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 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.

The show will debut at this year’s Timewarp in Mannheim followed by a show this April at Coachella festival in California. I’d bet a lot on a showing at Sonar festival, and maybe even Glastonbury? I’d also imagine that all the big cities will be included from London and Berlin to Tokyo and New York.

We’ll keep you posted when the full tour is announced, but for now you can get you Timewarp tickets from TICKETWEB

UPDATE: Plastikman just got added to Bestival taking place this September on the Isle of Wight.

Since the mid nineties the DJ turned into the super star DJ. No longer was the DJ some person that happened to be playing records in the background, they were thrust into the limelight, they became centre stage and elevated above the crowd, they became closer to becoming the rock star. Well at the end of September Richie Hawtin and the Contakt bunch stepped DJing that little bit closer from merely playing records to putting on a full blown show. Gone are the dark sweaty dingy small clubs; in are the arena sized live venues. No more will the single sweeping blue light and occasional strobe keep the crowds visually entertained, it must be 30ft high LED screens with intricate graphics. Production values now rival a rock gig. But is that what clubbing and dance music is all about? Had Richie Hawtin pushed the concept too far away from its roots? There had been a lot of apprehension on whether the London Contakt show would be any good founded on some of the issues from last year along with a bit of a Minus backlash with people growing tired of their sound for being too cold and too clinical. There were also qualms about the venue, the ticket price and just a general feeling of tiredness from the whole idea. Leading into the show/gig/party, expectations seemed pretty low with a general feeling of well I’ll pop along to see what its like plus I’ll get to hear a bit of Hawtin.

I happened to pop along too and to answer my questions – it can be; I don’t think so, he’s having a go at trying something new; the venue worked; and finally was it any good – a resounding yes!

I had my reservations about Brixton academy when the venue was announced but looking back it really was suited for that type of show. The large capacity room could fit everyone in along with the massive stage space required for the screen and DJs. Brixton also sorted the floor out by having it level for the majority of the main dancefloor, so the fears of being wonky and at 20 degree gradient were alleviated. The only gripe that persisted, and I mentioned this when I was previewing this event, were the drinks. A choice between Tuborg or Carlsberg was like a choice between gouging your eye with a bread stick or trying to do a surgical incision through paper cuts alone. There was the special cider option number three which was Strongbow or the final alternative – the spirits route. Either way the drinks situation, as always with O2 Academies, was pretty dire. But then again you’re not out clubbing for the drinks – or so I’m told. But as I was saying before I got distracted by drinks, the venue worked well, the staff were well organised, there was space to move yet the right busy for a good atmosphere plus the sound weren’t too shabby either.

But the true spectacle of the night has to be the visuals. I’ve seen the Ali Demirel show a few times now and it just doesn’t become tiring to see, and at Brixton Academy it looked particular special as you can see by the video in this post. It really does step up a few DJs playing records to a full blown audio visual show. Demirel had a full kit of visuals for every moment in the music from graphics that gave the illusion of travelling through space, through to slowly mutating and growing, pulsing graphics or simple shades and shapes – all complimented the abstract and discernibly electronic music being played by the Minus crew.

Earlier I mentioned people becoming tired of the Minus sound with it being too cold and clinical, but on the night no one seemed tired at all. Yes they played that Minus sound where it is mechanical and clunky or abstract and alien, but the high energy beats and big room bass gushed a sea of smiling faces from where I was standing. Whilst I did yearn for a quick detraction from the Minus techno to add a bit more dimension,  it wasn’t detrimental to the set. People were happily caught on every whirring sound, every bass drop and every flash of prominent noise which created a great responsive atmosphere. The techno was heavy and pounding yet not at a pace which required a crowd to try and keep up but instead have everybody in the place bouncing on the temporary level floor. It is big room techno for a big crowd to be audibly and visually floored. It still is clubbing, it certainly felt like it, just with that larger than life production. Its something different and it worked.

