EarPIPE

What’s the ‘matter’ with this new venue at the O2?

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 | Event Preview, News | 1 Comment

Nothing at all that’s what. Those folks at Fabric are close to unveiling their new project ‘matter’, a purpose built venue/club where their aim was to create “the most vivid and palpable audio, visual kinaesthetic experience imaginable”. Sounds complicated!

Set across three floors covering 32,737 sq ft, matter has a humongous capacity of 2,600. They’ve installed a body kinetic dancefloor which apparently pumps the music to your feet through an array of audio to kinetic transducers embedded into the dancefloor. Apparently it’s an evolution of Fabric’s body sonic dancefloor. I always thought it was just a really weak floor with a massive system. Shows what I know.

As well as making you feel the music matter will let you see the music through a 360 degree projection system mapped to the interior architecture, allowing all surfaces to be projected on. No doubt the audio quality will be of the highest caliber if Fabric is anything to go by. With audio, visual and feel covered off they just need to come up with something to make you smell the music rather than all those smoking ban farts.

In terms of lineups you can expect matter to deliver the best in live and club music. Their live launch party features James Lavelle’s legendary UNKLE whilst the club launch plays host to big boy Carl Cox who rarely plays London these days. Over the opening months the likes of Mylo, Renaissance with Sasha, Bedrock with John Digweed, Simian Mobile Disco and Justice will all be passing through the doors.

So matter looks set to keep us highly entertain through those winter months. Who said winter blues, not matter.

www.matterlondon.com

September

19th – Live Launch Night – UNKLE Live, Late Of The Pier Live , Iglu & Hartley Live, Huw Stephens (Radio 1) (£20)

20th – Club Launch Night – Carl Cox, Kissy Sell Out, Yousef & More TBA (£18)

26th – Mylo, Reverend and The Makers Live, Casino Royale Live, Riotous Rockers more TBA (£15)

27th – Renaissance – Sasha, Marcus James. Room 2: CR2 Live & Direct – Mark Brown, Micky Slim, Steve Mac, Arno Cost (£16)

October

2nd – Mousetrap Party: Deadmau5 Live, Chris Lake (£12.50)

3rd – This is Not London – Simian Mobile Disco (£15 Early Bird, £20 Door)

10th – BedRock 10th Anniversary – John Digweed (All night) (Limited £10 tickets)

17th – This Is Not London – Southern Fried Records, Armand Van Helden

(£15 Early Bird, £20 Door)

18th – This Is Not London – Moshi Moshi Records Label Party

(£15 Early Bird, £20 Door)

24th – This Is Not London – James Murphy (£15 Early Bird, £20 Door)

31st – This Is Not London – details TBA (£15 Early Bird, £20 Door)

Tags: Bedrock, Carl Cox, Fabric, John Digweed, Justice, matter, O2 Arena, Renaissance, Sasha, Simian Mobile Disco

How to get your Wild in the Country ticket refund

Friday, July 4th, 2008 | Event Reviews | No Comments

From RenHQ on how to get your refund:

REFUND INFORMATION
Tickets bought directly from renaissance.com will be reimbursed for the face value of each ticket purchased. Please send your contact details along with a valid unused ticket and transaction confirmation to:

Rebirth Music Ltd.
52a High Pavement
The Lace Market
Nottingham
NG1 1HW

To guard against loss/damage please send all tickets by recorded delivery.
E-Ticket customers: Please send your contact details along with your e-ticket voucher to the above address.

For all other outlets please contact point of purchase for their refund policy.
Once again apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Kind Regards
Renaissance

Tags: refund, Renaissance, Wild in the Country

Bjork has cancelled but there is so much more to see according to EarPipe’s Wild in the Country guide!

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 | Event Preview | No Comments

So Bjork is officially off the bill due to stage and production issues or that illness which forced her to cancel her other date in Sheffield. Nobody knows and we’ll probably never get to know. Either way she’s cancelled and caused a right who-ha. But as they say in performance circles, “the show must go on”. The line-up still remains as is. The Battles, who were initially swaying on their appearance, will now definitely be appearing and Soulwax who are curators of their own tent will also be present. So unless you’re a diehard Bjork fan, here is EarPIPE’s pick of the bunch to catch this Saturday, leaving only the weather to worry about. Dig out your best sun dance.

Richie Hawtin

OK so our top pick isn’t really the off centre alternative choice. But you just can’t deny how good the Canadian turned Berlin scenester is. Think of this more as the solid without fail choice. More often than not Richie will deliver, trust us we have seen him countless times and never get bored. Expect driving techno beats which build up to infinity, some technical ingenuity and his trademark hair flick and clap dance.

Bookashade

With a new album out this year, the boys have been on the road showcasing a new live. Already receiving rave reviews from all corners of the world, this show is sure to excite the electronic dance heads as well as those who prefer their bands live live rather than laptop live.

Carl Craig

This man has the golden touch. Anything that he produces or remixes turns out seminal. A stalwart on the scene from the early Detroit days Carl Craig has been there, done it and decided to hang around a bit longer to show the kids what its really all about. EarPipe caught him at the start of the year and blew us away with his Detroit blend of techno combined with such musicality that only one word comes to mind. EPIC.

