Update – Check out the earPIPE Sonar Disco Map Here.

This weekend Barcelona becomes the centre of attention as Sonar festival rolls into town. The festival itself is a jam packed 3 days and 2 nights of music and art featuring the likes of Plastikman, The Chemical Brothers and Roxy Music. However its not just the festival that garners all the attention, as for the same weekend Barcelona turns into a thriving party city with what are now known as the Off Sonar parties. This year we’re spoilt for choice in terms of party venues. We’ve got parties on beaches, on rooftops, on terraces, on boats and at secret villas. There’s even a few parties happening in them there nightclubs. There’s a lot to pick from so here’s what we think is looking pretty hot for the weekend.

Wednesday

Ovum at Boulevard Culture Club (Tickets)

If you’re arriving in the city before the festival starts, then you can start your sleepless campaign from Wednesday night. Josh Wink takes over Boulevard Culture Club with friends Shlomi Aber, David Squaillace and Luca Bacchetti from his Ovum record label. The clubs conveniently located on La Ramblas, so there’s no hassle in getting there.

Warehoused  at Mephistos (Tickets)

Warehoused is a new night for Off Sonar and it opens at Mephistos, a heavy metal club in Barcelona. So i’m not sure what the venue has to offer, but the line up looks pretty solid with Konrad Black and Stimming heading the bill. Not bad to warm things up for Wednesday night.

Thursday

RA by Day at Hotel Diagonal (info)

RA host one of the parties of the weekend. They’ll be getting things into motion with their Thursday daytime party at the beautiful Hotel Diagonal rooftop pool. A minor distraction from the views will be the stunning lineup they’ve got planned – Michael Mayer, Steve Bug, Jesse Rose and Eric Duncan from Rub n Tug!! All for free!! But before you dust off you deck shoes and rolled up denim cut offs, entry to the party is by invite only. So you either need to know someone who knows someone, or you might have been one of the lucky 50 that won tickets.

Desolat Experience at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Sub Club at BeCool (Tickets)

Moon Harbour at Discotechque Club (Tickets)

Moon Harbour will be celebrating ten years with its sister label Cargo at the imaginatively named Discotheque Club. Matthias Tanzmann, Martinez, Boris Werner and Ekkohaus will be playing the labels’ blend of bumpy techno and house.

Friday

Watergate and Beatport Secret Villa Party (info)

Hot Natured at W Barcelona Hotel (info)

BPitch Beach Party at Playa de El Prat (info)

Cocoon at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Kompakt at Nitsa (info)

Kompakt have a pretty tasty party at Nitsa. You’ll be able to catch Michael Mayer, if you weren’t invited to the RA party, as well as Superpitcher, Gui Boratto and DJ Koze. That’s a huge lineup to celebrate 10 years of Off Sonar parties.

Circus Company at Oshum (info)

Saturday

Mobilee Rooftop Party at Hotel Diagonal (info)

BPitch Control Boat Party (Tickets)

Cadenza at Ghoa Beach Club (Tickets)

Crosstown Rebels at Oshum (info)

If you’re still alive then Secretsundaze will be taking up its traditional position at La Terrazza. They’ll be out in the picnic area from 5pm and then in the usual club from midnight. For music, they’ve got the cream of their DJ agency from Patrice Scott, The Mole, Trus’me, Ethyl, Flori and of course the two residents Jamie and Giles. Great club, great tunes, always a must on the Sonar weekend.

Minus Beach Party at Playa de El Prat (info)

If you fancy something with a rougher edge, then Minus will be for you. They’re throwing their beach party at Chiringuito Calamar out by the airport and have got everyone off the label to get involved, from Marco Carola, Troy Pierce and Heartthrob to Ambivalent, Fabrizio Maurizi and Hobo. They also say they’ve got some special guests, which means its highly likely the two Minus names not on the line-up but are playing at Sonar will probably turn up for a few tunes!