But did the combined DJ show work? Kind of. I still question whether it really requires all of them to play at once and whether one or two people could do same job. There were some interesting moments which involved some practiced set pieces to heavily layer up a body of sound. Yet it was difficult to tell whether their real time manipulation was making any impact and adding more than if that piece were simply recorded and played back by one person. And I guess this is the significant difference between a gig with a band musicians and a band of laptop DJs. Unlike a band of musicians there is no visual connectivity between the DJ and the affect they’re having on the music. You’ve got five or six people up there, but there’s no link between what a person is doing and what you are hearing. Whereas with a band the visual aspect of seeing a talented musician input to the sound is very powerful, allowing you the audience to appreciate each and every person’s input. It’s kind of like seeing an excellent lead guitarist going crazy on their guitar and being able to audibly associate the result directly. If Contakt can some how visually connect the DJs actions through their LED display then I think they will make a leap forward in the combined DJ performance realm.

However don’t let that last outburst distract from the fact that the party was fantastic. The music was great, the crowd were great and the event was well put together. The show does seem to be improving and I can only hope they take it further.

So what does the weekend have installed for all these younguns? Well the question should probably more what doesn’t the weekend have installed.

Contakt with Richie Hawtin

For one more time this year London will be graced with the last Contakt show for the year. It’s been almost a year since they last step foot in London and almost a year and a half since they started doing the show. If you haven’t heard by now the Contakt concept brings the Minus clan together, allowing them to perform as one unit set to the backdrop of some impressive visuals. Basically it’s an elaborate back to back session with all the Minus producers in front of a massive LED display showing some incredible trippy visuals. The show was pretty spectacular at Sonar 08 with the huge crowd and massive LED display which covered the whole stage. You can check some video footage at the Sonar Video link here.

On Saturday they’ll be taking over Brixton Academy which should provide them the space they need which SE-One struggled to do the first time they came to London. It should be interesting to see how the venue deals with a more club orientated show which is in turn trying to be a more live show event. All I hope is that they don’t have that sloping floor! Anyways, a chance to see Hawtin and the Minus lot in the capital accompanied by stunning visuals in a venue setup for this kind of thing – you’d be rude not to check it out.

Get tickets from Ticketweb

Ministry 18th Birthday with Sasha

If you’re after something a little more mature then you should head down to Ministry where they will be celebrating their coming of age. They’ve brought in their childhood friends Sasha and Nick Warren to help celebrate the club’s passage into adulthood. I do wonder what happens to a nightclub when it becomes an adult. Do they start thinking they own the place with their Charlie big potatoes whilst the older Jazz clubs scoff at how immature and naïve the club actually is? Either way, one thing is for sure. No 18th Birthday celebration has ever been a subdued affair. Expect Sasha and Warren to blow the roof off like they have been since the beginning of time. I’d imagine a little reminisce of those early years will be in order too. Maybe Ministry’s mum will dig out the photo album of the club in nappies?

Get tickets from Ticketweb

Warehouse Project presents Aphex Twin at Matter

If all that seems a bit tame and you’d prefer your ears and eyes to be dragged backwards through a thorn bush intertwined with barbed wire as it rains lemon juice then matter might be up your street. The Warehouse Project, those car park dwelling folk from t’up north, have brought along the eccentric creative force that is Aphex Twin. His DJ sets are a bit of a rarity but when he does play they normally go down in legend. I would try and explain what to expect but I’m not even sure myself what he would play. His sound encompasses everything in the electronic music spectrum. Ambient, techno, drum n bass, you name it, and he’s probably dabbled with it. Some of it can’t even be classified, its just complete head fuck music that’s completely out there. What I do know is that he’ll be incorporating visuals, which if his music videos are anything to go by, you’ll definitely be weeping into next month. There is even talk of Aphex Twin utilising matter’s 5.1 surround sound. Sounds like anything could happen and that’s what Aphex Twin thrives on.

