Hola hombre! Long time no speak! It’s been a while since our last posting… But this one is going to put that right, just in time for the weekend. And quite a weekend it is to be reopening the blog post account. So lets get down to it…

Basically if your head has been in the ground for the last month or so, or you happen to be a Chilean miner, then you’d be hard pressed to have bypassed the monstrous weekend happening at fabric. The Chilean miners amongst you might have checked the calendar and realised its October. This obviously brings the fabric birthday instantly to mind – mainly due to the fantastic review that we wrote last year. Well for this year they’re following up the phenomenal party with what looks to be another phenomenal party. Part of the magic last year was the three Villalobos sets spread across the Saturday to Monday marathon. This year they’ve got RV back in again. You might ask, are you not fed up with the prospect of RV for another marathon session so soon after the On&On session the other month in August? The answer is no. Literally RV can do no wrong at the moment. I hate to gush, but the guy is just on fire. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Supporting through the weekend will be dOP, Floating Points, Move D, Trus’Me, Ryan Crosson – all people who have been brilliant this year. Plus established firm favourites like Ame, Lazarus, Dixon, Tobi Neumann and Lee Burridge along with the trusty residents Richards and Francis to make the whole weekend a mouth watering melon of a session. If last year was anything to go by you want to buy your tickets right now if you already haven’t… The top tip from earPIPE is go for a bit of a posho breakfast at Smiths or the Modern Pantry, all nearby, followed by some bloody marys down the road from fabric at the Fox & Anchor. Then arrive at fabric around 10am to spend the day in the dark cavernous rooms. If I were a Chilean miner just back on the surface, this is exactly how I would want to celebrate life. FACT.

Get your tickets at TICKETWEB or you can get some interesting ticket CD combos at the Fabric Website.

However if waking up to rave on Sunday just sounds a bit too civilised and you want to bash through from Saturday night, then you might be interested in the following two nights. It’s a toss up between A Night With or Shake It. The former has the always brilliant Ivan Smagghe for the whole eight hours. Smagghe plays a fair bit in London, but he rarely plays for eight hours. Personally I think this will be one of the standout A Night With nights. However… Shake It have brought in some Minus folks in the form of Magda and Marc Houle – two DJs that I do thoroughly enjoy hearing out. Its though. Maybe Smagster just sways it, either way they should be both entertaining. But please do get yourself down to fabric, after the tough year they’ve had, they’re bound to be blowing off some major steam. You’ve been warned!

A Night With… Ivan Smagghe (Tickets)

Shake It with Magda, Marc Houle and Layo & Bushwacka! (Tickets)

Things have been a bit quiet on the fabric front these last couple of months with the club and record label briefly going into administration. But funding was secured and everything is now right with the world again. So what better way to bounce back by dropping fabric 53 mixed by UK techno veteran Surgeon. I don’t use the term veteran lightly. Surgeon has been there from the beginnings of UK techno, bringing Birmingham out of the doldrums in the early 90s with the city’s first techno night as well as creating some of the most forward thinking music out there. His sound has always been left of centre, but always intense, with no thoughts about keeping a finger on the pulse. He simply does what he does regardless of the tide of popularism. So with such integrity how does his Fabric mix flow?

In a nutshell, his fabric mix is completely reflective of Surgeon’s character. It flows with a persistent intensity that runs through various dark and bassy shades, using regular changes in rhythm to generate interesting textures and contrast. Take for instance his use of dubstep like rhythms from Al Tourettes & Appleblim, Starkey, and Subeena. They deploy huge drops in the flow, yet they subtly feedback into the intensity when the rhythm switches again. It’s a tried and tested method, but Surgeon pulls it off with a brutal elegance.

However it’s not just his first rate execution of known DJ methods that make this mix, he also uses a real full bodied sound.  Tracks like the Ben Sims mix of Black Star Ritual or the alien like AM-4 B1 by Ancient Methods are choc full of focused white noise like a drill to the brain. Whilst on the other hand you’ve got the more traditional relentless techno from the likes of Robert Hood, Orphx and Mark Broom & James Ruskin which provide plenty of drive. The tracks are brash yet together they layer elegantly together to create that on the edge pressure.

From a geeky perspective, when you start to deconstruct this mix you see the level of detail that Surgeon goes to. Often one, two sometimes even three or four tracks bleed into one another, crossing their track marker boundaries like steely Mexicans. Yet the layering is so subtle that it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on. But that doesn’t discount from their importance as these minute border crossings add so much to this mix as basslines, beats and melodies intermingle to create unique sounds to this mix. It’s layering with a purpose rather than for the sake of it.

