratto and DJ Koze. That’s a huge lineup to celebrate 10 years of Off Sonar parties.

Circus Company at Oshum (info)

Saturday

Mobilee Rooftop Party at Hotel Diagonal (info)

BPitch Control Boat Party (Tickets)

Cadenza at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Crosstown Rebels at Oshum (info)

If you’re still alive then Secretsundaze will be taking up its traditional position at La Terrazza. They’ll be out in the picnic area from 5pm and then in the usual club from midnight. For music, they’ve got the cream of their DJ agency from Patrice Scott, The Mole, Trus’me, Ethyl, Flori and of course the two residents Jamie and Giles. Great club, great tunes, always a must on the Sonar weekend.

Minus Beach Party at Playa de El Prat (info)

If you fancy something with a rougher edge, then Minus will be for you. They’re throwing their beach party at Chiringuito Calamar out by the airport and have got everyone off the label to get involved, from Marco Carola, Troy Pierce and Heartthrob to Ambivalent, Fabrizio Maurizi and Hobo. They also say they’ve got some special guests, which means its highly likely the two Minus names not on the line-up but are playing at Sonar will probably turn up for a few tunes!

Playkula & Wilde Boat Party (Tickets)

Two of Berlin’s biggest DJ agencies join forces to set sail for the high seas. Tiefschwarz, MANDY, Pig & Dan, Thomas Schumacher, Matt Tolfrey, Heidi and INXEC will be entertaining a packed catamaran of ravers finding their sea legs after a weekend of fun. Let’s hope the seas aren’t too rough.

Richie Hawtin at Shake It! – Village Underground (Buy Tickets)

1^st July is Canada day where all Canadian’s celebrate their national heritage by downing bottles of maple syrup and having fights on ice with hockey sticks. This year the global celebrations have been ramped up. In London, Canadians will be taking over Trafalgar Square for a day of hockey and maple syrup, but in between these important activities will be performances from some of Canada’s most prolific performers. Unfortunately the globally renowned wailer to sinking ships Celine Dion won’t be present, nor will the “Man I Feel Like A Woman” MILF Shania Twain. So it’s down to Canada’s 3^rd biggest export Richie Hawtin to represent the musical achievement of a nation. He’ll be playing his set from 5:40pm before the live music concert begins at 6:00pm. In his mammoth 20 minute set we can expect an incredible journey stretching out across 2 or maybe 3 records.

But fear not, Layo and Bushwacka thought it would be a waste having Richie over for 20 minutes. So they’ve got him to play an impromptu set at Shake It that same night. They’ll be starting the weekend early in the industrial surroundings of Village Underground, which was the scene for recent Secretsundaze shenanigans. We’d imagine this is worth the Friday “sickie” as its pure undiluted Hawtin, no Minus, no Contakt, Just Richie.

Get you tickets before they fly out the door from TICKETWEB.

It’s a bit late in the day for a weekend run down with it being Friday and all.. So I’m just gonna blast through what’s on this weekend.

Friday

Innervisions at CAMP (info)
Tonight is sure to be a road block at the City Arts and Music Project as Innervisions rolls into town with Dixon and Ame. That’s going to be huge.

Unwind at East Village (info)
If you can’t get in at CAMP, then head down the road to East Village. Baaz, Le Loup and Simon Lee of Faze Action fame will be cosmically easing you into the weekend.

Deadly Rhythm Vs Hot Flush at Plan B (info)
For something a bit grittier, Deadly Rhythm go head to head with Hot Flush Recordings at Plan B. Scuba, Appleblim and Joy Orbison litter their line-up. And its only eight bucks.

Saturday

Bread and Butter Day Party at Light Bar (info)
We’re liking the sound of the Bread and Butter party at Light Bar. They’re in the garden, weather permitting, all day Saturday with the brilliant Argy at the helm. Lets hope its not to damp as that could be a corker.

Weatherhall, Slam, Butane Todd Terji at Fabric (tickets)
They’re open for business as usual. They’ll be fine, but they need your support through these hard times. Get yourself down this weekend!

Mulletover 5 Years of Mobilee (info)
Mobilee are only five years old? I swear they’ve been around for longer? Anja Schneider and Sebo K two Mulletover regulars return to the Shoreditch Hearn Street Car Park for a Mobilee knees up.

Sunday

Secretsundaze at RichMix
The new form Secretsundaze are now doing secret Sunday parties. So this is a secret, don’t tell anyone else. This Sunday they’re in the loft at RichMix on Bethnal Green Road. Giles and James will be joined by the excellent Mole and Brawther . It’s a paying guestlist only entry so get your names to guestlist@secretsundaze.net.

Ketoloco at Light Bar (info)
Light Bar is becoming a bit of a bank holiday epicentre this weekend. Those lads from a Leeds basement have moved things above board and into the sun light. Joining the Ketoloco DJs will be Julien Chaptal, Shonky, Alex Niggemann and Craig Torrance. Big for a Sunday afternoon. Tickets are sold out so get your queuing shoes on.

