Its pretty straight forward for party selection this week with a distinguished set of nights and days to fill every minute of the weekend despite the clocks going forward.

Warm at Plastic People (Buy Tickets)

As the club’s existence swings in the balance, Warm are continuing to make the most of what little time could be left for Plastic People. Berlin’s Sebo K will be joining Marcus Worgull for another Friday shindig of sublime house music. Get yourselves down to show Hackney council how important this club really is. And if they don’t take notice, vomit in the street to slowly take them down with street cleaning bills.

Headspace at Public Life

Once you’ve finished vomiting in the street, get yourself across Shoreditch to Public Life. New night Headspace dish up their second morning/day party at the much hallowed toilet. Leeds lad Burnski famed for being on all the typical Leeds things (Basics and 20:20 Vision) will be headlining this interesting new venture.

Ricardo Villalobos at Fabric (Buy Tickets)

Two words – Villalobos, Fabric. That’s all I really need to say. But if you need some other words of encouragement Shaun Reeves is in support with Craig Richards, whilst in Room 2, new holes will be torn as Ben Sims and Surgeon smash your back doors in as Frequency 7. Going to be a road block, better buy some tickets.

Dubfire and Josh Wink at Matter (Buy Tickets)

Someone that has been round the block a few times is Philly’s Josh Wink. He’ll be showing his age as he celebrates 15 years of Ovum records at matter. In those 15 years he’s picked up a few skills to pay those so called bills and made a few friends along the way. He’s brought on board another veteran, born again techno evangelist Dubfire. Fanciulli and Yousef will also be chipping to what is probably a few thousand years of collective DJ experience.

1Roof at Cable (Buy Tickets)

The cringely named 1Roof have got party number two this weekend. They claim you need to be prepared for another mind altering journey into the unknown, urgh, I think I’ll take my chances and just wing it thanks. But PR sheen aside, they’ve got a bloody solid line-up. CJ Mackintosh, a UK DMC winner from the days when headphones were still used and most of the 6 minutes were spent beat matching two records, will be heading up a bill that consists of Giles Smith, Justin Drake of Peace Division fame, Dean Mushin, Guy Williams and Luciano Esse, all under “one roof”… sigh…

Moodymann at T-bar (Info)

Sundays just don’t seem to want to let you rest these days. We’ve got a prime cut of T-Bar this Sunday as they do what they do best – great DJs for free on nights other than Saturday and Friday. This weekend Moodymann is dropping a few tunes all for nothing. But the question is will his braid lady be there sorting his fro out?

For your consideration – a few things happening this weekend, and they’re all underground quite literally in basements.

Warm at Plastic People with Steve Bug (Info)

London just can’t get enough of the Bug at the moment. He’s been popping up all over the place of recent times. This Friday sees him in the intimate surrounds of Plastic People for Warm. Steve Bugs mix of electronic house will be perfect for the  low ceilings of the plastic people basement. However this perfect match of DJ and venue has caught the eye of many. So if you haven’t got one of the few tickets that went on sale you want to be getting yourself down there early doors.

Red Bull Music Academy at The C.A.M.P (Info)

On the same night, another basement on the other side of the Old Street roundabout will be having its foundations tested. Red Bull will be taking over as part of the Red Bull Music Academy and they’ve brought in a cosmologic line-up. They’ll be hosting the king of bubble tease Maurice Fulton and New York’s Morgan Geist of Metro Area fame. If that’s not enough to get you out in the cold, the fact that this is all on for free should definitely seal the deal.

Fabric with Tobi Neumann and Akufen (Buy Tickets)

Saturday night looks a bit quiet in the city but there a still a few gems that shine out. One of those, of course, is fabric. When all else fails you can always count on the sturdy “super club”. The delectable Tobi Neumann is back in town to jack up room 1 on a course of big house beats and rolling basslines. Akufen is on with a rare live appearance and the likes of Vera, Billy Nasty, Sammuel L Sessions, Mark Broom and Fred Everything. Not bad for a quiet Saturday.