When you put it all together, the relentless intensity, the technically complex layers, the wall of sound you get a pretty unique mix that other DJs would struggle to achieve. This dark foray through bass and beats definitely leaves a mark, mainly because it’s so intense that you feel like you’ve been chewed up and spat out the other side like a piece of chewing gum in a gurned up mouth.

Buy Surgeon – Fabric 53 from Amazon (CD|MP3), Play.com (CD) or HMV (CD)

Tracklisting:
01. Location recording from Kuramae Subway Station, Tokyo, Japan
02. Scuba – Glance
03. Surgeon – Bad Hands (Drums Only)
04. Marco Bernardi – Giro (Exium Remix)
05. Instra:mental – Forbidden
06. Forward Strategy Group – Applied Generics A
07. Reeko – Agile Movement
08. Surgeon – Bad Hands Part 2 (Drums Only)
09. Robert Hood – Superman
10. Planetary Assault Systems – X Speaks To X (Al Tourettes & Appleblim Remix)
11. Ritzi Lee – Black Star Ritual (Ben Sims Remix)
12. T-Polar – Crab People
13. Ital Tek – Spectrum Falls
14. Surgeon – Klonk Part 1 (Drums Only)
15. Subeena – Picture
16. Fran Hartnett – It Was Written In Vapour
17. Mark Broom & James Ruskin – Hostage
18. Stephen Brown – Stress Free
19. Ancient Methods – AM04B1
20. Surgeon – Compliance Momentum
21. Greena – Tenzado
22. Starkey – Spacecraft
23. Starkey feat. Anneka – Stars (Slugabed Did A Remix)
24. Cari Lekebusch – Spindizzy (Luke Slater’s L.B. Dub Corp Remix)
25. Surgeon – The Crawling Frog Is Torn and Smiles
26. Orphx – Threshold (Substance Remix)
27. Gatekeeper – Blip
28. Mark Broom & James Ruskin – No Time Soon
29. Russ Gabriel – El Juan
30. DJ Overdose – What

You’d think having an extra day off would be a god send but in all honesty it’s a bit of a ball ache. This weekend, Landan Taan will swell to a beachball sized glut of party tourists keen to get their third dose of fun for the year (the other two times being Easter weekend and new years eve). You can expect the clubs, streets and parks to be packed with an assault of people forcibly trying to have fun this weekend. If you’re not too much of an idiot to spend £50+ on a bunch of half assed trance and yesteryear prog DJs playing to a crowd of baying halfwits non the wiser they’ve been fleeced, then I guess these could be a few so called suggestions for the weekend…

LED Festival – Victoria Park (Tickets)

The alternative to paying over the odds for standing in a Clapham park full of idiots is to pay nearly over the odds to stand in a park full of different idiots who weren’t quick enough to shell out for SW4 tickets before it sold out. If the festival hasn’t imploded through poor ticket sales and artist cancellations it might not be such a loss to attend with the main draw being Leftfield, who have dusted off the kit since the Guinness royalties have run dry. You’ll also be able to see Alison Goldfrapp tottering around on stage like Florence and The Machine’s grandma, and if you’re lucky Aphex Twin might play some nonsense. Unsurprisingly tickets are still going for this one.

Carl Craig at Fabric (Tickets)

In terms of evening line ups I guess you can’t really do any better than fabric. They’ve got their typical techno carry on consisting of one part Detroit (Carl Craig), two parts Berlin (Sebo K & Ben Klock) and a token UK techno head to make your balls go up inside yourself (Ben Sims). It’s a reasonable choice if you haven’t already spent half your waking weekend moments there this month.

Superfreq at Paramount (Tickets)

Across town at Centre Point, Mr C and friends are back at Paramount with their Superfreq brand. They’ve somehow commandeered another floor for their ingeniously named disco sister Superdiscofreq. DJ Three headlines the main room with the “not so evil in his old age” Eddie Richards, whilst DJ Garth and James Priestly will be playing up to the new spat of disco fashionistas. If past Superfreqs are a trend to go by, this one will be the best superfreq ever to date as boldly claimed by Mr C every month.

Dollop at The CAMP (Tickets)

If a night dancing with a bunch of geriatrics in a tower doesn’t sound that great, you can go to the other end of the spectrum and dance with some of the unwashed youth in a basement. Dollop are down from Nottingham for a London jolly at The CAMP. They’ve brought in the Parisian turned Dalstonian Ivan Smagghe to headline. Also on the bill is some bloke from Turbo (Thomas Von Party), that guy who plays at Bugged Out (Matt Walsh) and Nathan G Wilkins who for some reason reminds me of a presidential assassinator. Expect scruffy hair cuts, drain pipe jeans and a lot of garish noisy electronic sounds.

