Secretsundaze
The “March” is on to Spring – Weekend Fun
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 | Event Preview | No Comments
Ahhhh, March is here. This can only mean the better weather, summer time, festivals, outdoor raving and plenty of debauchery. The promoters seem to know what the deal is as they’ve laid on an absolutely massive weekend between them…Celebrate in style with one or all of these delights.
We Fear Silence at Corsica Studios (Buy Tickets)
Ever since the End closed down, it’s been few and far between for Border Community action. This Friday will hopefully remedy that a little bit as We Fear Silence have James Holden and label friend Avus headlining. No doubt Holden will be ready to skull fuck your brain with his twisted and boundless electronic sounds. › Continue reading
Prove Your Love to the Rave – Weekend Options
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 | Event Preview | No Comments
Valentines weekend, according to numerous industries the only weekend where you can show your love to that special person through expensive mediocre set menus, wilted single roses and novelty heart shaped gifts. The whole thing has become such a charade, but luckily there are plenty of options this weekend to show our protest against the greeting card and novelty item dictators.
Red bull Music Academy at South Bank Centre (Buy Tickets)
This weekend sees the start of the Red Bull Music Academy which is taking place over the coming weeks in London. The academy brings together prospective musical talent from across the world to work and share ideas with help from established and successful music industry types. In conjunction with the academy, Red Bull have a series of events lined up for the general public. This Friday sees Red Bull team up with Resident Advisor at the stunning Royal Festival Hall in the South Bank Centre for a head on collision of experimental electronica, Jazz and techno. There are two acts in particular that have us foaming at the mouth. We have a showcase from SHAPE, › Continue reading
EarPIPE’s Extensive But a Tad Late NYE/NYD Guide
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | Event Preview | 1 Comment
So I guess I should do some NYE recommendations since it’s that time of year again. However I might be a little late on the ball these days as you practically need to start planning your NYE activities in the summer. But if you’re still stuck for something to do here goes:
Eastern Electrics (Buy Tickets)
Top of the picks again is Eastern Electrics. Last year’s party was quite phenomenal – great line up, good crowd and interesting location. This year is more of the same. Headlining the main room is the amazing Steve Bug, he’ll be bringing in the new year with his 11pm set. Shonky is in there for some moral support whilst the BLOC folk take over the second room with a seriously dubbed out line-up – Kode 9, Appleblim and Plastician. Finally Man Make Music host the third room with a couple of bumping headliners in the form of Justin Martin and Riva Starr, a pretty stellar line-up for new years. Location wise they’ve taken over some railway arches, this time in London Bridge, next door to the new Shard building on St Thomas Street three minutes walk from the station. Tickets are selling out extremely fast so get them now at a relatively reasonable £32.50. › Continue reading
Weekend Party Round Up – DDD, Lost In the Loft, Superfreq and Disco Bloodbath
Friday, November 13th, 2009 | Event Preview, Event Reviews | No Comments
Gale force winds, torrential rain but despite the forces of nature there is still plenty of things on for the folk of London town. We’ve got parties hundreds of feet high, we’ve got new warehouses, we’ve got lofts and we’ve got our old favourites. But before we get into that let me reminisce about last weekend.
Disco Bloodbath continued their sound system travels around north east London locations last weekend. Previous Bloodbaths that I have been to always tended to be held in various ironic Dalston clubs which were always great fun. But with its astronomic rise to popularity over the last few years it was just getting harder and harder to pack everyone in to those sweaty basements. On Saturday they set up shop at a warehouse on Bocking Street and I have to say it was a great location. The space was just perfect for the size of crowd. Furthermore it was in an actual warehouse with real warehouse pillars and high ceilings rather than a mock warehouse which is actually a car park under some railway arches. › Continue reading
The Weekend Reprise – Contakt, Ministry Birthday, Aphex Twin, Secretsundaze & WYS!
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
I don’t know why but the last weekend in September always seems to be unnecessarily massive. Maybe because it’s the start of uni and the clubs want to start with a bang to get the kids hooked in? Guess it makes sense. Get em whilst they’re young and all that.
So what does the weekend have installed for all these younguns? Well the question should probably more what doesn’t the weekend have installed.