Hypercolour at T-Bar (Info)

Hypercolour start their new year with their first night at T-Bar. They’ve shipped over Catz and Dogz to headline the basement. I only found out that Catz and Dogz were formerly known as 3 Channels, who were knocking out some great dark technoey tracks the other year. So if the production is anything to go by they should put together a full of beans set. Support will be coming from the Hypercolour residents and new Leeds export Mono Cult. Also don’t forget there’s a new door tax at T-Bar, but its still free before 11pm.

Others worth a look in are East Village’s 2^nd birthday with Quentin Harris, Vita Luna Presents 8Bit Records at Cable with and Parallel presents INXEC at Sosho.

Hypercolour with Mark Henning

I’m guessing the promoters and clubs have all chipped in to charter a Mega Bus from Berlin as practically all the DJs headlining are coming over from our twinned party city. On the Friday Hypercolour are taking over East Village and they’ve reserved a seat for Mark Henning on the Mega Bus. He’ll be pushing his new HYpercolour EP, ‘The Right Time’, out in all good record shops now! Supporting him will be the Hypercolour head honchos Alex Jones and Cedric Maison whilst Pete’s 50th keep the upstairs warm with the Dalston connection.

Fabric with Luciano, Pedro, DJ Hell and Tiefschwarz

For Saturday we have Luciano cashing in on his Mega Bus ticket by including a spot of Christmas shopping over the week. He’s up in Manchester the weekend after for the Warehouse Project, but this weekend sees him return to Fabric to take control of Room 1. In toe will be his Romanian protégé Pedro who’s now convincingly made his own name with his A:rpia:r buddies. Room 2 features yet more current Berlinites in the form of DJ Hell and Tiefschwarz. A stellar line up in think you will find and coincidently it comes around just as I’ve got over the Fabric 10th Birthday. Salute!

Ekstravaganza with Prins Thomas and Lindstrom (Buy Tickets)

If you still can’t bare to look at the walls of Room 1 from the 10th birthday then how about looking at the four walls of Corsica Studios? Featuring is Scandinavia’s 5th most popular export after Ikea, Volvos, Lego and liberal sex; it is of course Scandinavian Cosmic Disco! Prins Thomas kicks off the second coming of his bi-monthly London residency Ekstravaganza with close friend Lindstrom. The pair have been known to go nuts and play well into the night, so having the pair together in London is certainly a treat. Label friend Magnus International provides some support, whilst the Horse Meat Disco guys have trundled along the river from Vauxhall to prop up room 2. Expect lashings of camp cosmic disco sure to make December open with a smile.

Mulletover Xmas Party with Prosumer (Buy Tickets)

Too Scandinavian? Fair enough… There’s still plenty more Berliners coming in on the bus. The ever delightful Prosumer is supplying the Worthers Originals for the trip. He’s dropping records and toffees at Mulletover’s Xmas party at the Bocking Street warehouse. We thoroughly enjoyed the venue when we were there at Disco Bloodbath the other week. It’s sure to be a winner with Prosumer on the decks, however it’s a bit tenuous calling it an Xmas party in November.

GetPhysical and Phonica 6th Birthday with MANDY (Buy Tickets)

Occupying the back row of the Mega Bus from Berlin will be those naughty GetPhysical kids MANDY and Thomas Schumacher. They’ll be causing mischief at Cable along with the Phonica boys and girls who are celebrating six years of selling records.Heidi, Hector, Anthea and Simon Rigg are all on board.

matter with Vitalic, Black Strobe and Morgan Geist (Buy Tickets)

Finally, if none of that takes your fancy, then matter doesn’t look too shabby. Vitalic live, Black Strobe DJ Set, Mero Area’s Morgan Geist and Guido Schneider for Very Wrong Indeed in Room 2.. A great mix of artists which should drop a mix of electronic sounds, house, techno, disco.. basically the works. Not sure what Black Strobe are doing these days Smagghe-less or what Vitalic have been producing, but going on past experiences they have always been good quality. Failing that there’s Morgan Geist!

