Well that’s another year over. Where did the time go? For us it was mostly spent in darkened rooms listening to repetitive electronic music in and around London with the occasional trip to another city or abroad. It probably explains why this look back on 2008 is a hazy one at best. I believe we left most of our brain cells splattered across Fabric’s dancefloor. But we’ve managed to piece together the fractured pieces of memory to come up with this half rate look back at 2008. Enjoy )

One of the main stories of 2008 has to be the shake up of London clubs. 2008 kicked off on a sombre note with the closure of The Cross/Key/Canvas complex in Kings Cross. Apparently Kings Cross needed some regeneration to make it look good for the incoming French on the EuroStar. As a double whammy Turnmills also decided to close their doors at the end of January, due to the lease holders deciding their central London location would make much more money as flats and offices rather than from weekends of debauchery. They’re right, but even though Turnmills had pretty much run its course pushing a dying Trance night and a load of “electro house” nights with asymmetrical haircuts it was still a shock losing two stalwarts of the scene.

But all was not lost as around the same time Fabric finally confirmed that they were building a super club called matter at the O2 arena and the once Medicine Bar in Old Street reopened as East Village. So maybe things weren’t going to be so bad? It wasn’t until the End decided they would no longer open their doors after Jan ’09 and everyone’s favourite free hangout T-Bar were made homeless mid way through December, another massive blow for the London clubbing community.

So for a period of what seemed like vital organs were carelessly being ripped out, on reflection it was perhaps a much needed shake-up of the scene to reignite what had long been a tired machine. This year we’ve seen more “secret location” parties which may not have been that secret but the warehouses, car parks and outdoor spaces they occupied were definitely refreshing. Secretsundaze and Mulletover both had great parties on all over the place. There has also been a migration to new locations outside of central London like the ever increasing number of parties in Dalston utilising dingy but charming basements and back rooms such as Visions Video Bar (We took a trip there recently for Disco BloodBath and it was a fantastic party). Then there’s Elephant and Castle re-stamping their claim on London’s nightlife with Corsica Studios and the Coronet Theatre putting their grimy paws back on London clubbers.

In all this we haven’t mentioned Fabric who continued to deliver fantastic Saturday nights. The Minus 10th Birthday comes to mind, although ridiculously overcrowded it was exceedingly good fun as well as all the times they had Villalobos through the door. Even Ministry made a bit of a comeback with their Hi Tek Soul nights.

So it seems all is not lost in London. Further a field the Manchester Warehouse Project saw another successful autumn season at the Store Street car park which we thought was going to be the last year. But since the credit crunch the developers building a hotel next door ran out of money allowing the warehouse to run for one more year! Alas a sparkle in the ever impeding global financial doom! Whilst the warehouse lives on, our old friends Firefly in Nottingham continue their East Midlands party with new edition BedBug. Their free Thursday night shenanigans have seen the likes of Matthew Dear, Alex Smoke and Phil Kieran pass through the narrow Eleven bar doors destroying Friday mornings for students and Nottingham natives alike. Over on the west side of the Midlands in Birmingham, the folks from Below continued to stick two figures up to the vomit laden Broad Street by putting on excellent parties in the Rainbow pub and warehouse out back. Meanwhile down south Brighton struggles on with new club Digital helping Audio supply the small city with quality electronic music.

When we weren’t in the clubs it was highly likely we’d be at a festival. This year like the club scene the UK festival season had a bit of a shake up. It seems the crowds were disenchanted with the whole ordeal. Too many festivals, extortionate prices and unreliable weather saw the festivals take a knock this year. The biggie being Glastonbury failing to sell out some say due to the hip hop fiasco but more likely the kids voted with their feet for the bigger line-ups at Reading and V. The party still went on and it was said that it may have been the best Glasto for many years. Other festivals however weren’t so lucky, Renaissance’s Wild in the Country and new comer Wax:On Live were both cancelled due to unforeseen financial circumstances leaving many punters frothing at the mouth with anger over refunds.

Then there were the severely pissed on festivals, Bestival was completely washed out whilst EarPipe got pissed on at Field Day which had a solid line-up and a lot to make up for from last year. Unfortunately, the rain meant all the minor teething problems were exacerbated making a lot of the second chancers angry again. Maybe next year eh? Third times a charm n all that? So it’s no surprise this year saw more festival goers going abroad to warmer climes. We were no exception. EarPipe headed back to Barcelona again for Sonar where we enjoyed ourselves so much we wrote three massive posts about it here, here and here. We also headed out to Germany to check out the Techno indoor festival monstrosity Timewarp where every conceivable techno DJ was playing under one roof. It was definitely an event not for the faint hearted lasting over 15 hours.

So that’s what we remembered of the year in clubs, festivals and parties… Next up is the soundtrack to all this…

If we’ve missed anything let us know in the comments section below!

You can catch our review of music in 2008 here.

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