Contakt with Richie Hawtin
For one more time this year London will be graced with the last Contakt show for the year. It’s been almost a year since they last step foot in London and almost a year and a half since they started doing the show. If you haven’t heard by now the Contakt concept brings the Minus clan together, allowing them to perform as one unit set to the backdrop of some impressive visuals. Basically it’s an elaborate back to back session with all the Minus producers in front of a massive LED display showing some incredible trippy visuals. › Continue reading
Some Reasons Why Not to Waste Your Time on Clapham Common this Bank Holiday
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Event Preview | 2 Comments
- Image by Paul at Vision7Media
All things exciting seem to point to Clapham Common on the bank holiday weekend. But in all honesty, it’s not really all that it’s cracked up to be. Here are some reasons why not to waste your time on the common and some canny alternatives.
Rubbish Soundsystems
Being stuck in the heart of Clapham means you’re in the middle of a massive residential area. Residential area equals people with dogs, children, twitching curtains and a massive thirst for pissing on any parade. Call me crazy but these people hate it when their windows are vibrating during afternoon tea. Unfortunately they also pay taxes and actually have a say in how the world is run. So despite the soundsystem probably having tens of thousands of watts bottled up at its disposal, you can probably expect that the local council has it capped to a dreary cesspit tap drip. So the only way you’re going to hear anything of worth is if you’ve camped out inside the bass bin like some free party crusty.
What you need is some grotty warehouse space where you can crank it up a few notches. It just so happens that Eastern Electrics will be holed up in some grotty warehouse space › Continue reading
I’m Sorting My Life Out, But If I Didn’t Have to Here’s Where I Would Go>
Friday, July 10th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
Just a quick note on weekend manoeuvres. I’m not going anywhere as my life is in tatters after the last few months of being massively on it, all of which I will litter these pages with the details. But if I were to head out I would probably be looking at these things:
Saturday
The decks have barely cooled down from the last party, but pappa Sven is already back at matter for another Cocoon party. Even if Sven isn’t your cup of tea there is still the highly talented Onur Ozer who will finally be gracing London with his visa in hand, not to mention Reboot loaded with his hotly anticipated tune of the summer.
Even though pappa Sven is a veteran on the scene, nothing gets more veteran than Kevin Saunderson one of the birth givers to the techno sound. He’s dusting off the old Inner City moniker which gave us Good Life and Big Fun. This is definitely going to be a special show. But just for kicks Kevin Saunderson is going to play a few tunes and they’ve also brought in Claude Von Stroke to sweeten the deal.
Aside from the two heavyweights there is Tom Middleton in the East Village basement doing an Electro Funk set or there is Superfreq doing their final party at Cable with Adultnapper, Chloé and Tolfrey along with the ressies Mr C, Luke Vb and Dollz at Play.
Cocoon at Matter tickets HERE
Eastern Electrics with Kevin Saunderson tickets HERE
Superfreq tickets HERE
Sunday
Well, I don’t really need to say much about Sunday. I’ll just spell it out plain and simple.
Prosumer – Light Bar – Secretsundaze. Done.
If the weather holds out its going to be a stellar party.
Get your tickets HERE!.
EarPipe’s Last Minute, One Page Sonar 2009 Guide
Thursday, June 18th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
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:
Thursday
Catch Konono No1 blast out some congo riddems. Seen videos and the look fun!
If you’re invited hit the Mobilee rooftop pool party at Hotel Diagonal
The Bank Holiday Just Stomped Right Through All Over My Brain | Garnier, Villalobos & Secretsundaze
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Event Reviews | No Comments
Now that I’ve picked up the pieces (Yes its been three weeks..) its time to talk about the bank holiday weekend that recently stomped all over my brain. The first outing was way out at matter, where the French master Laurent Garnier was down to show off his new live show. Unfortunately being a working man meant it was a bit tough getting back and mustering up the energy to head straight back out again, so I didn’t end up getting down to the club till gone midnight and therefore missed the whole live show. Not to worry as I’ll be catching it at Sonar and Worldwide festival this year. But what I did catch was the mighty Francois K who did his usual trick of coming on and obliterating any warm up. It’s not a bad thing because it does often work and that night it picked the night up in the right direction. However I think he might have scared some of the after work drinks crowd with the blistering tunes he was playing.
The crowd itself wasn’t as busy as I thought it was going to be. Usually a Garnier gig is a road block event. Maybe it was, but with matter being so huge it comfortably held everyone with plenty of room to dance. The rest of the club wasn’t used though with room 2 being closed early on or all night and › Continue reading
Yet Another Bank Holiday! Earpipe’s Guide to Completely Waste it Away!