Move D at Horse and Groom (info)
The other terrace option is down the road at the Horse and Groom. The brilliant Move D will be joining the Warm and Discovery resident DJs for what will hopefully be a sunny day.

Well we’re on the verge of another momentous bank holiday weekend where the usual rule book goes out the window and things are pushed that extra mile. Once again, Friday and Saturday are looking alright, but those promoters have decided to pack in all the exciting stuff on the Sunday… Here are our picks…

Friday

Buzzin Fly at Plastic People (info)

They haven’t been killed off by Hackney council just yet! So the good times are still rolling. Ben Watt has brought in an absolute institution for his Buzzin Fly night. He’s bloody got Charles Webster to spin a few tracks in the grimy basement, he actually wrote the book on DJing. Tickets are gone, so get there early to queue up!

Heroes and Villains Warehouse Party (Buy Tickets)

Those fellas that keep Thursdays interesting down at the Hoxton Pony upscale massively this weekend with a full blown warehouse party on Bocking Street in Hackney. Wagon Repairers Konrad Black and Dinky go head to head with the Nottingham boys Matt Tolfrey and INXEC from Leftroom Records. Not a bad way to start a weekend eh?

Saturday

Fabric On & On… & On (Buy Tickets)

Technically you could start your Sunday rave up on Saturday if you head to fabric as the 30 hour party is back once again. This time on a convenient bank holiday weekend, so there’s no need to feel guilty about still being there at 5am Monday morning. The line up is a lot stronger than last time too with folk like Sasha, Carl Craig, Stacey Pullen, Seth Troxler, Reboot and Trus Me heading up things. The usual rules apply when figuring out when to turn up…

Magic and Medicine at CAMP (Buy Tickets)

Magic and Medicine bring over one of the DFA originals Juan Maclean to promote his new DJ Kicks mix CD. The guy has been in and out of the New York scene for over a couple of decades, so expect a lesson in disco, deep house and techno. The Horse Meat Disco and Allez Allez crews give some humble support. Also if you’re in town earlier that day, Juan is gonna be doing a little cameo at Phonica Records too.

Prologue at East Village (Buy Tickets)

Prologue stick to their guns this weekend as their much frequented guest DJ Norman Jay returns to dish out some good times. He’s sure to surprise you with some gems that you wouldn’t normally here him play at top a double decker bus. He’ll be joined by the ever faithful resident Paul Louth.

Sunday

Eastern Electrics (Buy Tickets)

If you haven’t heard by now then you’re too late. Eastern Electrics have a truly monstrous line up for the Sunday. A three pronged attack by BLOC, Disco Bloodbath and Mulletover brings Ellen Allien, Ivan Smagghe and Tim Paris as It’s a Fine Line, DJ Sneak, Omar S, Shackleton, Andre Galluzi and Still Going from DFA. They’re spread across three rooms in the usual Suffolk Street Car Park. The tickets have nearly run out so get them as soon as possible.

Secretsundaze @ TBA

For their 9th London summer season Secretsundaze have decided to go back to their roots which made them what they are today. So for us this means they’re throwing a party somewhere in London on Sunday…That’s about all anyone knows at the moment. Although we are hearing murmurings about an industrial Shoreditch location with one of the new breed Detroit legends to headline. Those in the elite will get a text message and those of you that aren’t elite will have to over hear it in conversation between some achingly cool people. Phones at the ready, ears peeled.

Hybrid Life @ Black Lotus Karate Club (Buy Tickets)

The Sunday line ups just keep on coming this weekend. Brand new night Hybrid Life materialises out of no where to begin their love affair with the city. The Black Lotus Karate Club in Shoreditch is the setting and filling the speakers will be the hottest thing on the planet Joy Orbison, alongside getting hot Kyle Hall from Detroit, still hot Will Saul, the “do not touch very hot” Donnacha Costello and “crap I forgot to turn the iron off” hot Alex Jones. Great underground line up in a great underground venue.

Minus @ Ministry of Sound (Buy Tickets)

Fighting for space in the limelight on Sunday will be the Minus juggernaut. However fighting probably won’t be the case, as according to our tags we believe the limelight shines out of Richie Hawtin’s arse and that he will bask his own event in is personal arse lime light. The usual suspects of Magda, Gaiser, Barem and Ambivalent will also be basking in Hawtin arse lime light. It’s a good techno line up on a brilliant sound system. All yours for a cool £27.50.

Mn to That Boat Party (Buy Tickets)

Beats ahoy hoy! Irish promoters Mn to That will be throwing their second boat party on the Thames. At the helm will be the extraordinary Maurice Fulton. We’ve seen the guy rock basements, warehouses, clubs and pubs, I’m certain this guy can also rock a boat too. Joining him in the Ninja Tunes saloon will be the legendary DJ Food who will jibe out all manner of funk, breaks and hip hop with that Ninja Tunes quirk. Plus if you buy the tickets from this link they’re only 15 bucks. Winners.