Fuck me that was a mouthful to reel off. Hope you have fun!

Just a quick note on weekend manoeuvres. I’m not going anywhere as my life is in tatters after the last few months of being massively on it, all of which I will litter these pages with the details. But if I were to head out I would probably be looking at these things:

Saturday
The decks have barely cooled down from the last party, but pappa Sven is already back at matter for another Cocoon party. Even if Sven isn’t your cup of tea there is still the highly talented Onur Ozer who will finally be gracing London with his visa in hand, not to mention Reboot loaded with his hotly anticipated tune of the summer.

Even though pappa Sven is a veteran on the scene, nothing gets more veteran than Kevin Saunderson one of the birth givers to the techno sound. He’s dusting off the old Inner City moniker which gave us Good Life and Big Fun. This is definitely going to be a special show. But just for kicks Kevin Saunderson is going to play a few tunes and they’ve also brought in Claude Von Stroke to sweeten the deal.

Aside from the two heavyweights there is Tom Middleton in the East Village basement doing an Electro Funk set or there is Superfreq doing their final party at Cable with Adultnapper, Chloé and Tolfrey along with the ressies Mr C, Luke Vb and Dollz at Play.

Cocoon at Matter tickets HERE
Eastern Electrics with Kevin Saunderson tickets HERE
Superfreq tickets HERE

Sunday
Well, I don’t really need to say much about Sunday. I’ll just spell it out plain and simple.
Prosumer – Light Bar – Secretsundaze. Done.
If the weather holds out its going to be a stellar party.
Get your tickets HERE!.

The first is one of Birmingham’s finest. Surgeon has been tearing up dancefloors across the UK and further for the best part of two decades and is one of the figureheads of the British techno scene. Generally sitting towards the tougher end of the sound he’s often been compared to Detroit’s Jeff Mills. This mix taken from Shanghai last week will no doubt show what the man can do. Download here or listen below:
[See post to listen to audio]

The other mix comes from Detroit based dancers turned techno producers Aux88. They make their first appearance in the UK for quite sometime, so their show this Friday is sure to be a special one. Check out their classics mix with the legendary Model 500 to get a taste. Download the mix here or listen below:
[See post to listen to audio]

Buy your tickets from Ticketweb, we heard on the grapevine they’re going quickly so get em quick!

29th May – Balance at Cable, London Bridge
http://www.balance-club.co.uk/
SURGEON [LIVE]
AUX 88 [LIVE]
BEN SIMS
LUKE SLATER
GUY CALLED GERALD [LIVE]
JIM MASTERS
BILLY NASTY
ELECTRO ELVIS & LULA
ALEX DOWNEY

The latest in the line of promo mixes for the forthcoming techno night Balance comes from Billy Nasty. He delivers a gut wrenching dub-step mix to show you his his slower side.  Billy is on the Balance bill along with Aux88, Surgeon, Ben Sims, Luke Slater and A Guy Called Gerald, all of whom I’m sure will test Cable’s soundsystem to the limit.

So listen to the mix here:
[See post to listen to audio]

Or download it from here

Then buy your tickets for the 29th May right here

29th May – Balance at Cable, London Bridge
http://www.balance-club.co.uk/
SURGEON [LIVE]
AUX 88 [LIVE]
BEN SIMS
LUKE SLATER
GUY CALLED GERALD [LIVE]
JIM MASTERS
BILLY NASTY
ELECTRO ELVIS & LULA
ALEX DOWNEY

My god, this weekend is so packed that there is hardly any room to manoeuvre for hangovers. But even though we know of the impending doom that is likely to happen next week in the form of an almighty comedown we’re still going to give you our low down on what seems fun for the short term.

If you’re starting things early then new club Cable in London Bridge has their opening night on Thursday. Will Saul, Dave Congreve and the Disco Bloodbath fellas will no doubt be cracking open a bottle of bubbly in celebration.

