For the last festival of the summer, South West Four has a jaw-dropping lineup at Clapham Common: Paul van Dyk, Roger Sanchez, Pete Tong, John Digweed, Eric Prydz, Josh Wink, and that’s just half of the big names spinning at this epic Bank Holiday bash.
Too bad I can’t make it this weekend. But I’ll be queuing all right. It’s just that in Italy we queue at peak touristy season for different masterpieces.
Not much play these past two weeks, as we’ve been busy working on our London postcode series and an unrelated project. With the little free time I’ve had, I squeezed in at the packed Phonica party at T Bar on Saturday.
Earlier on the day, I went to Phonica’s shop in Soho to pick up a brilliant CD mix by Ewan Pearson for über club Fabric, and a Monza compilation CD by Crosstown Rebels head honcho Damian Lazarus. Lots of groovy beats to listen while we put the finishing touches on our latest collection…
It was a week that saw both ends of the nightlife spectrum from the ritzy, glitzy scene to the get down and dirty warehouse party.
On Wednesday, the trainers and t-shirts took a backseat as we dressed up for a soiree at a posh West End club. In typical London fashion, the venue was heaving with debutantes and men in suits by 11pm, when the first bottles of champagne were whisked ceremoniously to the tables at the back. Alas, during the time we were there, everyone was shying away from the £30,000 Cristal Mathusalem.
Friday was Ditched Disco night at T Bar. A no-brainer pick: no fuss at the door, no cover, and cutting edge music that keeps people off the couch. I’m not sure how to categorise it but it was a mix of funky rhythms and minimal beats. Too bad I left the camera at home.
On Saturday I ventured south of the Thames for some teutonic action at the Lost present M-NUS (pronounced minus) underground party at SeOne.
Housed inside the arches under the London Bridge Station, both the Blue Room and Red Room, which have a capacity of about 1,000 each, were thronged with fans of techno, young and old clad mostly T-shirts, dancing to the beats of Canadian expat and now Berliner Richie Hawtin and his mates at M-NUS.
Finally on Sunday, a friend invited me to catch the BBC Proms at the opulent Royal Albert Hall. It was a welcome change in pace, but I couldn’t stop thinking how music at 130 bpm would sound in the splendid acoustics of the room.
One of this year’s hottest music producers, Laidback Luke has released the killer track Down with the Mustard available exclusively at Beatport until the end of the week.
We will unveil the Down with the Mustard tee very soon, thanks to the kind folks at Unmanageable Artists. In the meantime, check out his site for more groovy, techy and downright catchy beats.
Mutek was the musical highlight of my three-month stay in Montreal. This five-day celebration of electronic music and visual media showcased great local talents and some of the best underground DJs, such as the boys from Kompakt: Brazilian Gui Boratto, who was sporting either a Merc or Ben Sherman T-shirt, and the label’s co-founder Michael Mayer who played that bad-ass, eery sound that I love.
Retracing the origins of trance, this clip, filmed in 1993, also reveals how Berlin became the capital of cutting edge music. Featuring interviews with Dr Motte, Paul van Dyk and Laurent Garnier .
Montreal has become a hotbed for electronic music in North America. Two major events are taking place later this month - Mutek and Piknic Eletronik.
A smaller version of Sonar, Mutek is a week long feast of electronic music and digital imagery. The big draw in this year’s lineup has to be Gui Boratto and Michael Mayer, who sometimes spins for free at T Bar, from Cologne-based label Kompakt.
Piknic Electronik is quite an interesting concept. It’s an all day music fest opened to families and children, at Parc Jean-Drapeau, the former site of Expo 67, whose goal is to democratise electronic music. Glad someone out there cares about our future. Maybe we should start working on our kids line.
Uber-DJ Eddie Thoneick has a new clip of his gig in Paris on Youtube. Aside from kick-ass music, what does this have to do with T-shirts? Stay tuned later this month…
Here’s a cool music video, showcasing T-shirt art, by Parisian electro-clash duo Justice. Most of the slick graphics are not on actual tees, but the ones I did recognise are Erol Alkan’s “Keep Kids Dancing” spoof of DARE and the Pacha cherries.
