14th Sept '13: Machine feat. Ben Sims & Kirk Degiorgio with Special Guests RØDHÅD & ROD @ Corsica Studios

New girly dilema this week... What to wear when you have to go to a wedding in the afternoon and a techno night later on? I went to a wedding looking very trendy and a club looking pretty overdressed for me. I was in a dress anyhow. Turns out heels make it wedding wear and DM's make it clubbing attire. Crisis averted. During a hilarious"last  tube" ride across London to Corsica Studios, we encountered many a victim of too much booze - and the boyfriends having to carry them home. Entertainment for all the family. Better than watching Eastenders at least. Their nights were over and ours was just begun!

 We arrived about 1am I think and the place was pumping. We'd been listening to ROD a fair bit at home the previous 2 weeks and I was really looking forward to hearing him play. I'd also been told that RØDHÅD would be awesome and I've not seen Ben Sims play in ages so I was prepared for a most excellent evening. I was not disappointed. After the usual bar, coat check, natter we stepped into Room 2 and into the sounds of ROD.

Otherwise known as Benny Rodriguez, ROD is on the CLR label. He dances as he DJs his set this evening. He is fun to watch. Within minutes I was shoulders in, grin on: lost in happiness.

ROD

The genre crossed from bouncy to minimal but it all shared the same easy flow and feel. It's a big old umbrella the genre of techno. It doesn't marry up in my head how this set and an Adam Beyer set are both techno and yet so different. I guess that's why we need sub genre labels. DSL says its all "just techno" but to you, the person who is reading about it and was not there, it's not that easy. You want to know what style a set is and how it sounds. I get lost in all the sub genre names so forgive me but I may well just make up my own, in which case ROD is now "Bounce'n' Grin."

The usual Room 2 slamming, nose tickling bass accompanied Latin riffs and a banging dancefloor. The room

did empty a little and I realised that signalled the start of RØDHÅD in Room One. We were having too much fun with ROD so we stayed and thought we would pop into Room One in a bit. Hilda, Jammy and the rest of the techno possy were all in there awaiting the deliverance of a much anticipate set - but I had no clue who I was missing out on and was happy to live in the moment and get down to some ROD loving. In tandem with the shrinking audience, the energy waned slightly for all of five minutes so I decided to stick my head in room one and it sounded quite brilliant in there, but as RØDHÅD was on for 4hrs there was plenty of time! I did notice however that it was not quite 4am yet - 5mins to go - so those lush warm melodic beautiful layers and thudding passive bass can only have actually been resident and Machine co-founder Kirk DeGeorgio.

Corsica was a hotbed of trendy young things this evening. It's interesting, to me, to watch how a younger clubbing generation react to techno. Some clearly do not get it. Some love it. It will be interesting when things get to the point where new DJs come through who were not even born when techno emerged, and when our old faves retire. Will that be the point when the genre goes the way of Drum'n'Bass and gets more mainstream, morphs into something new and spawns 56 separate commercial sub genres that all share the one sound sample? Then a fair few of it's producers jump ship to the next up and coming underground genre (SO many ex D'n'B prodcers in technoland these days!).

Techno has so much variety and longevity I hope it develops and stays as interesting for the next 20 years as it did the first. There are changes of course - virtually no-one just DJs anymore. Everyone is a producer. Maybe more live sets will set the genre apart and keep it fresh. The scene needs new fans as well as music to keep the club scene going so its nice to see so many people out. In stark contrast to many of the bigger clubs and events on the calendar, Corsica always attracts a true fan based crowd.

Chris Liebing recently described ROD's style on his CLR Podcast as "soulful techno." Soul would in most musical cases indicate a James Brown type of vibe and a certain sound but I think he just means that ROD's sets have depth of emotion. When listening to a Liebing set for example, I just zone out into some techno soldier trance. Standing there on ROD's dance floor I was smiley, bouncy & floaty in places, I was carried through an emotional spectrum.

 
The journey of the set is somewhat awesome organised chaos. Travelling all over the show in sub genre and style, but it works. There is acid and machine gunning brilliance, hand claps etc, old school, latin vibes, minimal, a tinge of funk etc. We left the room at 2:45am for a stinky horrid fag break but I welcomed the cold of outside. What with my lovely dress and my dislike of handbags I was keeping my phone in my boot - every time I bent down to take it out or put it away I got dizzy I was so hot. I got bored watching people smoke (it's never just the one cigarette and there was good music inside so why hang about???). I decided to do a recce of Room 1.