But now on to the real weekend. Friday sees the French grand master Laurent Garnier debut his live show in the UK at matter. Things kick off early with the live show starting at 7pm and running through till 9pm. That’s then followed by a pretty monstrous line-up consisting of DJ sets from Garnier, Francois K, Yousef, Norman Jay, The Unabombers and Chris Coco. Not a bad way to start a weekend eh? Get your tickets from the following links: Live Show only or Combined Live/Club tickets here or Club night only tickets here

If a trip all the way out to Greenwich is too much (and I don’t blame you) then maybe a trip to East Village where everyone’s favourite Romanian DJ, Pedro of a:rpia:r fame is manning the decks in the basement. He’s sure to have things bumping with his blend of techno and house. Moving on to Saturday and there is one event which is sure to be a complete roadblock.

That is of course Ricardo Villalobos at Fabric. He’s going back to back with everyone’s other favourite Romanian DJ Raresh. Their sounds are similar so this should surely be a blinding B2B set from the duo. Be warned however, this will be a roadblock event so be prepared to dance on the spot pogoing to the beats. It’s also not advisable to wing it on the door so get your tickets here.

If being stuck in a sea of people until the early hours of the morning isn’t your thing then Jay Haze at the recently reopened T-Bar is popping in for a visit. The guy is releasing a Fabric CD in the coming months so it could be cool to check out his sound and the new venue (apparently a converted S&M retreat). Also worth a mention is part three of Cable’s opening parties. UR legend Rolando is over along with Chateau Flight and Rub n Tug. There’s also resident support from our favourites Will Saul and Dave Congreve. Tickets are only £12 so it would be rude not to hear some quality techno. Get your tickets here.

That brings us neatly on to Sunday where things start from the get go. Egg play host to the Mixmag after party where the Ketoloco folks have Pier Bucci and Tim Paris firing up the decks on their garden terrace for those that has trouble sleeping. Reckon if the weather is on form this could be a top class after party. You can still get tickets here.

If you’re really wrong you can go from the Mixmag after party straight to Secretsundaze who will be taking over the MOS terrace in the afternoon. Unfortunately Onur Ozer who was booked to play is having visa troubles so instead they’ve got Tobi Neumann who is definitely a worthy replacement. The last few times I’ve seen Tobi play it was been phenomenal jacking grooves which are bound to go perfect in the sunshine. Tickets have sold out so you might have to chance it on the door or on the tinterweb. There are however tickets left for the evening party round the corner at the Coronet where Sebo K will be making his long awaited Secretsundaze debut. Get your tickets from RA here.

If south of the river isn’t your thing then Mulletover are having their summer close down party in Old Street. The venue is the Basement on Scrutton Street off Curtain Road. If it’s the venue I think it is then it’s a raw industrial basement which should have a great vibe comparing to those Addias Originals adverts. Providing the music will be Cecille’s Robert Dietz with Burnski, Anthea and Geddes in support. The staple party will be sorely missed until they return in October, so send the Mulletover folks off on their summer travels in high spirits. Get your tickets here.

Our final mention of fun things to do is Dig Your Own Rave at T-Bar. It’s been a while since the hay days of free messy Sunday evenings at the T. But they’re back with a TBA line up which could be special considering all the talent in the vicinity. So even if you don’t go big you could always pop in to the old faithful. So there you go… The weather looks good as do the parties. Bon Voyage!