Playkula & Wilde Boat Party (Tickets)

Two of Berlin’s biggest DJ agencies join forces to set sail for the high seas. Tiefschwarz, MANDY, Pig & Dan, Thomas Schumacher, Matt Tolfrey, Heidi and INXEC will be entertaining a packed catamaran of ravers finding their sea legs after a weekend of fun. Let’s hope the seas aren’t too rough.

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.

But if you can bare the cold, especially up north, then Manchester has yet another surprise for you – Luciano. The cheeky chappy Chilean is back once again and here to smash out a five hour set encompassing house and techno with a good dash of South American soulfulness. We saw him last weekend at fabric and he just tore the place up with full on party tunes. A packed out warehouse project is bound to have a similar if not better electric atmosphere. He’s got fellow Cadenza friends Rhadoo, Pedro and Alex Picone joining him. Definitely worth baring the cold for.

On to Saturday and we have two major options. First is fun time disco from the Disco Bloodbath folks again. They’re back at the Bocking Street warehouse with a certain Serge Santiago in tow, he’s going to be showcasing is new live act Retro/Grade. If that’s not enough Serge is going to hit the decks with Retro/Grade partner Ben Rymer, and of course it would be a Disco Bloodbath if it weren’t for their very reliable resident DJs. Definitely get down to this if you can, it’s a great space and the last one was laser focused fun.

Option two for Saturday night is something a bit deeper. Those Need2Soul folk have pitched up a tent at new venue The Camp in Old Street. Good things have been said about the space from the Sud Electronic nights who’ve already had a few good parties in their basement. On the bill is the ever delightful Ame who can just do no wrong. The last few sets I’ve heard from the duo have been nothing short of fantastic and I’d expect them to deliver the same this Saturday. Marcus Worgull is in toe to provide some Innervisions support whilst in the other room disco funksters Linkwood and House of Traps keep the other room entertained… Expect everything from house, disco and funk to jazz, techno and hip hop. Sure to be an interesting mêlée of musical fascination.

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!

It’s pretty easy to stay stuck on this fair island called London. It seems everything you could possibly need is right here within the confines of our concrete perimeter, the M25. But believe it or not life does exist beyond those walls. For the last four years, during the autumn and winter months, Manchester has been the clubbing destination of the North. The reason – a grotty car park found in the arches of Manchester’s Piccadilly train station where the Warehouse Project setup shop to host some of the strongest nights past the Watford Gap service station.

Once again the team have put together another great run of nights starting from the end of September and running every weekend through till New Years Day. Last year we had great fun at the Cocoon night where Tobi Neumann absolutely smashed the main room after Sven Vath and the Ar:Pi:Ar boys completely stamped their mark on the back room. We also heard great reports about the Minus night with Richie Hawtin and the Resident Advisor night with Luciano and John Digweed.

So what’s hot for this year season? We think the following will be worth checking out.

Saturday 17th October
Minus with Richie Hawtin and Magda

The first big party for us has to be the Minus night. Richie has been on fire recently with a stellar set at Sonar over the summer so it will be great to catch him on his own in the car park. Magda as ever will no doubt provide some solid support along with minimal pushers Ambivalent and Hobo. To add an extra bit of spice Ali Dermirel is on hand to wow the crowd with his ever stunning visuals. The last Minus night there was a road block event so better get your tickets now!

Buy Tickets For MINUS With RICHIE HAWTIN

Saturday 7th November
Resident Advisor with Dubfire

Resident Advisor, another regular on the Warehouse Project party calendar, hosts “Deep Disher gone back to his techno roots” Dubfire alongside Swedish techno stalwart Adam Beyer and wonkster Claude Von Stroke. But its not the headliners we’re excited about… Its all about the support. Jamie Jones is on the bill pushing his forthcoming album. He recently amazed us with a fantastic set at Superfreq the other week. Then there is Seth Troxler who is just doing the business all over the place with his eclectic quirky house sounds. In addition to that there is the Motor City Drum Ensemble too, whose RA podcast earlier this year had us toe tapping on public transport for weeks.

