19th Sept '13: Diamond Version & Ninos Du Brasil @ Village Underground / 20th Sept '13: ELM Calls Berlin with Margaret Dygas + Sammy Dee @ Crucifix Lane

Mid week techno is a rare occurrence, but who could resist a live show from Diamond Version? We hauled our arses to Village Underground on a school night, knowing that the night finished at 2am and arriving early at 9:30pm hoping that the main act would be on in time to grab last tubes.

The venue was laid out slightly differently to usual, with the archway from the reception to the bar room blocked and the bar brought forward to make the bar area half its usual size. The event was a preview for Italian festival Club2Club sponsored by Alfa Romeo who (by way of a sign up process at a desk)  were offering the chance to win a set of headphones - what the hell that has to do with their brand I have no idea. Seems a very tenuous link in as much as the car is Italian and the festival is in Italy. Not sure how many techno lovers really equate to Alpha Romeo sales?! There were banners across the ceiling for the festival as well as constant promo images on the large stage screens. The line up for the festival in November includes Moderat, Fourtet, Fuckbuttons, Jon Hopkins and a lot more. Worth a look if you happen to be in Torino at the time.

In the main room a stage had been constructed, brought forward a lot to make the main space much smaller

than usual - this was not going to be a huge capacity audience it would seem. The stage had been set up with 2 huge screens and projectors but the warm up DJ was positioned down on floor level against the far side wall whic was a bit strange. He was playing a nice selection of electro. Towards 10pm the tunage got far more experimental and stark and edgy art-house horror filmy. We were stood right at the front for a rare change. I turned around to survey the sparse crowd and there was a higher percentage of big bushy beards than usual, and a generally older crowd than is out at the weekends.

At 10pm Ninos Du Brasil took to the stage. At first, a lone DJ played experimental tribal beats. He was soon joined by 3 live drummers sporting tinsel hats who accompanied the DJ then over powered him with drum rolls, shouting "hum ha hum ha" like an aggressive Noel Fielding sketch. It was Techno meets Mighty Boosh complete with jungle animal sounds. I felt like Balloo might come out wearing coconuts and a grass skirt doing big fish little fish cardboard box at any moment.

Ninos Du Brasil

The next track suddenly transported me to the middle of Mardi Gras. The energy of Ninos Du Brasil was awesome. I could feel the atmosphere of a street festival, imagine the colours, see the booty shaking. However, when I turned around, the audience is mostly still, nodding slightly. I was also not outwardly dancing, in fact very few people were moving at all. Inside I was doing the samba. We must all be dead inside not to have been going bananas. Or maybe we just very English and in Shoreditch on a Thursday. This track flowed into a more jazzy vibe combined with very minimal techno - like Lucy meets Buena Vista Social Club. I loved it, loved them. I 100% recommend you see them if you have the chance. Ninos Du Brasil are something a bit different and a lot of fun.

After this stream of energetic brilliance the set got on an oriental Zen tip with deep plodding bass drum and tinkering chimes. This track went on for a verrrrrry long time and didn't really go anywhere. It was quite meditative edging on dull. Thankfully after that brief reflective interlude the guys regained their upbeat & percussive feel and a few more people in the crowd were now warmed up and dancing. We had a group of girls in front of us dressed up for a Saturday night and dancing around a pile of coats and handbags - something I've not seen in a long time! Ninos ended their show with an unexpected grungy metal tip.

Alessio Natalizia

The DJ started up again for a short time with some Kompakt style house tracks whilst the stage hands cleared the Ninos kit and set up a bank of thigh high screens front of stage. I had no idea until afterwards that the DJ was in fact Alessio Natalizia|, half of Kompakt duo Walls who was (according to Resident Advisor) presenting a "a retrospective collection focused on the Italian electronic and new wave underground scene of the ’80s."

It became apparent from the stage set up that Diamond Version would not be performing with Japanese artist Atsuhiro Ito. He was not billed on the line up but DSL was really hoping he may make a guest appearance as this clip shows, their work together is pretty amazing.