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
- Photo by Vickie Parker
My god, this weekend is so packed that there is hardly any room to manoeuvre for hangovers. But even though we know of the impending doom that is likely to happen next week in the form of an almighty comedown we’re still going to give you our low down on what seems fun for the short term.
If you’re starting things early then new club Cable in London Bridge has their opening night on Thursday. Will Saul, Dave Congreve and the Disco Bloodbath fellas will no doubt be cracking open a bottle of bubbly in celebration.
But now on to the real weekend. Friday sees the French grand master Laurent Garnier debut his live show in the UK at matter. Things kick off early with the live show starting at 7pm and running through till 9pm. That’s then followed by a pretty monstrous line-up consisting of DJ sets from Garnier, Francois K, Yousef, Norman Jay, The Unabombers and Chris Coco. Not a bad way to start a weekend eh? Get your tickets from the following links: Live Show only or Combined Live/Club tickets here or Club night only tickets here
If a trip all the way out to Greenwich is too much (and I don’t blame you) then maybe a trip to East Village where everyone’s favourite Romanian DJ, Pedro of a:rpia:r fame is manning the decks in the basement. He’s sure to have things bumping with his blend of techno and house. Moving on to Saturday and there is one event which is sure to be a complete roadblock. › Continue reading
Some Fun Things Been Happening Over The Last Couple Weeks | Secretsundaze, Eastern Electrics and Superfreq!!
Sunday, May 17th, 2009 | Event Reviews | No Comments
- Image by Paul at Vision7Media
This weekend has been relatively quiet (and a little wet) so I’ve had a bit of time to tell you where I’ve been. First, two weeks ago was yet another bank holiday weekend and the Sunday was set as the big night since Saturday was reserved for watching a fat Manc get decked by a cheeky chappy Phillipino. Anyways Secretsundaze started their summer of events with their opening party on the THAT terrace out in the middle of nowhere (well no where in Greenwich with no Jubilee line). It was touch and go whether the weather was going to be good but Mother Nature for once pulled through and the terrace was to be blessed with sunshine all afternoon. Sunshine, drinking and outdoor dancing is just a great combination. The crowd were really up for it and despite some pretty shaky mixing, apparently due to some technical difficulties, the party still went off. Brothers Vibe did a great job of changing up gears from evening to night whilst Melon was knocking out some great grooving house beats. Move D early on was good but maybe a little too deep for my liking. Being tired and hungover whilst hearing some laid back deep grooves can make one a little sleepy however it did go well with the sunshine and glamorous crowd. So despite the awkward location and shaky mixing Secretsundaze was in my eyes a success. › Continue reading
May The Rave Be With You!
Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
I love this stretch of April to May. There’s a nice series of bank holidays which firstly equates to four day weeks or long weekends, but secondly and most importantly it means so many great rave up opportunities. You might have only just flushed the last bank holiday weekend out of your system, but here it is again, another extended weekend in our midst.
So what are the options for the May day rave up?
Saturday has some nice options with Excuse The Mess being top of the pile. They’ve got My My live along with the always excellent Matthew Styles in room 1. Then in room 2 Ralf Kollman takes the spotlight to entertain along with Shane Watcha.
The first part of Eastern Electrics also kicks off on the Saturday too. They’ll be vibing with some dub-tastic sounds with Dublime who have brought in Brendon Moeller. Room 2 has been taken over by the folks that brought you the Bloc Weekender. Their room is looking particularly sharp with the likes of Metro Area, Appleblim and Zomby. Then the third and final room is hosted by the Man Make Music guys. They’ve got the West Coast house head and Buzzin Fly aficionado Justin Martin.
Tickets are still available for both, so get Excuse the Mess tickets here and Eastern Electrics tickets here.
The Mother of All Weekends is Upon Us!
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 | Event Preview | No Comments
When most people think of Easter they think the second coming of Christ, Easter eggs, fluffy bunnies and daffodils. For a select few it’s all about Easter weekend and how to run your mind into the ground for four days and nights. I’m in the latter camp.