Buy Tickets for THE RESIDENT ADVISOR PARTY with DUBFIRE

Friday 20th November
Cocoon with Loco Dice and DJ Sneak

Later on in November Cocoon are back to the Warehouse Project with one of their favourites – Loco Dice. His 300 party completely stormed London with rave reviews coming from all corners. I’m sure he’ll deliver the goods at the Warehouse Project too. Also on the bill is Chicago’s DJ Sneak, a fantastic booking as he is probably one of the greatest DJs to grace the planet in my humble opinion. Once again the support for this night is astronomical – Minilogue live, Zip, Johnny D and Onur Ozer?!?!?! Yes Yes Yes! Do not hesitate..

Buy Tickets for COCOON with LOCO DICE and DJ SNEAK

Friday 4th December
Cadenza Records with Luciano

Finally in the run up to Christmas, Luciano will be popping into the car park for a massive five hour set. The last time he played he apparently blew the doors off the place rolling through his trademark South American influenced house and techno.I’d expect him to do something similar on the Cadenza night. Failing that his moustache will definitely school the kids in how to wear an ironic tache. Luciano will be bringing along a few label friends in the form of Rhadoo, Pedro and Alex Picone. Not a bad way to warm up for the onslaught of festive partying.

Buy Tickets for CADENZA RECORDS with LUCIANO

So there you have it. Four perfectly good reasons to leave London for at least a night. If you book your train tickets from Virgin now you can get up there for as little as £16. Don’t worry about a hotel as the night runs right through to when the trains start up again. I’ve done it a few times now…. It’s certainly character building.

Its just gone midnight on Wednesday night… so no time for an in depth Sonar preview. So here it is in a business like bullet point format:

You may still be revelling in the aftermath of New Years Eve shenanigans but please do spare a thought for your party needs in April as tickets are now on sale for this year’s TimeWarp event in Mannheim Germany!!

If you haven’t already heard that the bird is the word, TimeWarp is a humongous indoor arena Techno event in Germany which has been running for the last nine years or so. EarPipe was lucky enough to check out TimeWarp last year and by golly the Germans don’t do things by half. Last year every conceivable techno DJ was on the bill, from Hawtin and Vath to Villalobos, Luciano, Cox and Liebling (there were so many names I obviously had to resort to surnames only). They even had enough room to give Laurent Garnier his own arena for nine hours. It’s a proper German style marathon event starting from the Saturday evening running right through till late afternoon on the Sunday. Last year Richie Hawtin began his 7 hour closing set at 7am!?!?!

The setting itself was some sort of market place/arena complex based in the sleepy industrial town of Mannheim just south of Frankfurt. Whilst it doesn’t sound very extravagant the production effort for the event is next to none. If you don’t believe me check out the photos from last year here.

Getting to TimeWarp is pretty straight forward too. Simply jump on an aeroplane and head to Frankfurt. You can get trains from the airport direct to Mannheim and it only takes about 30-40 minutes. So technically you can fly out on Saturday morning/afternoon, go straight to Mannheim for TimeWarp, then go straight back to the airport and fly home. It’s doable but exhausting like we found out last year. So this year EarPipe will probably make it into a nice weekend get away, flying to Frankfurt on the Friday checking out either the legendary Robert Johnson nightclub or Sven Vath’s futuristic Cocoon, then doing TimeWarp followed by flying back either Sunday or Monday. Does that sound deluxe or what?