Mute records Diamond Version is a collaboration between Byetone and Alva Noto. I saw Alva Noto deliver a live set at Berghain last year and still remember feeling like I was listening to musical fireworks. I was looking forward to this performance very much. The duo started with ear crunching white noise, massive pounding stomach churning bass and a strobe light facing directly at us. My senses were assaulted. My head hurt, my brain ached, and yet it was brilliant. The sound quality was great. I was being physically affected by the depth of the subs and yet could still talk to DSL without shouting even though my ears were tickling. It felt way too loud but clearly was not.

As my ears adjusted I looked up and enjoyed the visual stream of projections perfectly timed to the music, lighting the screens up in patches of colour like heat sensors.

My favourite track of the show showed racing cars on the visuals and was an onslaught of crisp clean engine revs. I my head I was making "neeeeoooowwwwws" like a 6 year old pretending to drive throughout. Call me a child but I like cars and I like techno - fuse the two together and I am likely to pretend I am car racing whilst I am listening.

The hour long performance was short but very sweet; blending distortion, beats and excellent video. I had a great time and just wish I had the balls to dance like a loom even when no one else will. There is nothing worse than a banging set and a dead crowd. Stupid thing is this that whilst they all stood about stroking their beards I expect they all felt exactly the same as me.

The following night we trotted off to Crucifix Lane for a night of Berlin influences with ELM. We arrived at 12:30am to a half full main room, which reached its maximum influx of people by 1:30am to see it maybe two thirds full. The tunes being played were mediocre uninspiring tech house. Nice enough but not grabbing anyone's attention, especially with the sound level pretty low. The main room was smaller than usual as the DJ set up had been brought forward and the ceiling draped at the front with a parachute which looked a bit naff if in my opinion but, made the small crowd feel more intimate. The volume of people chatting was annoyingly equal to the music and I felt really old. 95% of the crowd were in their early 20s.

We ended up sat down chatting on some stools. Joking we are old, I suddenly realise that when I was 20 and people in their 30s were out with us moaning how much better it was back in the day, I thought they should be at home and leave us young'uns to it. And now that is me - but I am sat down because actually,  we have been out a lot in life and we have seen and heard it all and need a certain level of quality and entertainment to get us dancing. We are not easily impressed these days. This party does have a nice vibe, good energy, a friendly crowd and my head and foot have been nodding along the whole time but its not ground breaking. It's fine. That is all.

We had come to see Sammy Dee and Margaret Dygas so I thought I'd best check the set times online. At this point I discover that Sammy Dee was on 2 til 4 then Margaret til close. However, the venue had been granted an extended license til 8am at the last minute so that would now change. I was quite mortified we would have to stay all night if we wanted to hear Dygas, although admittedly the tunes are building pace and were now a little  louder and contained more passion and character.

A quick 3am cigarette break in the packed fenced off corridor on the pavement outside was short lived for once. Due to local residents you have to be quiet so every 2mins a loud shhhhh spread down from the bouncers for us all to shut up. It was like being in a school assembly. Going back indoors we were greeted by full on feel good banging house tracks. No vocals being played but the general sound reminded me of old Cassius tracks.

Sammy Dee was on about 3am in the end I think. The house is deeper and more varied in his set. We get to hear Latin rhythms, tech house some tracks with a 90s soulful beat that reminded me of the Brand New Heavies. I had fun during this set and in a conscious effort to get ourselves moving, we went to the front to get involved. After half an hour of it I was getting a bit bored and a few clashy vocal mixes of chanting and shouting and pianos made the set a bit messy in places. There seems to be something wrong with one of the decks that a needle change didn't fix. We were losing the will to live by 5am and sat down. The night was just not good enough to dance to again. Tracks picked up with an acid house vibe but I was beginning to think Dygas just wan't going to be playing! Sammy Dee's set slowed in pace to get deeper and more fluid but the mixes and levels had not been fab - he kept bringing tracks in as if he didn't know the level was up and taking it out again quickly as it is out of time. I wonder if the monitor levels were right? All the DJs have had some issues and I have to assume that there is an issue with the sound set up.