This year the options seem to be bunched around key days. Thursday night has an all mighty clash. In one corner you’ve got your scenster nights. Secretsundaze do their annual thing at the coronet theatre which will see Ame, Dixon and Henrik Schwarz combine forces to create some ableton improve amalgamation live set where they be as one together. No its not some gay love in between the quartet, it’s actually their new project Critical Mass. The whole thing sounds pretty interesting, especially if its anything along the lines of their recent Granfather Paradox mix. After the live session, Dixon and Ame will be dropping a dj set or two along with the SS and Horse Meat Disco ressies.
However if Secretsundaze all sounds a bit too complex with the live sets and you just want to go and party your ass of to some party tunes, then maybe Disco Bloodbath is for you? They’re celebrating their 2nd birthday and to help them they’ve brought in their Scottish mentors Optimo who have been playing party tunes for countless years. Todd Terje will be headlining the main room for the Bloodbath along with the residents, whilst Optimo residents Twitch and Wilkes will be keeping a handle on things with Gucci Soundsystem.
If that all seems a bit to fashionista and you just want raw big room stuff, then you want to be heading towards Koko or matter. Old Coxy is doing a party at the former with Nic Fanciulli and Yousef, whilst Diggers is doing his Bedrock thang at the latter.
EarPipe’s Things We’ve Liked and Are Looking Forward To
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 | Event Preview, Event Reviews | No Comments
- Photo From Resident Advisor
Sorry for being a bit slow on the posts front recently. Its mainly down to me being found at weekends crawling around the floor of darkened rooms playing repetitive electronic music. That said I want to tell you about a few of those excursions.
Firstly way back at the end of February we got invited to the launch of Nic Fanciulli’s Saved Sessions at matter. The brand spanking new club was ideal for the heavy weight line up that Nic had brought in. Nic Fanciulli himself played a brilliantly judged tech house to techno set, whilst the the comedy techno antics of Green Velvet blew the socks off many a bewildered tourist clubber. The New York legend Francois K then smashed it home leaving only the lovers of techno to revel in the ridiculous bass that the matter sound system pumps out. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful residency. Judging by the next Saved Sessions it sure will be. Derrick Carter vs DJ Sneak, Dennis Ferrer, Theo Parrish, Jerome Sydenham and Will Saul!?!?!?!?!?!?Surely i’ve died and woken up in US house heaven?
Fast-forward a couple of weeks and we’re down at East Village where Prologue had brought in Norman Jay for a bit of Good Times magic. I was worried whether Norman Jay was a one trick pony with his chesse-a-thon sets as seen at Carnival. However I was happily proved wrong as he dug out some great house music to have the basement turned up to gas mark nine. › Continue reading
Something For The Weekend…. Go!Zilla|Mulletover|Fabric
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 | Event Preview, Music | No Comments
Surely it’s time to shake of the January blues? There is definitely a fair few options if you do.
Firstly, Cargo on Saturday plays host to Go!Zilla with Joey Negro’s legendary Sunburst Band. In support is Switzlerland’s Agnes doing a live performance and deck duties being done by Benji B and James Priestly of 1Xtra and Secretsundaze fame respectively. Expect fun, soulful house music.
Since Cargo closes so early you can extend the night and head over to Mulletover. The warehouse floor isn’t even cold from New Years Eve yet, but they’re straight back in there with their winter warmer. Anja Schneider the Berlinette of Mobilee fame and Nottingham legend with Matt “Leftroom” Tolfrey are brought in to blow away the January cob webs alongside Geddes. Over in the second room disco reviver Todd Terje heads things up with the Future Boogie folks. House, Tech-House, Techno and everything in between and if that doesn’t keep you entertained there is the cosmic rays of disco in room two. This has sold out, so get there early.
Finally, since we’re getting back into things proper… we might as well power through till the early hours. Fabric seems to think so. Original Detroit techno minimaliser Robert Hood is in town with Arne Weinberg and Convextion, not to mention the rock like Craig Richards. That still Room 2 goes all Français with Jennifer Cardini along with Ivan Smagghe and Tim Paris making their return.
What a Saturday of things to do! Get involved!
To warm you up a little, the kind folks at Fabric sent over a Tim Paris mix… 
)
Listen below or download from here.
