We learned that the reasoning behind the shake-up is due to fabric’s mission on pushing cutting edge music to the clubbers of London. Our source said that when fabric first opened it played cutting edge music that wasn’t heard in the rest of the capital. The other big clubs were still hung up on trance whilst fabric gambled in the other direction. The gamble paid off and now fabric sits on top of the London scene. However fabric understand that they can not stay on top forever if they do not innovate. A lot of clubs now follow the fabric format whilst the now familiar secret warehouse party gives punters a variety of venue. So the only way fabric can differentiate itself is by pushing new sounds that no one else is pushing.

Our inside source has said that new genres Further Trance and Post Donk will be likely additions to the roster. Initially the genres will not be billed alongside the usual house and techno nights, but will instead have their own bi weekly nights similar to how nuskool breaks infiltrated Fridays in the early noughties. But once the sound is successful enough the different nights are sure to merge in time.

The changes seem to make sense. Fabric’s need to stay ahead of the game is vital to its success. Fabric have added new elements of Dubstep, Disco, Future Garage, etc. But these have also been championed by other nights and therefore the power of differentiation is lost. Whilst Berghain has created its own sound from the root level with Ostgut Ton and propelled itself to being the European clubbing Mecca. However with Further Trance and Post Donk literally no club in Europe is pushing this sound. With this opportunity fabric look to reclaim the title of clubbing Mecca.

On further thought it does make a lot of sense. House and Techno has been a long staple in London now. The latest sounds like Future Garage and the recent Disco revival are already being pushed by other nights. So the next logical place to go was obviously Further Trance. Some of the stalwarts of the scene such as Paul Van Dyk, Tiesto and Armin Van Burren have been experimenting with the Further sound and making much progress. Its highly likely that they could be the headliners of the new fabric nights.

While Post Donk pushes the original Donk sound making it more palatable for the often snobby South East. Donk producers soon realised that their sound was never going to travel much further than the end of Wigan Pier once the infamous Donkumentry was released. However combining Donk with the lighter and subtler styles of deep house and disco, the Donk producers of Wigan have touched on a tasty combination that will excite London palettes.

Here at EarPipe towers we welcome the new additions with sceptical but trustworthy open arms. Whilst we’re not sure the sounds will fit we trust fabric in their forward thinking for London clubbing.

Sad news down at Radio 1 headquarters today. We’re hearing on the grapevine that she’s set to leave the radio station in September to follow a career in teaching. After 14 years of pushing the leftfield on Radio 1, she’s bowing out at the top of game, moving on to teach and mentor students at the University of Sheffield’s radio, TV and newspaper outlets. Lucky them! You couldn’t get a better mentor than that. She’ll also continue her curative work with Sonar festival which has seen her dubstep showcase grow in strength over the years.

The last show is on the 9th Sept 2am -4am.

1. Intro taken from “Mommy What’s a Record” by Kerri Chandler – Downtown
2. I:Cube – Deep Republic – Versatile
3. Jay Tripwire ft Boddhi Satva – Dema (Delano Smith Transit dub) – Grooveland
4. Osunlade – Blackman – Soul Jazz
5. Steel Vybe – What We Do (Sub Distortion mix) – Stealy Vybe
6. Giles Smith and Glimpse – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You – unreleased
7. Scope – Magic – Large
8. Rick Wade – First Darkness – Laid
9. The Mole – Last Ditch – Musique Risquée
10. Moodymann – Tribute – KDJ
11. Moodymann – Live in LA – Peacefrog
12. BT – Relativity (Carl Craig remix) – Deep Dish
13. Steven Tang – Glimmer – Aesthetic Audio
14. Vincent Halliburton – Something I Feel – Rush Hour
15. Kerri Chandler – The Invoice – Downtown

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.