By now the club is less than half full, peak time was 2 til 4. Why on earth would you play the headliner last Margaret Dygas - please dear God make this have been worth waiting for.
on an 8am finish? Finally there were signs of a DJ change at 6am as tiny lady takes to the decks much to everyone's happiness. Welcome

It was a shaky start. The high end was very prominent but the bass was really muffled and fuzzy. Something somewhere in a speaker had blown and that is just not fixable. Margaret's mixes are not flawless. They are just a smidge off time here and there and downright clunky on occasion - a fact only made more noticeable by the uneven sound levels. It took her half an hour to get into her stride and sort the levels out, then it was a good solid innings played to a room now only a third full at best. We danced about to some nice smooth, well paced techno that reminded me a bit of Hawtin's Ibiza Boiler Room Set. The set built well and a heaving dance floor would probably have been going nuts - but all that was left at 7am were space cadets and others too tired by now to give it some. Just as I am thinking this, another clunky mix hits my ears and the levels go all over the show again. It's a shame as the tune selection is fantastic but speakers are popping and I admit defeat, use the horribly lit and grim toilets and depart.

That's the second time I've been to Crucifix Lane (the first was was Speedy J earlier his year) and both times the sound has been awful. Personally I'll need some convincing to bother going there again. Many of my mates love the place and I have not a clue why. It's a black painted brick arch like every other arch venue available in the city, with nasty loos and a crap sound system. The only stand out point is the lighting rig in the center of the ceiling, but when that is covered up by a parachute then it's really not anything special at all.

Sat 10th August 2013: Black Atlantic x Marcel Dettman @ Village Underground

Before we begin... you can follow adventurer escapades on Twitter by clicking here, Soundcloud by clicking here and now, we have a Google calendar listing all the techno nights we know of worth going to in the UK and further afield. It's top right to this blog and will be updated as and when we know about what's coming up. And if you ever want to know more about any of the DJs and record labels mentioned in this blog, the ones highlighted are links through to more info.

Last minute change of weekend plans meant I was free to go to Black Atlantic, which I was pretty chuffed about as I have missed Lucy play in London twice this year already.

Pariah

We arrived to Pariah's set and hung out in the bar until the full crew had arrived and caught up on all recent gossip and future techno plans. Upon entry to the main room, the sound was ridiculous - as in OUCH HELP GET ME EARPLUGS. All of us - that is all 6 of us - went to the bar for earplugs. To need them right near speakers is fine but to need them just to walk into the room was a bit rubbish. We planted ourselves 10ft from the front whilst TIR scampered off to find the sweet spot. Aside from the ear tickling volume Pariah delivered a solid warm up set of minimal techno. Non-techno lovers may have found it dull and for sure this set eeked out a few £5 early bird Shoreditch kids out for piss up and not for the tunes. The event was sold out but in no way over sold - the crowd was a nice bunch and there was plenty of room to dance, except nearer the front where the temperature was crazy hot.

The Sweet Spot - where the sound is best!

Village Underground is a venue rather than a club, so it doesn't have a DJ booth. The set up was brought in and unceremoniously plonked at one end of the room at ground level. Now I don't know about you but I quite like to feel connected to the DJ somehow and that usually means being able to see them. From 10ft back we couldn't see them at all. It really would not have cost much to get some wood blocks or steel deck under the set up to raise the DJs up high enough for us all to see them. Yes we could have moved to the front but TIR had found the sweet spot and it was a third of the way back with no sight of the DJs. That however, is my only complaint of the night. That and the overly invasive security. Just doing their jobs they may be but when you feel hounded whilst dancing it's not so nice. Lots of unfounded searching and ejecting going on. I saw one girl marched out and none of her friends allowed to follow. I know licenses are being revoked at the drop of a hat in this city at present but there has to be some kind of middle ground.