Carnival at Notting Hill

On to Sunday. For the day time you might as well be herded around the streets of Notting Hill whilst running the risk of being caught in the middle of some yoot gang warfare or getting poisoned by some chancer selling what was supposed to be curried goat out the back of his car. If you get there early enough and the police haven’t cordoned off the area you might be lucky to catch some chap (Norman Jay) play cheesey records off the top of a double decker bus. But hey its all free so you can’t complain about this shit.

Secretsundaze at Rich Mix (GList Requests – info@secretsundaze.net)

You might not have heard, because its secret, but Secretsundaze are at the Rich Mix loft. Daniel Bell heads up the main room with Tevo Howard, whilst Jacques Renault makes room 2 all disco glam. If you can get past the fashion police on the front door (in this case the face of authority is a guy with an achingly ironic styled tache) you might enjoy a nice dance inside. Just make sure your shorts are rolled up high enough on your deck shoes and denim shorts combo.

Eastern Electrics at Union Street Car Park (Tickets)

Evening wise Eastern Electrics is doing their predictable shindig at the once secret, but now standard affair Union Street Car Park. Their line up I must admit is pretty balanced. Fehlmann, Wruhme and Mayer fly in for Kompakt, whilst Von Stroke and Martin get fidgety in another arch, and to round things off Resident Advisor have got Joy Orbison, Scuba and Harri & Domenic, all of which they’ve brain washed you to think they’re good through their podcasts. The 10 early bird tickets and 5 saver tickets have sold out, so all you mugs left are gonna have to buy the standard price tickets at 20 quid a pop. Unfortunately your young person railcard doesn’t work on these tickets.

Lo*Kee at Cruffix Lane (Tickets)

Another special one for Sunday is Lo*Kee. For one night only they’ve scrapped their exclusively closed members list and open their doors to tom, dick and harry. This will give the riff raff a chance to really see what goes down at Lo*Kee – basically a bunch of “cool” kids that haven’t been to sleep for a few days rolling around to whatever DJs that haven’t been to sleep either. However on Sunday they’ve got a bunch of Cadenza folk over and they’re going to make a proper night of it, so I guess it’s not quite as Lo*Kee as the name suggests.

I could go on about the weekend… But you might as well read all about it at RA.. They’ll probably be a bit more cheery too with the extensive DJ biogs and promises of amazing parties. I’ll be at home having a good moan about SW4 thanks. Have a good weekend!

We’re hearing on the grapevine that Villalobos is down to do the 8am till 2pm slot at the Fabric On & On party this Saturday…

Better pack some sandwiches as its gonna be a long night and day.

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.

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

It’s pretty dark times for our northern breadrin in Glasgow. Their football club can barely scrape together the costs for an open top bus trophy tour; then there’s that ridiculous stat you always hear that a good proportion of the city lives in poverty at a level which rivals Zimbabwe and to add insult to injury their easterly sister Edinburgh gets voted the best place to live in the country. But these things are the least of the city’s worries. It’s more so the dark cloud that hangs over the legendary Sub Club since Optimo announced they were ending their Sunday night tenure. Their weekly blend of eclectic samplings will be sorely missed, I for one am gutted that I never made it that far up north to witness these legendary nights first hand.

Luckily they immortalised some of what goes on at the Sub Club with their recent 20 Years of Sub Club mix. That mix ducked and dived through so many shades from electronic and acid to new wave and disco. It had a beautiful flow using some very disparate music making it a brilliant home listening CD. This extensive repertoire of legendary club nights, DJ sets and mix CDs means the bar is set extraordinarily high for their Fabric 52 mix. I wonder if they can pull off another great mix CD bottling that essence that has made them much loved in Glasgow and across the country.

From the press release the duo mentioned that they set out to capture a dance floor driven mix which reflects what they would normally do in Fabric’s Room 2. And that it is. The first half especially is a driving mix of chugging electronic basslines and loopy hooks. Prins Thomas, Spencer Parker and Rebolledo all weigh in with their interpretations of chuggy, yet whilst they’re different in their own ways they all seem to trundle along in the same way and offer little in terms of a sharp turn in proceedings which we have come to expect.

It’s not until the second half where the dancefloor guard is let down, allowing the mix to open up and explore those different avenues. The way they interject Thomas Brinkmann’s bleepy shuffling Walk With Me with the 90s German New Wave of Rheingold at the half way mark is exactly the kind of magic I was hoping for throughout this mix. It’s how they bend tracks from different genres to fit in with a dancey flow. We see more glimpses of this throughout the second half as Optimo weave in flavours from across the board. They give a quick head nod to the burgeoning UK Funky scene with a track from Roska where his syncopated beats allow it to blend perfectly with the Columbian folk dance rhythms on Shacalao. We also get detours into luscious synth washes such as the Joy Division-esque Together Alone or the camp 80s Don’t Call on Italians Do It Better.