Get tickets from Ticketweb

Secretsundaze with Dixon

If you’re still standing after Saturday’s shenanigans, then how about unwinding at Secretsundaze? Their run of summer parties is unfortunately coming to a close but they’re going out with a bang so that you’re left wanting more. Sunday’s penultimate party is to be located, quite practically, in the rough warehouse surroundings of Village Underground. I mean let’s not kid ourselves, outdoor parties and the end of September aren’t the first things that come together in a sentence. Making sure that Secretsundaze leaves that everlasting impression will be Dixon. Not much needs to be said really. This guy plays brilliant house music and is probably one of the best DJs around at the moment. This definitely shouldn’t be missed.

Get your tickets from Resident Advisor

Wet Yourself at Fabric with Marcel Dettmann

Finally to round off the weekend, Wet Yourself wants to take you kicking and screaming into Monday morning. No rest for the wicked eh? One man who never rests and has been playing an extended Berghain after after after party set since 2002 is Marcel Dettmann. You might wonder how he does other stuff if he has been playing a continual set at Berghain for the last seven years. Well rumour has it that he has a monster looped techno record which he puts on whilst he steps out for a few hours. The Berghain punters love it. This Sunday that very record will be on again so that Marcel can catch a flight to London for Wet Yourself. This is definitely recommended if you don’t mind your Mondays being a complete right off.

Get your tickets from Ticketweb!

So there it is… So many options and only 48 hours. Pick wisely.

One on the not too distant horizon is Richie Hawtin and his band of merry laptop equipped men (and one girl). The M_nus mob return to the capital city to serve up another helping of their multimedia extravaganza show Contakt. It’s been almost a year since they would have last wowed the crowds in London with their multi tag team dj sound and retina burning visual show, so it should be interesting to see how or if the show has evolved. We particularly enjoyed one of their debut shows at Sonar a couple years ago, but still felt they hadn’t fully utilised the possibilities of the setup. So let’s hope their latest offering will step it up to the next level.

After a few niggles at SE-One, it looks like the show has relocated to the bigger venue of Brixton Academy. Good move? I’m not sure. Brixton Academy does have its charm, but the sloping floor and fading live venue layout and décor make it less excitable for a clubbing experience. However I’m going to reserve judgement until the night. I’ve read in places that Brixton Academy can level their floor for a more dancefloor friendly vibe and the visuals should make up for the live venue feel. So maybe all is not lost, but I do wonder why they didn’t make use of matter for this one. It surely has to be the optimal venue for such a show?

Anyways. Its defo worth a shout just to let Ali Demirel rape your eyes with his mind bending visuals on that massive LED display.

Buy your tickets here from TICKETWEB. Get them whilst they’re hot!

M-NUS presents CONTAKT Special

Saturday 26th September 2009
O2 Academy Brixton
10pm – 6am

RICHIE HAWTIN
MAGDA
TROY PIERCE
MARC HOULE
GAISER
HEARTTHROB
JPLS
AMBIVALENT
BAREM

Visuals:
ALI DEMIREL

www.contakt-events.com
www.m-nus.com

Have you noticed that the evenings have been getting darker a little earlier? You might put that down to winter. Actually the truth is the Berlin juggernaut label Minus is making its way to town. The UK leg of their Contakt tour will be rolling into London on the 18^th Oct but not before a quick Minus showcase at the Manchester Warehouse Project on the 17^th which I hasten to add we have a delightful competition to win a pair of tickets!

But first let’s talk about Contakt in London. On Saturday 18^th October, Richie Hawtin and friends will take over the tunnels of SE One to wow your senses in an orgy of twiste, abstract techno whilst an invigorating, immersive visual display of lights and images will suck you into the dark world of Minus. Together, Richie Hawtin, Magda, Troy Pierce, Marc Houle, Hearththrob and Gaiser will collectively build a journey of music whilst Ali Demirel will interpret this into a visual extravaganza so your eyes don’t feel too left out. It’s quite a spectacle. Those that were at Field Day this year would have seen a glimpse of the visuals to be expected, whilst anyone that made it to Sonar would have seen the whole show in motion. EarPipe saw both and we can say it is visually stunning as the pictures in this post prove. Some of the best visuals we’ve seen at an event. As for the music, expect all kinds of techno and house with each of the djs inputting their mark on things. With their collective minds the possibilities are endless. Tickets are still going at Phonica and on the door, so better get in there early as this one is definitely a road block!

