The last bank holiday weekend for the year is just around the corner. Sad times for many as it marks the beginning of the descent into winter. This ensuing doom normally results in everyone going big for the weekend, and as a result, people tend to cool off the weekend before. But as any good football team will tell you its all about the pre-season friendly to get you match fit for the onslaught. I mean you don’t want to be flaking out on day two of the bank holiday because you didn’t practice a two day bender the weekend before. That would just be embarrassing. So here are a few pre bank hol weekend friendlies to get you ready for the long weekend.

Lobster at The Gramaphone (Tickets)

Our Lobster friends have laid down the second round at the all you can eat seafood buffet. This Friday they’re at The Gramaphone where Roof Light will be served up along side their residents Anton and George in a night of gorging and indulgence. Its like a premiership team in a friendly against a third division team, at only a fiver to get in it’s a palatable and easy way to start things off.

Fabric On & On (Tickets)

Saturday there’s only really one destination – fabric. This is the tough pre-season friendly with a 15 hour gauntlet being laid down by Villalobos – a man we have a little bit too much love for. Who knows when he’s going to play, but I’d imagine he’d probably play a couple of times over the night. To pad things out in between, Craig Richards, Dinky, Terry Francis and Slam will be sure to keep you locked in the dark doldrums. This is going to be a roadblock so get you tickets now!

Love Fever Studio Party (Tickets)

If you need something a bit less gluttonous, then the Love Fever Studio Party on Kingsland Road would probably be a good alternative. Wolf and Lamb co-honcho Gadi Mizrahi along with Jacques Renault will be making you strut well into the night with some disco stylish fun.

Half Baked (info)

Fabric, the pussyclarts, will be closing their doors at 2pm on Sunday. Pretty early doors if you ask me… However don’t fret, as the people at Half Baked understand. They’re kicking things off on Sunday afternoon straight after fabric are done, so drag yourself to the still to be confirmed east London location to continue the party as the beautiful and stylish people look at you in disgust! Jamie Jones and Disco Bloodbath’s Ben Pistor will be seeing you smash through the proverbial clubbing marathon wall.

Stretch the old legs out with these bad boys and you’ll be running rings around the amateurs come bank holiday weekend.

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.

After the success of the Fabric 10th Birthday it showed that marathon Berghain style party sessions could work in London, so it made sense for fabric to give it another stab, this time under the “just for fun” circumstances. So the first weekend in March saw fabric host another 30 hour marathon session from Saturday night through till Monday morning, with a line up equally as mammoth to suit. Everything was pointing to a party as fun and wild as the 10^th birthday, but ultimately that was its main draw back.

Like a younger sibling “On and On…” inadvertently followed in the footsteps of its older sibling “the 10th Birthday”, where every detail was compared to the other every step of the way. First comparison to be made was the crowd and atmosphere. Arriving on Sunday morning, Troxler is in full affect with Craig Richards. Room 1 is a comfortable busy, similar to the 10th Birthday and perfect for throwing shapes; except the main difference was a lacking edge in the atmosphere. It missed that electricity and that unified excitement that was so predominate in the air from last time. There was still energy in the crowd, but it seemed more like a crowd going through the usual after party motions. That judgement is probably harsh one, but again it’s so easy to make these comparisons. That said, Troxler and Richards were still on fine form laying down deep and dark grooves with flourishes of funk and soulfulness. Whilst the room wasn’t at fever point they had still captured a crowd that were hanging on their every movement.

By the mid afternoon Keith Worthy was laying down his deep techno grooves however they weren’t enough to keep the attention of Room 1 which had started to wane as Saturday night’s legs grew tired. Trus’Me followed soon after, lightening the mood with his slow grooving house set punctuated by flashes of cosmic disco, aside from a few calamity mixes the tune selection was spot on, hooking in a new wave of punters. However whilst Worthy and Trus’Me were both good, it wasn’t quite enough to fully ignite the crowd.

For the late afternoon earPIPE stepped out for a break to watch the sunset. Conveniently this happened to be from the 31st floor of Centre Point with Todd Terje and Sound Stream providing the soundtrack at Secretsundaze Red Bull Music Academy party that was taking place. This is probably the best winter venue SS has held a party at. The stunning views on such a gorgeous day emulated that Secretsundaze outdoors day time vibe, whilst all the coldness of the British winter was firmly locked outside – just perfect when combined with the bright soulfulness of Terje and Soundstream. I definitely urge SS to throw a few more Sunday daytime parties here through the winter.

After sun down and a few tonics, we head back to Fabric. The wristbands given to us got us back in no probs and we were greeted with Dinky ushering in Monday morning. She’s laying down some solid techno tracks, but Room 1 is still a little frosty and she’s not cutting enough of a unique groove to lift the crowd. For a typical Saturday night her set would have been on the money, but at the tail end of a 30 hour marathon the crowd needed that something extra to latch on to. Along with a couple of sound outages and a hangover hitting home whilst still on a session, it was time to call it a day…

Overall Fabric did a good job, the night ran like clockwork, there was some great music on offer, but it could have been a bit busier at times and the atmosphere was just missing that last piece. And whilst it was a different party with a different meaning, it was just too difficult not to compare it with the 10th Birthday to its own detriment. Whilst the line up was technically very good, it didn’t have that constant stream of stellar DJs that instantly draw in a crowd on name alone. There were no repeated Villalobos appearances or a constant stream of heavyweights to instantly attract and keep a crowd through the days. So the programming of DJs needed to have been carefully planned to keep your average punter locked in through out the two days. Unfortunately Keith Worthy, Trus’Me or Chez Damier whilst brilliant DJs weren’t enough of a “name” to instantly hook in a crowd which in turn would have fed into kick starting an atmosphere through more bodies. It sounds fickle relying on “big names” but then your average clubber is relatively fickle too.