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Tracklist:
Skinnerbox ‘Binaer-Sedenaer’
Jaxson ‘Miami Flys’
Chateau Flight ‘La Roquette’
Instant Boys ‘Nya Farger’
Koze ‘Abudinga’
Johnny White ‘Musique Noire’ (Jamie Jones edit)
Lexy ‘Get Down’
Marc Houle ‘Selection’
Remain ‘Dependance’
EarPipe Has an Even Hazier Look Back at the Music Through 2008
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | Music, News | 1 Comment
I normally struggle to think what tunes have been and gone in the last month, so trying to remember what I was listening to back in January is a mountainous mission in itself, which is probably why I’m going to write this avoiding any specifics and will talk around the subject pretending I know what I’m talking about like any good politician would do. But from what I can recollect “minimal” became housier (or maybe I became housier?), Dubstep collided with Techno and Disco has undergone a massive revival
So lets start with the shift towards the housier sounds. We noticed a lot of DJs ditching the repetitive and bland “minimal” sounds that were starting to stagnate and instead nudging more towards the house end of the spectrum. This meant a bit more funk and soul embedded into tracks, more vocals and jazzier samples. It may sound like we’re harking back to the funky house days circa 2000-02, but this was slightly different, it was more an amalgamation of what came out of the “minimal-tech” sounds which dominated ’05-’07 with older house music sensibilities as seen from the Chicago deep house days. A perfect example of this is probably My My, their remix of Djuma Soundsytem’s Les Dijnns ’s typifies where the sound was during 2007 whilst their latest release Everybody’s Talkin’ is a glimpse into the house sound doing the rounds at the moment. The same goes for Josh Wink’s Stay Out All Night and Matthew Styles We Said Nothing, both distinctly Chi-town influenced numbers which bebop’s to a fun and funked up skipping rhythm. In a similar vein who could forget Johnny D who’s had a fantastic year. His track Orbitallife was causing raucous everywhere through the summer not to mention all his other releases.
But then it wasn’t all fun funked up house, this year saw a lot of dub style house and techno music with heavy basslines at a relaxed pace. Tracks like Trus’me’s W.A.R Dub particularly stood out as did a lot of the output from Gedde’s new label MurMur which had artists like Bearweasel pumping out deep and hypnotic house. One of the best tracks of the year for me was the highly elusive Wax1001. There was no artist or label, just this white label containing the rawest house track ever. A simple track with clunky beats, classic hi hat patterns and a dark raw bassline made Wax1001 show how less is definitely more.
Earpipe Looks Hazily Back at the Clubs, Festivals and Parties in 2008
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | Events, News | 1 Comment
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.
EarPIPE’s Frivolously Fantastic Yet Quite Practical London NYE Guide
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments
Since we’re halfway through December with Christmas right on our doorsteps I guess we should really cover what’s going down on New Years Eve. If you think you can bear the vomit laden streets and tourist clubbers who make it out for their annual party then read on. If not EarPipe recommends a house party or hired venue for you and your friends to get seriously pissed and whatever else you might want to do….
So what is the party to go to for us? Top of our list is Eastern Electrics. You may remember them from August Bank Holiday weekend, maybe for the wrong reasons. Here at Earpipe we had an OK night but it’s true it could have been organised better. But Eastern Electrics has assured us they’re one the case. So we’re definitely going to give it another shot because who could say no to some South London urban space. You may cry that its going to be cold. But fear not as you’ll be donning some kitsch 80s throw back tracksuit because as part of this year’s line-up Eastern Electrics have brought in Tayo and his legendary tracksuit party!! What better excuse to look 80s hip hop cool or more likely in our case Chuckle Brothers retro.
Tracksuits aside you may want to know what’s going on music wise. Well they’ve got three rooms in this warehouse location. The main room will have the formidable Mulletover who have brought in one half of MANDY Phillip Jung, they’ve also got Crosstown Rebeller Damien Lazarus, who might we add played an absolute stormer at the T-Bar closing parties, and to support these heavyweights they’ve got London faithfuls Geddes from Mulletover and Simon Morell form DDD. Tayo and Frank Tope take over room two with their tracksuit party canvassing support from ex Radioslaver Serge Santiago and to round things off those up and coming Man Make Music kids will be delivering the full spectrum of bass heavy dance music. So pretty fantastic if you ask me.
Tickets are still going at £20 from ticketweb here
And you might still be able to get some £16 ones from View London here
Not bad for New Years Eve!
But if bopping around a cold warehouse in a tracksuit doesn’t take your fancy then here are the next best…
Secretsundaze
Secretsundaze looks particularly good. They’ve taken Village Underground a rough and ready design space in the heart of Shoreditch. The location sounds fantastic and they’ve got a fantastic line-up too. Favourites from the year Omar S and Johnny D will be playing alongside Giles Smith and James Priestley. Expect nothing less than brilliant house music!