Image by Paul at Vision7Media

This weekend has been relatively quiet (and a little wet) so I’ve had a bit of time to tell you where I’ve been. First, two weeks ago was yet another bank holiday weekend and the Sunday was set as the big night since Saturday was reserved for watching a fat Manc get decked by a cheeky chappy Phillipino. Anyways Secretsundaze started their summer of events with their opening party on the THAT terrace out in the middle of nowhere (well no where in Greenwich with no Jubilee line). It was touch and go whether the weather was going to be good but Mother Nature for once pulled through and the terrace was to be blessed with sunshine all afternoon. Sunshine, drinking and outdoor dancing is just a great combination. The crowd were really up for it and despite some pretty shaky mixing, apparently due to some technical difficulties, the party still went off. Brothers Vibe did a great job of changing up gears from evening to night whilst Melon was knocking out some great grooving house beats. Move D early on was good but maybe a little too deep for my liking. Being tired and hungover whilst hearing some laid back deep grooves can make one a little sleepy however it did go well with the sunshine and glamorous crowd. So despite the awkward location and shaky mixing Secretsundaze was in my eyes a success.

But things weren’t to end there. Later on that evening we swapped sunny terraces for grotty warehouses and another Eastern Electrics bank holiday shindig. Last August saw the first of these parties in the Union Car Park venue with mixed results. But over the last year they’ve ironed out the issues and got things running smoothly. On arrival Craig Richards was out stretching his limbs having been unchained from the Fabric DJ booth. He was serving up some delightful tripped out techno. I would try and recall some records that he played, but I never really know what Craig Richards plays, all I know is that it’s good.

A quick wonder through the Disco Bloodbath room and I see two slighty mad Mancunians ripping up the middle arch with the ressies. It can only be the Unabombers. They serve up epic disco to the most up for it crowd in the venue. Disco in London has once again made its mark and it’s easy to see why. After a lengthy detour we finally make it to the third arch for the Freak n Chic showcase. By this time I’m told Shonky is on but this is all hazy second hand information. By this point I’m shuffling around to some great bleepy techno lost in a carefree utopia, which pretty much sums up Eastern Electrics. There’s something about being in a grotty warehouse where the crowd can really get down to having a good time. No rules as they say.

That said last weekend was spent in one of the nicest clubbing locations ever. Superfreq’s Cable opening party had been relocated to the Paramount bar, a swanky members only bar at the top of the Centre Point Tower on Tottenham Court road. It’s not the prettiest tower in London, but the bar has views to die for. Think Weekend in Berlin but overlooking a prettier city and higher up. Even though we were there for a boogie a good part of the night was spent looking out the window pointing at obvious landmarks and trying to see if you could see your home. For the record I could.

Photo by Nick Ensing

But once over the city gazing thoughts turned to dancing and who better than Steve Bug to an intimate crowd of 400 or so like minded revellers. It was just a great combination. The views, the music, the crowd and the setting made one of the parties of the year so far. Similar to the Loco Dice 300 party, the crowd was made up of people that had made an effort to be there. And when the sun rose at around 5:30 am the place just went nuts. A special moment which brought back memories of what made Ibiza special back in the day. I’ve only got two minor gripes from a near perfect night out. First, the lack of toilet facilities which for a bar that normally has only a handful of people couldn’t bear the strain of 80% of the 400 people “really needing a poo” and the second having to take the lift 31 floors down to smoke a cigarette. It’s a hard life I know.

AUX 88 (Detroit) live – UK exclusive
Surgeon – London debut for new live /av show
Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems DJ set)
Ben Sims (Split/Theory)
A Guy Called Gerald – live
Jim Masters (Base/Hi-tek-Soul)
Billy Nasty (electro set)
Electro Elvis & Lula (Wang)
Alex Downey (Split)

Stream it or download it from here

[See post to listen to audio]

AUX 88 (Detroit) live – UK exclusive
Surgeon – London debut for new live /av show
Luke Slater (Planetary Assault Systems DJ set)
Ben Sims (Split/Theory)
A Guy Called Gerald – live
Jim Masters (Base/Hi-tek-Soul)
Billy Nasty (electro set)
Electro Elvis & Lula (Wang)
Alex Downey (Split)

Leading up to the event, they’re making a new mix available every week. The first comes from UK techno stalwart Luke Slater. Hope you enjoy.

[See post to listen to audio]

Or you can download the mix from here.