I rather unexpectedly bumped into an ex colleague - LJ - a lady very into her music whom I had not a single clue liked techno! It's funny how subjects like this never come up at the office. I do talk about my love of techno at work now and am glad I do. Sometimes I get some lush tunes on the Sonos system and am asked what they are and people are always surprised to learn it's techno. And that techno is not hurting their ears, nor is it soulless or indeed crap. I also occasionally find someone else in the building who loves it like me (Hi Mike). However, LJ was an unexpected surprise :) Hopefully we will see her out again soon.

The lighting at Black Atlantic was great - unfussy with just a couple of LED panels at the front and a row of spotlights which sent out various beams and effects that flowed totally in time with the music and mood.

Lucy started his set and brought the real sounds if Berlin. Lots of rolling pulsing bass, bleeps and squeaks and chugging hi hats littered with odd effects and overlays; Really good hypnotic minimal that would wake up every now and then as the effects dropped out and just rolling bass was left in their wake, building up again until it pounded the crap out of you then gently lulled you back into a stompy trance. Galloping horses thrusting out the bass bins and high hats like cans or pop bottles opening fizzing out the top end.

I took a verrrrrrrrrrrry quick trip to the ladies to expel my only beer of the night (yes people, this girl had to be up early for Sunday lunch out in the country so a hang over was to be avoided at all costs - I stayed delightfully sober for a change!). The toilets at this venue have been tarted up very slightly - they are now at least lit properly - woooohooo. I exited to a queue of other not so classy ladies with tell tale frosting of their delicately flaring nostrils. Ladies and gents... Take your drugs if that is what floats your boat, but do not walk about with white rings on your nostrils. Not cool. Have a word.

I returned to the dance floor to a short phase of sounds highly reminiscent of Green Velvet's Flash, some thumping bass and a sudden recognition that the sound had been turned down and sorted out so no more hurty ears. Having not been able to see the DJs I can't tell you if Pariah and Lucy used the same equipment or not so I have no idea if the sound was down to that or just someone prodding the sound guy to turn it down a smidge. Maybe the bar ran out of ear plugs ;)

The heavy stomp gave way to a flourish of glockenspiels and floatiness. The music came to an elegant stop. For a teeny breath of silence I thought Lucy's set had finished but before I could turn around, the speakers roared back to life with a huge bang delved into that kind of disjointed, "chasing horses" thing  - where everything almost sounds totally out of sync and time but is, actually, still totally in time. This always make me get ants in my pants. Then came the hellish droning bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep that went on foreverandeverandeverandever. I am not a fan of one sound going on for ages like a low pitched buzzer alarm that never stops. Makes me feel uneasy, even though every other sound around it changes and flows and sweep along melodically and occasionally the buzzer skips a beat. It's done to evoke a mood or feeling and it does the job but drives me mad until it gets to it's fucking point - like being in a dream where you can hear the alarm and can't work out your are asleep and need to turn it off. But, if you can handle it for long enough, when the break does happen - it's just sublime. It's like someone has been shaking your head hard for as long as you can take it and then hands you a pillow for a blissful lie down.

Lucy's set lost my attention for 20mins towards the end as it got more experimental and although sounded amazing, I lost the urge to dance so much. However, for the final 15mins I was enthralled again. I heard the drum sounds that always remind me of the old Guinness advert with the surfers and horses (Leftfield - Phat7 Planet), I heard toy soldiers drumming and a constant rhythmic phrase repeating in various sliding ranges. Every sound in techno evokes a memory in me and I have a vivid imagination. You need to be intelligent and creative to enjoy this genre. Otherwise its just noise. Your brain has to take all that imagery and binary code it. The randomness that is conjured up - everything from childhood playtimes to helicopters to alarm clocks, to shopping trolleys to computer games to dentist drills to waves on the beach and pebbles skimming on ponds. Every single sound is a sample from somewhere in my past and I think that is why I love this genre so much. It's a pretty varied soundscape. There are not many genres where you get to hear the finest emotive top end violin of a symphony orchestra mixed with muted elec guitars and tribal bongos and whirring fans and helicopter blades woodpeckers in trees and have it all sound cohesive and beautiful.