UK folks can get their tickets from Ticketweb

But it might work out cheaper to get the international E-Ticket from here

http://www.time-warp.de/content/e2/index_eng.html

]]> http://earpipe.com/2009/01/08/lets-do-the-german-timewarp-again/feed/ 0 http://earpipe.com/2008/11/12/win-tickets-to-the-digweedluciano-at-the-warehouse-project/ http://earpipe.com/2008/11/12/win-tickets-to-the-digweedluciano-at-the-warehouse-project/#comments Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:00:39 +0000 admin http://earpipe.com/?p=503 My hasn’t the autumn flown by. It only seemed like yesterday when we were getting all excited about the Warehouse Project’s last venture out in their Store Street location. But fear not there are still some parties left to get too. There is still the 13th December with with the Chems and SMD or how about some head grating noise from Squarepusher on the 12th December? There’s also Boys Noize and MANDY on the 19th December too. But probably the most anticipated party that’s left on the bill is probably the one on the 21st November.

The 21st sees an old heavyweight come head to head with a new heavyweight. The long time prog purveyor John Digweed heads the bill with relatively new heavyweight Luciano and all his Cadenza chums backing him up. Its sure to be a heavyweight clash. So for your chance to get some ring side seats for this baby, simply answer the question below:

Luciano is the the head honcho for Cadenza, but which label does John Digweed run?

A. Seabed
B. Redrock
C. Bedrock

Send your answer along with your name and location to sublevelsessions@googlemail.com. Compeition closes Thursday 20th November 2008.

Just a quick note to let you know those folks in Manchester are at it again. The third season of the Warehouse Project sees them take over the Store Street car park for the final time. For twelve chilly winter weeks you can see the finest lineups ever to hit Manchester in a stunning urban and underground setting. Co Founder Sam Kandel says,

“The programme for this years series is, we think, the best yet. It has been gradually pieced together since last October. This year there will be a second more intimate room of music, which has allowed us to go even deeper with the line-ups, putting on some really underground breaking talent in addition to the huge main room action you are used to. The preparation for the annual series has become a genuine labour of love for all involved – now everything is set its time to get moving… Welcome back to The Warehouse.”

So which nights are EarPipe looking forward to? Well the first one on our radar has to be the Minus Presents night on the 17^th October. You would have thought we’d be sick of Richie and his label mates. But no we keep going back for more. Friday will see the Minus gang roll into Manchester ahead of their main Contakt event in London. Support comes from Troy Pierce, Gaiser and Barem. This will no doubt be a road block event, so get your tickets early!

The next big one has to be the Exhibitionist night on 1^st November. The alien from Detroit returns to pummel the north with his space aged techno. Joining Jeff Mills will be three of the hottest heads in house music, Ewan Pearson, Ame and Dixon. Definitely not one to be missed.

Sven Vath does his usual stop off with his Cocoon night on 14^th November. He’s joined by Extrawelt and Tobi Neumann, both hot property right now, especially after Tobi’s recent Secretsundaze CD release. They’ve also got all three of those Romanians doing the business right now. Raresh, Rhadoo and Pedro will be playing for six hours as the RPR sound system in the intimate backroom.

Finally if Novembers at home don’t mean anything to you the 21^st November sees Resident Advisor host John Digweed and Luciano. The cheeky Chilean has also called in support from his label buddies Thomas Melchior, Alejandro Vivanco and Reboot.

So there the nights we think might be a bit alright. Obviously there are the other twenty odd nights which also look fantastic, there just isn’t enough room on these pages.

Don’t forget to check back for competitions to win free tickets to some of the nights we’ve picked out… .Viva Manchester, Viva Warehouse Project!

www.thewarehouseproject.com

The quality line ups continue at Fabric this month with the turn of the cheeky Chilean Luciano. Luciano’s productions and DJ sets have seen a meteoric rise in popularity in recent times. His combination of South American rhythms and melodies with the mechanical and electronic elements of house and techno brought new dimensions to the sound, breathing in soulfulness and an air of sensuality. Tracks like ‘Father’ and ‘Yamore’ have a minimal and techno edge, yet they sound so full and organic, as does much of the output on his own label Cadenza. His DJ sets follow in a similar sense by being raw and hypnotic but still with plenty of warmth and feel. It will be interesting to see if Luciano can capture that atmosphere which has made him a world renowned DJ. There has also been a slight Luciano backlash with some people over the past year, mainly due to his sets becoming tired with the same usual suspect tracks of Freaks Come Out, M83 Church and that Rose Rouge remix, so all eyes are on this CD to see if he can hit back with something fresh and innovative.