Dixon

Another person we caught at the start of the year was Dixon. The Innervisions resident has been at the forefront of the deep electronic house sound that has seen a recent flourish. His deep house stylings are warm, sensual and seductive, be sure to catch.

DJ Yoda

Here at earPipe we love a bit of novelty comedy to lighten the mood. DJ Yoda is the undisputed heavyweight of lightening the mood. Serious does not even come into the equation. Simply marvel and smile as he ridiculously scratches and cuts up anything and everything into an old skool b-boy rhythm. Entertaining of the highest order.

Killa Kella

Whilst we’re on the subject of entertaining hip hop we can’t forget about beatboxer Killa Kella. The former beat box champion transcends all genres from Britney to drum n bass all through the manipulation of his voice. Truly an amazing sight.

The Field
Stockholm’s Axel Willner as The Field creates some of the most epic and mesmerising soundscapes you will ever hear. Signed to Kompakt he sound is often categorised as minimal techno but it is so much more than that. Intertwining harmonies, drawn out loops and sheer epic soundscapes create a complex and intense musical environment. We caught the man at Sonar and effortlessly floated away in the sunshine on a river of mojitos.

Audion

This Saturday Matthew Dear has left his leather trousers and big hands at home for he will be in his Audion guise. What this means is he’ll be thrashing out his blend of epic twisted techno from mouth to mouth and beyond.

Danny Tenaglia

Last but not least the Brooklyn 20 hour legend that is Danny Tenaglia. Renowned for his relentless 20 hour DJ sets, this man knows how to party. The purveyor of dark twisted tribal beats, Danny will take you on a long and deep journey, then at the end he’ll kick you out in the middle of no where. Expect tribal beats with a dash of diva vocals. But do beware of the stilton clangers that he has been known to drop every so often.

Tags: Audion, Bookashade, Carl Craig, Danny Tenaglia, Dixon, DJ Yoda, Killa Kella, Renaissance, Richie Hawtin, The Field, Wild in the Country

Wild in the Country Q&A with Renaissance’s Geoff Oakes

Thursday, June 26th, 2008 | Event Preview | No Comments

With only a week or so until Wild in the Country, EarPipe decided to have a chat with Renaissance’s main man Geoff Oakes about what to expect, what’s new and what’s making RenHQ giggle like school girls with excitement.

What can we expect this year from Wild in the Country?
18 hours of the very best in electronic and indie live acts and djs, funktion one sound, beautiful décor, lots of fun stuff to keep you amused and possibly the prettiest festival location in the UK.

Whats different this year from last year’s festival?
we have increased the hours by 50%, so it’s now an 18 hour marathon, starting at 1pm, with a much bigger and more diverse line-up. We only had 3 live acts last year, whilst this year we have 20, and there’s been a greater focus on making Wild in the Country feel like a fun and interesting festival experience. Whether it’s a surreal cuppa and cucumber sandwich at the mad hatters tea party, lazing away the afternoon in the enchanted forest or braving the fairground rides, there’s plenty to do both day and night.

So there are now 6 arenas what can we expect from each arena?
there’s a lot of musical diversity and we have programmed each arena to flow as if it were its own individual night. Each will have their own specific décor and funktion one sound, making every arena feel much more like a club than a festival tent.

What is Ren HQ most excited about at this year’s festival?
I think it has to be attracting Bjork for her only UK festival appearance. Danny Tenaglia’s first festival appearance in 6 years, Richie Hawtin hosting the only Minus arena at a UK festival this summer and Pendulum’s Live show will also be highlights.

Yoda was added to the bill. Will he be wowing us with one of his special AV shows?
He isn’t doing the ‘film score’ set, but he always delivers something special………. We were really pleased to land him and I can’t wait to see him play.

Richie Hawtin and friends are there celebrating 10 years of Minus, will they be doing their new cube live show concept thing??
No, the mysterious Cube is coming later in the year! However, this is a true Minus showcase and, with Carl Craig as a special guest, is a techno connoisseurs dream.

Are there any more acts to be announced?
No, we’re 10 days away as we speak…… everything is locked-in and the site build has already started.

Will there be an after party anywhere for those that don?t want to stop?
I am sure there will be but our focus is on the 18 hours of the festival, so no Wild in the Country endorsed after parties I’m afraid………. Not totally discounting turning up at one myself though!

Is mud banned from WITC this year and is the sunshine booked and confirmed for the 5th?
last year we had what was quite possibly the wettest day of the wettest summer on record, so it can only get better! We took a lot of lessons from last years weather and are much better equipped to deal with it should it happen again. The forecast for the south is looking pretty good though, so fingers crossed for a hot and sunny weekend.

What sets WITC away from your usual GlobalCreamfieldsbury Festivals?
the bigger the festival, the more pressure there is to load up the line up with as many djs and acts as possible to ensure the huge ticket sales required to break even are reached. This often means that too many acts are crammed into an arena with short sets and things don’t flow musically. We’ve tried to maintain a specific feel to Wild in the Country by putting together a credible and coherent line-up that makes real sense musically, giving set times of up to 4 hours to some DJs. The integrity of the line-up, coupled with an equal focus on a relaxed and fun experience, means we attract a great crowd that creates a unique festival atmosphere. The absence of a hard house tent feels like a breath of fresh air!

Tags: Bjork, festival, Geoff Oakes, Hawtin, Knebworth, Renaissance, Wild in the Country, Yoda