It’s not like the second half is completely different to the first. It still keeps the same pace and flow; it’s just the more out of kilter track selection makes the mix a whole lot more interesting which finally gives the mix some much needed identity. It’s a shame there’s so much dawdling in the opening which disappointingly  makes it a luke warm effort overall.

Buy Optimo Fabric 52 from Amazon (CD | MP3), Play.com (CD), HMV (CD)

Tracklist:
01 Fad Gadget – Lady Shave – Mute
02 Discodromo – Cosmorama (Prins Thomas Discomiks) – Internasjonal
03 Basic Channel – Q1.1 – Basic Channel
04 Spencer Parker – YOGOTO – Rekids
05 Locussolus – Gunship – International Feel
06 Rebolledo – Amigos Cómeme – Cómeme
07 The Minister – Jack Your Bodey House Your Mind – Crème Organization
08 Altz – Get It Down! – Altzmusica
09 Thomas Brinkmann – Walk With Me – Curle
10 Rheingold – Dreiklangsdimensionen – Welt Rekord
11 Capablanca & T Keeler – La Konk Fiesta – Gomma
12 Roska – Feeline – Roska Kicks & Snares
13 Cumbia Moderna De Soledad – Shacalao – Sunflower
14 The Tyrell Corporation – Together Alone – Clone
15 Roni Griffith – Spys – Vanguard
16 Levon Vincent – Love Technique – Ovum
17 Oni Ayhun – OAR003-B – Oni Ayhun
18 Desire – Don’t Call – Italians Do It Better
19 Crazy Cousinz – Inflation – Defenders Ent Ltd
20 Matias Aguayo – Walter Neff – Kompakt
21 Nakion – Heartbit – Tigersushi
22 Xex – Heartbeat – What’s That Music

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.

A weekend bookended by bank holidays, don’t you just love Easter. Jesus died so we could rave for four days with out feeling guilty about work. I’m pretty sure that’s what it said in the bible. Plenty of stuff on so I won’t ramble on in this blasphemous theme.

Thursday

Secretsundaze @ Stamford Works (Buy Tickets)

Ooo its nearly time for Secretsundaze to emerge from its winter cocoon and head back out into the great outdoors. I cannie wait. But just to wet your whistle they’re throwing a Bank Holiday warehouse party this Thursday. I remember reading somewhere that its at the great little warehouse called the Stamford Works in Dalston where the recent DDD birthday took place. Its round the back of the Jazz Bar and Kingsland Road station. However I can’t find where I read that, so the official word is its in Dalston and yet to be announced. For the line-up they’ve got a veteran of the New York scene Morgan Geist of Metro Area fame, whilst in support they have new comer Nina Kraviz who’s found breaking fame on Radioslave’s Rekids. James and Giles complete the main room bill and their friends Electric Minds host the back room. A nice warm up for the weekend ahead.

Horse Meat Disco Bloodbath @ Hewett Street Car Park

The two dominant disco forces in London collide at Shoreditch’s Hewett Street Car Park this Thursday. You’d expect the universe to implode with forces of such magnitude, but instead it’s managed to fly over New York’s Tim Sweeney, who’s dulcet tones introduce the now globally famous Beats in Space radio show. He will be joined on his rare UK appearance by all the residents from both of London’s titan disco nights. There’s a few tickets left at Phonica, Dalston Superstore and The Eagle, get em quick!

Bedrock @ matter (Buy Tickets)

A bank holiday weekend wouldn’t be one without ol’ Diggers throwing a Bedrock party. Matter seems to be the new London home for Bedrock parties after years spent at Heaven. As well as Diggers headlining, the legendary Danny Howells is on back up duties, whilst Christian Smith and Marco Bailey give room 2 a techno workout. It’s kind of a retro classic line up that doesn’t grow old, these guys know their music and they know how to mix.

Shake It! @ Great Suffolk Street Car Park (Buy Tickets)

I was in two minds whether to recommend this. Carl Cox is a legend, but his recent sets have been short of desirable in an underground sense. However, his legions of fans that span his lengthy career will be out in force which will mean a great crowd for the ol’ Coxy. If you want something fun and accessible for friends and family then this ain’t a bad shout.

Greg Wilson  @ The Horatia

I still haven’t got myself to the Horatia yet, but they have been consistently putting on fun DJs for free. This Thursday Greg Wilson is the bill armed with a tape deck and a few decades worth of music. Clean Cheap fun!