Room 1 for RØDHÅD was packed and sounded bland as I walked in. SLAMSLAMSLAMSLAMSLAMSLAMSLAM and nowt else so I went back to the garden and tried again in ten mins. With the stage used for dancing there was a deceptive amount of space available to dance in but to me, it sounded like so many sets I heard before. Paint by numbers Berghain dance floor Techno. Not that that is a bad thing but I was not here for that today. I didn't want the emotion drummed out of me, I wanted to FEEL, so I went back to ROD. I guess others felt the same at the time as Room 2 was rammed. I am admittedly judging RØDHÅD on short 5 min snippets so for a rounded view of the overall journey you'll need to read someone else's blog.

I went to the famously bass driven toilets and could hear RØDHÅD slamming it hard, but to me, it had no soul. Some nights I am in the mood to get nutted and stomp and soldier it up. Some nights I want some personality and pizzazz and fun. ROD is just where I was at. Sometimes hard is oppressive. March or else. Go hard or go home. In the loos everything shook with the duff duff duff and I heard a girl say... "That is my room every day. I love it." I could not do that every day. I prefer more bounce per ounce.

The last half hr of ROD's set Ben Sims joined him for some B2B. I remember hearing a track with either a

bassoon or clarinet riff. I've never heard that in techno before and it sounded great. Ben Sims was providing some tougher sounds now but the room kept an air of fun. Ben Sims kept raising the bar in terms of hardness with each track until we were all in a frenzy. As he played his last track we'd almost reached a level that was just too much ROD had to take it right back down to a dull roar in order to bring it in a bit and refunkify it all. And boy did he. He whipped us up and commandeered the final ten to fifteen mins and it was pure magic. I "Ashley Borged" about that dance floor. I (for want of a better phrase) lost my shit. Totally let go and fucking loved it. I am not one for applause and whooping (they are playing tunes, not delivering world peace after all) but I went mental at the end. I wanted to hug and kiss that man. Massive big love and respect. ROD you are awesomes. I may love you more than Hula Hoops. You are on a par with cats. And I love cats. A lot.

The final track ended and I needed a big fat break to recover and think on what just happened. Again I joined the smokers for some very unfresh air. Do we think if I complain enough they will eventually take a hint? I went to loo as they finished smoking and when I came back they sparked up again. Yuk. Stinks. So again I ventured alone into Room 1. RØDHÅD was still pounding 4/4 bass but was now more palatable and driving rather than oppressive. The dance floor was a little thinned out and everyone was shuffling happily apart from one guy on the stage with a fan full on voguing with boundless energy.

Ben Sims

I popped back in to see Ben Sims and ROD was on! I felt deprived I had missed 20mins! The B2B set had carried on past the end of his set and on into Ben Sims. The dance floor was writhing. Every build up brought people jumping in the air, both feet off the floor, and the energy was unparalleled on any dance floor I've seen in long time. It was a techno mosh pit. It was off the scale in there!!!

It was really interesting to see the contrast between ROD and Ben Sims. Ben was playing far tougher tracks then ROD would reply in contrast with something sassy and fun. Both DJs were in the booth grinning and dancing to each other's tunes and just having the best time together. The most exciting sounds were created when Ben Sims mixed into ROD's tracks. You felt tantalizingly close to something amazing but, once ROD's tune mixes out Sims track choices sounded dull in comparison. They worked really well back to back and it was really fabulous to see two very different styles merging and working together, and for each DJ to be reacting to each other and the crowd on the fly - rather than a pre-planned set. It's that kind of interaction that I find lacking a lot in many sets these days. To see some people behind the decks just oozing joy and enthusiasm and bouncing off the crowd was utterly the best night out I've had in ages.

Next blog will be in a week, reviews of Diamond Version and Margaret Dygas before we head off to celebrate my birthday at ADE. I cannot bloody wait.

29th Aug: Actress @ St Johns Sessions / 30th Aug: Plex @ The Waiting Rooms / 31st Aug Colony @ Corsica Studio

Welcome. You can follow adventures on twitter here and Soundcloud here but not on FB coz that is for the inner circle of initialled ones only. There is also a Google calendar on the top right of this blog detailing events worth taking a look at.