Get your tickets from here.
Horse Meat Disco
If you want something a bit off the wall then Horse Meat Disco might be right up your street. They’ve got plenty of delightful disco to see you through the night at Cargo and to give it that Studio 54 edge they’ve brought in show girl Johnny Woo of Gay Bingo fame.
Get your tickets from here.
Fabric
Now we move on to the big boys. Firstly Fabric has one big New Years Eve melting pot of styles. Its going to be a head on collision of Fabric vs Fabric Live. In room one they’ve got our Innervisions favourites Ame and Dixon along with Nottingham whipper snapper Matt Tolfrey. Of course the New Year wouldn’t be the same if the residents Craig Richards and Terry Francis weren’t present. Then over in room two they’ve got Yoda, Craze and the perverts. If you like hip hop and DnB there’s no point looking anywhere else.
Get your tickets from here
The End
The second big boy is The End. They do their final New Years Eve and who better to bring the club in to the New Year for the final time than the French master Laurent Garnier. All night the French wizard will do what he does best and that’s quality journeys through dance music. He’ll get a little support from Layo too and in the back room the most excellent Jimpster and Milton Jackson will have you buried deep in the ground with their deep deep stylings. Sure to be a fantastic party however you might be left a bit tearful not because it’s closing down but because of the ticket price.
Get your eye watering £40 tickets from here
EarPipe’s Christmas Three Club Orgy! Matter to Fabric via Secretsundaze
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008 | Event Preview, Events, News | No Comments
Like any good dance music resource we should round up how to get yourself in a ditch via the most fun way during this festive period. So let’s begin with this weekend.
Saturday sees a lude three-way orgy between Fabric, Matter and Secretsundaze. Firstly Fabric has their annual Digweed soirée joined by Lee Burridge and Radioslave which is sure to be prog-e-licious affair. Up the road at Kings Cross’ Scala, the Secretsundaze rabble once again takeover. They’re joined by Shindoe, 2000 and One and Kabale und Liebe in the main room whilst the residents Giles Smith and James Priestley hold fort in the back room with the excellent Brothers Vibe. Finally a Secretsundaze do wouldn’t be the same without a lick of disco, so the Disco Bloodbath boys take over room three. Again another great party to get too.
Last but not least we have Matter and quite possibly the first decent all round line-up they’ve put on since they’ve opened. The main reason for this is due to RA who is taking over for one night to throw their Christmas party with many of the fantastic DJs that have graced their podcast this year. You’ve got everything from the disco funk realm of Trus’me, the electronic techno and house stylings of DJ Koze and Modselektor and the dubby darkness of Appleblim and Shackleton. And that’s just the main room; out back you’ve also got Move D and the excellent Motor City Ensemble. What’s also good about this night is that you can get £8 tickets from RA. That’s £12 cheaper than your normal Matter night with a line-up that is more exciting than poking your knob in the VCR. The big question is, which party do you go to? Unfortunately I can’t answer that; well my answer would be to do all three.
So I present to you EarPipe’s Christmas Three Club Orgy. The map should help you get about and you should be able to squeeze in about 2.5 hours in each club. It may require a dedicated driver and a wheel barrow of cash too. But meh its Christmas… spoil yourself… Thank me later when you’ve got a stinking hangover the next day.
The Sonar Report 2008: EarPipe Limps into Sunday
Sunday, September 7th, 2008 | Event Reviews, Events | No Comments
As we head into the dark and gloomy winter months we should really conclude what actually happened on the last two days of EarPipe’s Sonar weekend. In previous parts we told you about our escapades at La Terrazza with the Soma boys, our thirst for mojitos, the booty shakin breaks of Diplo and the mind warping sounds of Contakt. In our third and final instalment, we’ll be covering our haggered limp across the finish line from Saturday to Monday.
To kick Saturday off earPipe caught the Dirty presents showcase at the Sonar Dome. Until that day we had never heard of Dirty and their collection of French DJs and producers. Some digging about and it turns out these guys run a not for profit website hailing from Paris called d-i-r-t-y.com, where they release edits and compilations as well as run a bi monthly party. Their sound is a real mixed bag of stuff. Pilooski on his own was dropping all kinds of down tempo beats from soul classics edited in the Dirty way right through to upbeat disco and electro. He then followed his own set with Pentile on his joint live project called Discodeine. Together they combined the brash, rawness of electro with the funk of disco, but it’s not in your face jump around electro like their fellow country men Justice make; it’s more calculated, restrained and twisted.