Friday

Shoplifter @ The Horse and Groom (Buy Tickets)

After the glitz and glamour of the old guard doing their thing on Thursday, Friday seems like quite a subtle affair. However there is no reason to hold back. Derren Smart’s Shoplifter has upped sticks and moved over to The Horse and Groom. Chris Sullivan, Rock Steady and Josif join Craig Richards and Derren Smart in their new home. Free before 11pm, then only £4 after that! Bargain.

Holic @ East Village (Buy Tickets)

East Village aren’t doing things by half on Friday. They’ve got a special 12 hour party starting from 5pm right through till 5am Saturday morning. The legendary house producer DJ Pierre will be ushering you through the half day party, with support from the equally talented Argy, whilst upstairs its all discotastic with Pete Herbet and the Disco Deviance crew.

Transition @ Visions Video Bar (Info)

New night Transitions looks a bit alright too. They start things off at the ironically rubbish but brilliant Visions Video Bar in Dalston. Headlining is Wbeeza from South London. He’s been getting good coverage on Third Ear as well as joining the new Secretsundaze roster of DJs. Big things are happening for this kid. Also on the bill is Sud Electronic’s Lakuti and Runsounds Chris Box. If you put yourself on the roll call at RA its only £3 in.

Lobster @ The Shacklewell Arms

New friends Lobster begin their voyage of throwing parties this Friday. They’re beginning life at The Shacklewell Arms in Dalston. This raw and gritty pub come club will play host to Tommy Four Seven who’s had much success on CLR. The rest of the bill is made up of fresh Lobster – resident DJs David Russell, Anton & George and Ed Worboys. Its free before 11pm and then only a fiver after that… Hope it goes well guys.

Saturday

Cocoon @ matter (Buy Tickets)

The big one for Saturday night is undisputedly Cocoon at matter. Pappa Sven continues his residency at the London superclub. If that’s not enough for you Loco Dice is on hand to make you sweat a bit more. That’s it. Sven and Dice all night in room 1.  I don’t really need to say much else.

Prologue @ East Village

Prologue return to East Village once again with another understated but quality line-up. Secretsundaze’s James Priestley headlines with Jozif who’s found recent success on Wolf and Lamb. They’ll be rocking the basement with long time resident Paul Louth, whilst upstairs, DDD’s Simon Morell will be working things with the Stafford Brothers. Not a bad little party in the heart of Old Street/Shoreditch on a Saturday night if you ask me.

Sunday

Mulletover 6^th Birthday @ Great Suffolk Street Car Park (Buy Tickets)

Sunday is the big one and top of the picks is the Mulletover 6^th Birthday. They’re back at the Great Suffolk Street car park with the quirky and hilarious DOP headlining with their brilliant live set alongside a quality British line up of Will Saul, Matt Tolfrey and Geddes. Resident Advisor are running things in room 2 with the incredibly deep Levon Vincent and the bright melodic Floating Points. Tayo is pushing his new venture Lean Left in room 3, where he celebrates all things 4/4. He’s on the bill with Get Physical’s Heidi and Tayo’s buddy Frank Tope. The theme is silver, so get yourselves wrapped in tin foil and be careful of stray lasers being reflected off other people. Don’t forget we’ve also got our competition to win two free tickets, a bday DVD and four free drinks. Enter Here!

Product 5^th Birthday @ The Doors (Buy Tickets)

Product celebrates half a decade which has seen them venture from Nottingham to London via Brighton and Hungry. They’ve landed at little known basement club Doors near Old Street station. This great little space will have its foundations shaken by Spain’s Tim Xavier. Original Product ressie Makai will be in support along with Zade Cross, Amaus, Chris Jones and yours truly – Chris Wan. I’ll be playing with only one leg, which is worth the door fee alone.

Wet Yourself @ Fabric (Buy Tickets)

You can’t really talk about a London weekend without mentioning Fabric these days. Sunday see’s Wet Yourself expand to all three rooms. The room we’re most interested in though is room 2. Marcel Dettmann and Ben Klock will be bringing a slice of Berghain to the hallowed halls of Fabric. YES!

Fuse @ 93 Feet East

93 Feet East is going to be rammed this Sunday, as Fuse have put together a great little party for you daytime rave lovers. Pokerflat’s Guido Schneider will be joined by Get Physical’s Einzelkind, and Murmurs/Viva’s Bearweasel. A lot of name dropping there, but all good DJs in their own right. However you better get down there early as the tickets flew out  for this one in days. There’s 50 left on the door.

So there it is, my lengthy Easter weekend planner for you. Happy Easter!