The mix starts lively with an array of beats and percussion from new find Rhadoo on his Cadenza track ‘Slagare’. Through his ever effective use of the filters Luciano is already stepping up the percussion and heat by dropping into D’Julz’s ‘Yo Momo’. Both tracks are simple percussive loops but Luciano plays and teases with the tracks before settling down with his remix of Getting Late. This track is sure to divide opinion with its sing along vocal but personally I think it works. Its kaleidoscope of synth lines and quirky percussion gives the track individuality and lightens up a consistent 4/4 beat.

The mix dips and climbs in and out of hypnotic percussion to more soulful and colourful reaches. Reboot’s ‘Be Tougher’ lays down the hypnotic foundation before allowing a clear house vibe with Alex Picone’s ‘Floppy’ and Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts excellent mix of Mogane. Mogane brings back an old US house feel with its African American vocal sample and dare I say funky bassline. The funk continues through with piano stabs and soulful vocal samples combined with ass shaking percussion on Johnny D’s Chicago-esque OrbitalLife, before Luciano skilfully layers in Jungle Beatz which allows the mix to reduce down.

Dropping the mix back allows Luciano to dig out one of his most favourite and overdone set pieces, the classic M83 Church euphoria moment. He simmers the Jungle Beatz down to just bird chirps as the epic organs of Church soar high, giving you that sunrise ecstasy moment. He then takes it all away and brings back the Jungle Beatz to complete the moment. I criticise for it being over done, but I got to give it to him, it is rather effective.

The mix continues along a quirky route through Tiefschwarz’s mix of ‘Rise from your Grave’ and the massive Schneider/Galluzi collaboration ‘Albertino’. From here we see a glimpse of the old style Luciano and his party technoness which is unfortunately cut short for the need to wind down for the CD’s outro with Kenny Larkin’s ‘You Are Original’. However Luciano does have a skill in using beautiful pieces music which he does here by ending the mix on Chymera’s ‘Arabesque’. Epic comes to mind.

Having seen what Luciano has done in the past, I and many others had high expectations for this CD. Unfortunately it’s not as groundbreaking and out there as we were all hoping for. But quite often with most things, if you hype and build it too much you will most likely come away disappointed. If you don’t let any preconceptions cloud your judgement about this CD, you’ll find that Luciano has come up with a great mix which shows his technical flare of layering tracks and percussive elements brilliantly. It’s a fun and enjoyable mix which has been receiving repeat plays from me. And every time it grows that little bit more on me. A solid effort and it will give you an insight into a Luciano live set. So hopefully it will inspire you to check him out as recent reports have been saying the man is back to his usual self.

Buy Luciano’s Fabric 41 on CD

Tracklisting (Follow links to buy tracks):
01. Rhadoo – Slagare – Cadenza Records
02. Brothers’ Vibe – El Baile [Acapella]– Som Underground
03. D’Julz – Yo Momo – Intacto Records
04. Los Updates Ft. Luciano – Getting Late [Luciano’s Getting Late Remix] – Candenza Records
05. Reboot – Be Tougher – Cadenza Records
06. Alex Picone – Floppy – Cadenza Records
07. Sety – Mogane (Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts Remix) – Circus Company
08. Johnny D – Orbitalife – Oslo Records
09. Julien Jabre – Jungle Beatz – Defected
10. M83 – In Church – Gooom Disques
11. Inner City – Good Love [Luciano Remix] – KMS
12. Phuture – Rise From Your Grave [Tiefschwarz Remix] – Strictly Rhythm
13. Schneider, Galluzzi – Albertino – Cadenza Records
14. D’Julz – So You Know – Ovum
15. Kenny Larkin – You Are Original – Planet E
16. Chymera – Arabesque – Tishomingo