TIR and I continue to be impressed by the lighting. It was totally in tune with the music and very simple. No lasers here. There was a light haze in the air, just enough to make the lighting effects really work their magic but, there were no smoke machines. The gobos used created amazing simple effects as tubes of warm light trumpeted out followed by what looked like each lamp blowing smoke rings, then sun rays, then just warm burning embers. At one point for 5 seconds only we got a full rainbow of pastel beams - really pale and subtle but 100% needed unicorns to top it off.

Lucy's set ended to rapturous applause and Dettmann took to the decks. The time was now about 4am and I was supposed to be going home by now to get up at a sensible time for a lunch in the midlands. But how the hell do you leave Marcel Dettmann starts playing? Well you don't.

Dettmann was instantly a lot more uplifting than Lucy. Old school acid house vibes and synthy sounds wrapped up in some stonking techno. Driving beats. Now we're trucking. I was on cloud nine. Lucy had been slamming and a wonderful journey through sound and now Dettmann was just plain old hands in the air heartfelt joy. Didgeridoos and wooden hollow drum beats. Just at the point you think it's all going to get a bit too lovey, he's back in with an in your face dance floor pounding. Somehow though, even at it's least fluffy, Dettmann's set still has warmth and soul.

One of the people out partying with us was the lovely EVD. I have only ever shared a dancefloor with her a handful of times but we definitely have a techno bond. Never afraid to point out the problems with a night or the people around us we are kin in the need for perfect atmospheric conditions. She wanted harder faster louder more all the time, and gradually had us moving towards the back of the room for more space. As the room emptied a little later in the night the back was awash with decent dance space. I am not sure if the speakers hung half way down the room are a new permanent fixture or if the promoters brought them in but BRAVO!!! It was the first time I've been to Village Underground and the sound at the back has been as good as the sound at the front. So whilst we were at the back for space, we would usually be parted from Hilda who was born down the front and will most probably die down the front, in her sandals with her arms in the air. But low and behold - and it's now noted in history on the intwebs for all to see... HILDA JOINED US AT THE BACK. It may never happen ever again. And I swear I even heard her utter the words "ooo it's quite good back here isn't it, I've been missing out." She may well deny all knowledge of this. But we know. Unfortunately I have no video evidence. Was too busy enjoying the tunes.

I am a sucker for lyrics in techno. I used to sing a lot when I was younger. I hear melodies before I hear beats. I listen to lyrics before I listen to the voice singing them. I fell in love with one track and had no idea what the hell it was so typed the lyrics into my phone and have just googled that bad boy. VOILA:

And with that I had to leave and jump on a bus home. I got 6hrs sleep, woke up with no hangover and had a wonderful lunch on Sunday with my bestie in her new home in the middle of bloody nowhere. The Sunday lunch was almost worth missing the end of Dettmann's set for. Hilda told me the next day he went off on a bit of a tangent for the last hour and she wasn't feeling it so much. But she also said TIR would disagree. And I think so would I. I bet it was awesome.

Next big night out is the much anticipated Hydra Vs Blueprint tonight. I shall bring you news of this sometime next week. I am carb loaded, fully stretched and ready for a 12hrs techno marathon of epic proportions. Followed by a sleepy recovery and lazy bank holiday. Have a fabulous weekend whether you are at Hydra, Dekmantel, Carnival or elsewhere this weekend.

Maybe see you all at Plex, Colony and VOID next weekend...

The next Black Atlantic night is Wednesday 19th October at KoKo presenting Moderat. Buy tickets here:
http://www.residentadvisor.net/event.aspx?502829 I'll be seeing them the night after in Amsterdam for my birthday trip to ADE :)