To finish the Dirty showcase, Pilooski took to the stage once again as part of the Dirty Sound System where the whole team just ripped the SonarDome to pieces. Playing a French blend of their trademark electro sound they had the marquee bopping about like lunatics. Definitely people to catch again in the future.
Back over in the Sonar Village, The Field, a one man production extravaganza was creating his epic soundscapes for sun lavished crowds. His productions are in one word beautiful, it is the way that they twist and turn in a pleasurable but not overpowering wall of sound. It is kind of minimal, but not through the ethos of removing elements more so minimal in the way his music progresses. The soaring sounds fit snugly for the late afternoon slot just as those mojitos were beginning to hit home once again.
EarPipe’s final stop off for the day was purely for comedy value. Inside at the SonarComplex DJ Scotch Egg had been mounting his Osaka Invasion all afternoon. If you haven’t heard of Scotch Egg, he is basically a mental Japanese fella who bangs out hardcore gabba music with an 8 bit computer game take on things, though a combination of gameboys, megaphones, distortion and a bit of crowd participation by throwing scotch eggs at them. Is Mr Egg avant garde? Probably not. It is however completely nuts music and really can’t be taken seriously by anyone on this planet. Its shear insanity and the fact that it could give you a brain haemorrhage, nose bleed, as well as make your ears bleed and induce an epileptic fit kind of makes it so entertaining and a little intriguing. If you don’t believe me watch these videos. Scotch Egg 1. Scotch Egg 2.
For the final visit to Sonar by Night, EarPipe manages to catch the last half of Soulwax on their Weekend Never Dies tour. We always enjoy the energy they create as they relentlessly plough through their songs, rarely stopping for breath. It’s a whirlwind show and their drummer must be one of the hardest working out there. Interesting takes on Daft Punk’s Robot Rock as well as their classics NY Lips and E-Talking. These guys have played Sonar for the last few years and they have always put on a great show.
Next up for EarPipe was Dubfire out in the SonarLab. The Deep Disher was flying solo in his new “back to my roots” techno persona. We did enjoy his set of techno beats, but we did feel a bit sterile afterwards. There were some great tunes in there, but on the whole the set just didn’t seem very imaginative. It was an onslaught of typical techno tunes which were fun but not really that memorable. If Dubfire wants to shake of the shackles of Deep Dish then he’s going to have to try harder. However it was great when he dropped his recent remix of Radioslave’s Grindhouse Tool.
Sonar’s grand finale came down to the legendary Ricardo Villalobos. Over the past year the guy has been brilliant, so what better a setting than the outside SonarPub with the sun rising in the early morning sky and a few thousand revellers ready to go completely mad. Ricardo’s set was nothing short of breathtaking. Probably being on the right side of inebriated, his mixing was tight and tune selection playful. Effortlessly cherry picking South American influenced percussive house and techno through to the down right heavy balls to the wall stuff. The cheekiness and range which he can play is something that many DJs envy. Evidence of this was when he dropped Sis’ Trompeta, which is basically this year’s Heater. But despite it being a corny track, its silly sample was perfectly apt to end a weekend of debauchery and serious electronic music, and like last year at Exit when Heater dropped, it erupted in various gypsy-esque dances. Keeping command of his crowd to the very end he rounds of preceedings with house classic Lil’ Louis’ French Kiss. Perfect.
And so ends another year at Sonar. Three days and two nights of great music, great atmosphere and plenty of mojitos. However it doesn’t stop there. On the Sunday Secretsundaze happened to be keeping the party spirit alive by doing their Sunday shenanigans at La Terrazza. It was an ideal club which completely encompasses what Secretsundaze is all about and what it should be ideally in the UK, open air with plenty of sunshine, a great crowd and the highest order of house you can imagine. For their Barcelona party Johnny D, 2000 and One and Mountain People all played exceptional sets, keeping my frail legs moving to the very end. I could give you details, but they’re a bit thin on the ground. But I do know we had a great time and it was a brilliant way to finish off the weekend and seal my fate for a fragile journey home. So until next year, Adios Barcelona!
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