For their 6^th Birthday they’ve got the warehouse on Suffolk Street in Southwark lined up with three rooms of delectable music. Mulletover will command the main room with those funny French blokes DOP doing a live set. We caught them at Lo*Kee back at the end of last year and they were amazing – fun quirky house that makes you dance. Will Saul and Matt Tolfrey along with the ever present resident Geddes will be providing support for the rest of the night. In the second room hosted by webzine Resident Advisor will feature the insanely deep Levon Vincent and the warm bright sounds of Floating Points whilst in the third room Tayo celebrates all that is 4/4 with Radio 1’s Heidi and Frank Tope for his night Lean Left.

It wouldn’t be a Mulletover party if there wasn’t some kind of fun dress up theme to get involved with. Whilst they haven’t quite reached 25 years they’re going for a silver theme, so anything goes from tin foil hats to full on shiny human sized disco balls. Sounds like the magpies will have a field day.

Since Mulletover are turning 6 they’re letting us run a competition for you lovely readers of earPIPE. For your chance to win two tickets, two birthday CD/DVDs and four free drinks, just simply answer the following question:

Along with Geddes who is the other creative force behind Mulletover?

A)     Rob Star

B)      Rob Jar

C)      Rob Bar

Send your name and postal address to info@earpipe.com

If you win, you’re going to need some tickets for all your other friends too. You can still get them from Ticketweb and they’re still going at the £10 rate!

The other club facing the chop happens to be the last of the super clubs – The Ministry of Sound. The sharp edge of the guillotine isn’t so imminent in their case as their threat comes in the from a property developer requesting to build a residential building next door. Obviously residential areas and nightclubs don’t really mix, so it should be opposed from the outset which is what the MOS Save Our Club petition is all about. http://www.ministryofsound.com/Petitions/PetitionForm.aspx. Whilst it might not be the underground clubland jewel it once was, it is still an institution that should have its place like the monarchy, red telephone boxes and Cadbury’s chocolate.

Get those names down now.

Soonnight’s Chris Wan spoke to Frenchman Agoria about his influences, minimal prejudices, and the original and interesting way in which he assembled his track list for this mix.

So, you’ve got your new Balance mix coming out soon; could you tell us a little bit about why you decided to do another compilation and how it came about?

Well I made a long break not producing techno/electronic music during two years as I worked on the soundtrack of “Go Fast” and then I spent few months working on establish my own label InFiné, trying to develop it, searching new artists, helping them to reach their aim…

At the beginning of last year I asked myself if I wanted to start working on a new album or anything else. I wasn’t sure I was ready to create new materials and honestly I was wondering if there was still a relevant reason to make a new mix CD. Every website get his own quality podcast, music is everywhere, I wasn’t sure of the necessity of releasing again a mix CD. But I decided to try. I thought it was relevant to find my own personal and exclusive selection in a time when you can find any single track you look for in less than a minute. How could I excite the desire of the listener one more time with this excessive music offer? First I needed to find by myself the key to discover those tracks… but I guess we’ll speak later about this…

Your ‘At the Controls’ mix from 2007 received quite a bit of critical acclaim and was ranked as the 13th best compilation of the 00s by RA, plus the previous two Balance mixes by Joris Voorn and Will Saul were big successes. Did you feel any pressure in trying to recreate something as good or better?

When ATC went out I didn’t receive so much good critics about my mix…. people were not so much into it, I remembered lot of comments saying it was just weird! It grew step by step months after the releasing, and in the end it became a classic mix. At the releasing it wasn’t really acclaimed and the label went bankrupt, I really hope it won’t happen to Balance! When I released “La Onziéme marche ” all the feedbacks in a first time were really shitty and when “The Green Armchair ” came out lot of people were surprised not to get a minimal techno album but a bunch of luxury music of different kind of style.

I remember some magazines writing how Agoria can’t be into minimal!!! It was the trend of that time and I was saying in interviews that I didn’t enjoy so much this music, because I couldn’t find a soul in it. I love the beauty of minimalism but most of the time I don’t think minimal has any quality of minimalism… Steve Reich “Four organs” for example is a masterpiece of minimalism. Plastikman’s “Consumed” too. I might not be good releasing records at the right moment or I am really bad in communication ! That’s why I m not feeling pressure, I m much more curious and excited that stressed.

Read the rest of the interview at www.soonnight.com