Now on to Manchester. Before their London show, Hawtin along with Troy Pierce, Gaiser and Barem will be commanding the northern masses. This won’t be a full blown Contakt show but it sure will be entertaining. It will be the first time that Hawtin has played the Warehouse in three years it has been going so it is sure to be something special. To make it even better, for one night only those folks from WHP have managed to smooth talk the environmental officers of Manchester to let them stay open till 7am!!!!

As attendees of that infamous ambassador’s party would say, Excellente!

So, how does one win a pair of tickets to Minus Presents… at the Manchester Warehouse Project on the 17^th October? All you need to do is answer the simple question below:

Where did EarPipe catch the Contakt show this summer?

Send your answer along with your name and location to sublevelsessions@googlemail.com
Competition closes on the 12th October 2008

In the first part of EarPipe’s Sonar review we left you at the Soma La Terrazza party with a club full of glamorous people and decadent house music. Fast forward to Friday afternoon and that chic taste of vodka limon in an open air club has been replaced by a sweltering room, a furry mouth and an undying thirst for water. Being only the second day you can’t really whimper at the fact that we’re still in Barcelona, the day is glorious and one of the world’s greatest music festivals is taking place. Why feel hungover and sorry for yourself in some hot box hostel room when you can do the same outside on the fake grass of the Sonar Village whilst sipping that all important sixth mojito.

After a relatively slow crawl to the CCCB, EarPipe pitch up under a tree and relax to the various obscure bands. The first of these being a couple of natives called El Guincho who were described in the guide as a combination of funk, afro beat and African rhythms making them sound quite intriguing on paper. However I was totally confused when they opened with this. Its intro sounded a lot like the Ronette’s Be My Baby and was far from the funk and afro beats that were expected. A few more tracks in and the band edged into the African vibes and got a fair proportion of the Sonar Village on their feet. Quite an achievement considering many of the revellers tend to be struggling from the night before.

El Guincho was to be followed by EarPipe’s highlight of the day Quiet Village. Their ambient/psychedelic down tempo album Silent Movie has been receiving critical acclaim from all over and their recent RA Podcast was one of the most refreshing in recent times. But what’s most interesting is that one half of Quiet Village comes from the dark and pounding depths of Matt Edwards aka Radioslave. Much like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Matt has two guises where Quiet Village is definitely the Dr Jekyll persona. They open their Sonar set with the incredibly beautiful Victoria’s Secret, a long and winding scenic track laden with strings and clichéd wave crashes and cooing birds. They continue through their album dropping the great vintage 70s funk sounds of tracks like Can’t Be Beat and Pillow Talk. Ideal for a chilled sunny afternoon. As you can see by this video it was totally a sit down affair.

Kalabrese had the job of following Quiet Village. He made use of the opportunity to present his Rumpelorchestra from Switzerland. Together as a small three piece band they infused influences from jazz, afro-beat, funk and house. The energy from their performance got the crowd back on their feet. One thing that makes the Rumpelorchestra stand out from other outfits is their use of brass instruments which really brings in that classic jazz feel. Seems like a bit of a brass revival with Ronson and the mainstream getting involved.