However don’t forget we were only there for part of the Sunday daytime activities, so our perspective is blinkered somewhat. It maybe we just picked the wrong time to go as we heard from other punters that Ellen Allien and Dave Clarke weighed in with some great sets on Saturday night whilst Wolf and Lamb and Radioslave closed Monday in fine style. It may sound like we’re being picky and negative, but I think that’s just testament to the quality we expect from Fabric. Give it a few more tweaks along with filling in those last missing pieces and I’m sure Fabric will get the formula right to make marathon parties like these work in London on a regular basis.

I wait with baited breath for the next one. Preferably on a Bank Holiday weekend!

To a certain extent yes, his three track beatless intro with nonsensical but amusing chat about white rabbits and quantum physics is a fine example of him making his mark by keeping you in a holding pattern and subtly controlling the build of rhythm. It’s a ballsy move when you’ve only got 70 odd minutes to play with but when the beats finally kick you know you have been dropped into the weird and wonderful world that is Seth Troxler. His track selection is house music, yet it’s not middle of the road house. Each track beats 4/4 yet each have their own hallmark and hints of eccentricity, all the while being smoothly blended together through great depth and body. He has a knack of slipping through so many different textures; such as transitioning from the laidback sunset layers of Baeka’s Right At It through the wonky blues bass line of Dinky’s Westoid and then somehow contrasting that bright dimension with the dark, hypnotic and very athemic Kurtel remix of Fables and Fairytales.

We get further depths and textures throughout the whole mix from the haunting trip of Alexi Delano’s Molar One or the bleepy schizophrenic Stricher by Roman Flugel intertwined with sweeping melodies and bright layers of Birds and Souls’ self titled track or Troxler’s remix of Fever Ray Seven. It’s all in there and its refined yet not over worked, just great tracks mixed with panache. However I did say he had only captured himself to a certain extent. The one thing missing is the spontaneity that makes a Troxler set so enjoyable, those curveballs that come out of no where and just wipe you out, stamping that mark of timelessness on those forever remembered sets. It just lacks that one defining moment yet despite that the mix intelligently delights as it unfolds through every subtle (maybe too subtlety) twist and turn. The mix certainly delivers for now, but with so much expectation for Troxler to create something phenomenal, the true test is whether this mix can still entertain and amuse years into the future. All that’s left is for time to tell.

Buy Seth Troxler Boogybytes Vol 5 from Amazon (CD)|Play.com (CD)|HMV (CD)

Tracklist:
01. Seth Troxler – Intro / Ryan Crosson – Amb 1
02. The Royal We – Party Guilt (Dinky’s Arp-A-Pella)
03. Luciano – Fran Left Home / Mike Shannon – Sweet A Pella
04. Craig Smith & The Revenge – The Soul Part II
05. Baeka – Right At It
06. Dinky feat. Update – Westoid
07. N/A feat. Rosina – Fables and Fairytales (Deniz Kurtel Remix)
08. Spektrum – Freakbox (Richie Hawtin’s Uncontrolled Edit)
09. Alexi Delano – Molar One
10. Jabberjaw – The Connie Shake
11. Heartthrob – Signs (Thrill Cosby aka Seth Troxler Remix)
12. Birds And Souls – Birds and Souls
13. Roman Flügel – Stricher
14. Fever Ray – Seven (Seth Troxler Remix)
15. Kiki – Cinema Obscura
16. Nicolas Jaar – Time for Us

Just a heads up for an upcoming mammoth party – Fabric On & On & On & On…. The folks at fabric are going to throw another 30 hour marathon since the 10th Birthday was so well received. The last one was definitely one of the legendary parties of 2009. It had the perfect crowd with the most eye watering of line-ups ever seen and an unbelievable atmosphere that validated why the club has been around for 10 years. We certainly gushed about it in our review the other month.

On the 6th March Fabric will be doing it all again, just for shits and giggles. The line up isn’t as stratospheric as the birthday, but it is by no means light weight. There’s a nice selection of heavy weights with Dave Clarke down to annihilate a room, Radioslave will be bringing his cloak of darkness as will Patrice Scott and Ellen Allien will add her touch of wonky Berlin. But backing them up will be a fine selection of strong DJs that know how to get a party going. You’ve got the unexpected sounds from the Wolf and Lamb camp featuring Seth Troxler, Soul Clap and Gadi Mizrahi, plus Trus Me kind of falls into their category too. Then you’ve got the German techno brigade from Cocoon to BPitch and Minus with Onur Ozer, Dinky, Konrad Black and Thomas Muller. A great mix of talent there.

The format stays the same as last time. Tickets at varying prices can be bought for entry on the Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday evening, all of which will allow you to leave and re-enter up until the close on Monday morning.

Tickets are now available at TICKETWEB and are priced as follows:
Saturday Entry – £23 General / £18 Fabric First
Sunday entry after 10am – £15 General / £10 Fabric First/Students
Sunday entry after 10pm – £10 General / £8 Fabric First

So there you have it a great line up for what is shaping up to be another masochistic weekend.