Quite frankly it’s a mouth watering selection for the weekend.

It was this connection that set in motion the formation of the DJ super quartet.  The plan is for all four DJs to play together in unison, playing other peoples records like they’ve never been played before. Tiesto gave hints to this in a recent interview saying:

“Look at Richie Hawtin’s Contakt. It’s amazing; they’re up there playing just one record, but it takes four and sometimes five of them to play it. I would love to be able to do something similar but Armin prefers to go it alone now that he is number one.”

To bolster the line-up they needed to go big. So Tiesto has drafted in the 6^th best DJ in world Deadmau5. It was his supersonic rise to DJ superstardom based on flashy stage props and floating theatrics that caught Tiesto’s eye. Hawtin has drafted in close friend Luciano to complete the quartet. Quite a gamble on behalf of Hawtin as Luciano is only considered by DJ Mag as the 89^th best; however he maintains that Luciano’s number 3 RA ranking does mean something.

As a quartet they will all inject their unique DJ style into this star studded performance. Hawtin will man all the delay and filter effects, whilst Luciano will control and layer any bongo/congo rhythms. Tiesto’s remit will be his all too familiar strings and Deadmau5 is tasked with stage props and theatrics which is now key to any successful DJ performance. Individually they are just DJs but when they combine their forces together, they will become the unstoppable DJ Quartet – Fig Bad. We cannot wait to see the results.

As you all know, staple London night Mulletover will be celebrating its sixth birthday this Sunday. So we thought we’d catch up with its co-founder Geddes for a quick chat on all things Mulletover.

Hi Geddes, 6 years of Mulletover, that’s quite a milestone. Are you feeling tired or have you still got plenty more to give?

This year I feel we’ve turned a corner, 6 years a long time to be doing a party.  We’ve not missed one event in all that time.  So crazy and surreal at the same time. I’ve still got more to give, as long as I’m excited the parties will keep happening.

So let’s start from the beginning, what were you doing before Mulletover and how did it come about between you and Rob Star?

Before Mulletover I worked in the bars in and around west London, did a bit of PR here and there for various companies and basically supported myself with freelance work while I concentrated on building Mulletover and my DJ career.  The very first Mulletover party was due to happen at the Fortress Studios off Old Street but on the night of the event, Shaun who owned the gaff rang me and said it couldn’t happen as the police were on to him and threatening action.  Jafar (who was my partner at the time) said he new of another warehouse partying going on in White Chapel so he put a call in to Rob and that’s how we met and our partnership began.

Where did the name come from? Is it more to do with mulling things over or more about the mullet hair style favoured by Germans?

The name was always to do with mulling things over, obviously at the time there was this fascination in East London with hair cuts and lots of heads believe this is the real meaning but you’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth, it’s not!

How does it work between you and rob, as well as the rest of the team? Who brings what to the Mullet over production?

Rob brings a lot of the logistics into the fold, he’s good at organising and making sure mail outs and text messages go out on time, then we have Phil who handles all our bars and stock, Simon on production and me doing all the bookings and look after the acts on the night

Over the years you’ve held parties at many different locations and had a whole host of DJs headline. Which DJs and locations have been the most memorable, and which party has been your overall favourite?

May bank holiday 2005 with Ivan Smagghe, that party was off the hook

Does Mullet over take any inspiration from other parties and nights?

Speaking for myself I spent some time going to low life, lazy dog and soul sonic when I first moved to London so I guess I took inspiration from whatever I was going to at the time. Those parties were all about the vibe, music and people; it was those characteristics that gave me the drive to do something similar.  Rob on the other came from a rave background and I know those events were a major influence for him.

Looking into the future, where can you see Mullet over going over the next 6 years? Any sister projects, new directions, new sounds?

We’re always trying to be at the forefront at what we do and that will always be the case.  I don’t see us going on for ever, I never wanted to be promoting nights at 40!  Although that’s a long way off it is something both Rob and I have spoken about, as long as we’re enjoying it and the music and party is lighting our fire we’ll continue to do it.

To add to that, what would be your dream line-up (dead or alive), location and party, the ultimate goal for Mullet over if you will?

Ricardo, Cassy, with DJ Harvey in the back room.  For a venue it would be the ultimate place that we only dream about

Finally what’s happening for the rest of the year in terms of Mullet over and yourself?

We’re doing all the events at Eastern Electrics this year and some great line-ups in the pipeline for those, Glade Festival, and Garden Festival in Croatia.  Personally I’ll be doing a couple of dates at space this year, some more label nights around Europe the first being at Watergate in Berlin, remixes and productions in the pipeline, it’s going to be a good year.