For the evening, a trip to the Raum open air party was supposed to happen, but unfortunately it hadn’t started early enough to make it worth the trip. So instead EarPipe watched the surprise defeat of Croatia to Turkey before heading to Sonar by Night. On arrival to the vast venue we were greeted by the two tone sounds of Suggs and Madness. Their blend of pop and ska had the crowd singing along to all their greatest hits like One Step Beyond, Our House and It Must Be Love. Even the younger fans would have been able to join in what with Suggs doing all those fish finger commercials. A quick run over to the Sonar Park and we catch the finishing moments of BC vs JC feat. Darren Emerson. JC is infact Jamie Cullum the floppy haired jazz come easy listening artist that your parents and even your grandparents like. BC is Jamie’s brother Ben on guitar, talk about nepotism. And they’re all backed up by former Underworld brains Darren Emerson. Together they jam out a sort of soulful jazz influenced house come techno sound. Once we start looking past our music snobbery we actually find their performance quite pleasurable and to be fair BC vs JC feat Darren Emerson is a good way of introducing electronic dance music to the kids in a more palatable format, so props for that. However we are still getting over Jamie Cullum bopping his floppy haired head to electronic beats.

Meanwhile in the SonarClub, Diplo our man from Philly is entertaining the crowds with his ghetto tech and Baltimore breaks. There are no rules for this man; he plays whatever whenever so long as its got booty shakin bass riddem and tings, its just fun, unadulterated music which you can just bounce around to. He cuts and mixes everything from hip hop, techno and electro in that mashup raw way that’s currently popular. In the space of an hour I was hearing MIA edits, hip hop classics from Dead Prez, big electro numbers from Justice and even a splash of Plastikman Spastik. Diplo just delivers a whirlwind of music in such an effective manner. It’s not the sort of music we’re into down at EarPipe but it is much fun. And seeing some of the most die hard EDM fans just getting right into it is just proof of that.

Now on to the main event. The performance that was eagerly anticipated by a 10,000 strong crowd outside in the SonarPub was of course Richie Hawtin and his band of merry techno laptop technicians with a cube in tow. It was the Barcelona leg of their Contakt tour where the concept was built around a collective DJ performance creating one set rather than individual ones. Unfortunately the cube was no where to be seen, the reports from other gigs were saying that its lights changed colour but we were unable to give the official EarPipe word on that. Their introduction was very prog rock-esque. A mystical silence fell on the SonarPub before the black curtain was drawn back to reveal quite an impressive LED stage as an eerie soundscape comes in over the speaker. Like an epic prog rock entrance, Richie Hawtin rises from behind the laptops to rapturous applause. He continues to tweak the eerie soundscape whilst slowly bringing on each of the Contakt family one by one. As they do, their names are emblazoned in giant letters on the LED screen. It’s all very Spinal Tap, they probably had the system turned up to 11.

Over the course of the next six hours the Contakt group go through various combinations of DJs. Troy Pierce starts with Gaiser who are then later joined by Heartthrob and Magda. Hawtin comes on and replaces Troy for a bit and plays solo for a while. Marc Houle comes on later on and there is just steady rotation. The overall sound of the set is basically Minus, tripped out techno sounds with abstract noises with a relentless and hypnotic groove. At points there were up to three or four DJs chipping into the combined set. But in all honesty I’m not really sure what they were doing, what they were chipping in or having any effect at all? To us it just sounded like a normal set, with different DJs coming and going. The entire performance seemed like an elaborate back to back session. It was no different to your normal Minus night. Marks for trying to come out with something different and unique but I feel it didn’t push the boundaries obviously enough. Its neither here or there between intricate DJ set or rehearsed live performance.

Despite my grumblings of an elaborate back to back set the whole six hours definitely kept EarPipe entertained. Hawtin did all the usual stuff including those filter out buzzy drops and dropping classics like Yekke Yekke. Gaiser ran through some of the twisted horse music off his new album to great effect. Troy Pierce, Marc Houle and Magda all chipped in to create an amalgamation of sound which saw a crowd stay strong well into Saturday morning as the sun rose. They even finished everyone off with a little blast of Techno Vocals before bringing the curtain down on it all, quite literally. We must also add that the visuals were pretty stunning for the whole event. The way they were worked in across all the LED screens to create one big canvas was quite amazing, and the actual visualisations went hand in hand with the music. Whoever did that I salute you sir.

So to sum up Contakt is an elaborate back to back that doesn’t add anything new. The music is still pretty good to party to and its not really any different from your normal Minus party.

Part 3 coming soon )