Well I was going to review Actress @ St. Johns Sessions but it's not even worth my time. The music was actually fine but the rest of it was poorly executed and I can't be bothered to discuss the most boring 2hrs of my life that I will never claw back.

And so swiftly we move on to Plex Basement Sessions, a small night with a secret line up held at The Waiting Room, Stoke Newington - a timber clad basement bar with cheery promoter and resident Luke Handsfree on the door. I keep missing Plex, much to my own detriment and disappointment. Twice I have planned to go and twice I have fallen asleep at home and missed it after a hard week at work. The last time we missed Rrose and I was mortified. So this time, we had mates over beforehand to ensure no sleepytimes and we drove there so when I got sleepy we could just zip home. That's how us grown ups roll.

We arrived to see that the line up was the Clairvoyants and Cristian Vogel. Me, the uneducated among us, had no idea who either of these names were, but I was assured that Vogel was going to be special and, from what I was hearing when I walked in, Clairvoyants are also rather good.

There was a delightful bounce in the airwaves when we hit the dance floor. It was the kind of techno you could take your non-techno loving mates to and they would love it and ask you "what's this?" and you'd say "techno" and they would look stunned. Lotts and NH were dancing about like crazy little animated Duracell bunnies at the front with the rest of us trying to keep up. The tunes got deeper and more banging and finished with a track full of carnival drums. And I was in a happy clappy cheery mood and off to the bar to await Vogel. 

PA had a quick word with Cristian Vogel before he went on and was told that the man would be treating is too a 20yr retrospective of all the tunes he loves from then to now. A journey through time and techno. Lovely. 

I found the tunes at the start a bit all over the show but NH said she loved it, that it was playful and she made gestures of squashing and squelching things with her hands as she danced. This made me think of how to explain the tunes... The music was like watching balloon modelling. Squeaks and twists and random big breaths and colourful things expanding and being twisted into fun stuff. It was exciting but it made no sense.

Barely noticeable but a frequent occurrence - it sounded like tunes did keep skipping a beat here and there. I imagine very old damaged vinyl if it's from 20 years ago! Tempos changed up and down with ease. It was all quite disjointed but not without focus, sounding to me like something robots would break dance too - superfast, frenetic and unpredictable. When everything did sound like it was about to train crash at full speed Vogel styled it out with ultra coolness like that was exactly what he was going for. Who knows, maybe he was.

Suddenly TIR, Lotts, NH and PA all vanished upstairs for smokes and air, most of them a bit put off by the very niche line in techno hitting our ears. Bearing in mind the crowd was small to start off with, we half emptied the dance floor in one fell swoop. My triple esspresso started wearing off and our ears next to the speakers were in danger of getting temporary tinnitus near the front and so we went to the back and I had a sit down. 1:30am and I was tired. Observing the dance floor, it really wasn't very busy. The advance tickets had all sold out so I was expecting it to be a heaving sweat box but there was only about 50 people in the room. It was by no means empty and the dance floor was still kinda busy. I expect that many people were taking a break after the Bank Holiday weekend before.

The set gradually got more cohesive and began to make sense and truck along in a nice direction through time and tunes. Not without its jarring mixes but all in Vogel style... Nothing was an accident. Moving into the era of 909s and synths Vogel hit the acid tracks at full on high BPMs. TIR popped back down from upstairs to tell me it was bad techno and he hates acid. Then he vanished. He and all the others all left with no goodbye! Bastards. Not so much as an air kiss. Humphf.

The dance floor thinned out a bit more. It was hard to get into any kind of groove and exhausting to keep up with the changes and pace. Although the overall pace gradually slowed, a few dancers were really going for it but many were just standing about undecided as the tracks got more intricate and atmospheric, sounding like a race of space age F1 engines. Then things turned to the kind of techno that I hate. That people who hate techno imagine it all sounds like. Almost hard house. Relentless drums at high speed  almost tripping 

Cristian Vogel

over themselves, with sweeping elongated mid range noises and the odd staccato synthy break. No charisma here. The kind of stuff best coped with on drugs - so you have the energy to keep up with it and the happiness to believe it sounds great.

Then fast thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud with tinny high hats over the top. Proper mid 90s stuff. At that time I was at still at school and listening to Blur and Boyzone in my bedroom. And right at that moment all I wanted was peanut butter on toast and my PJs. At 2am the place suddenly filled up and dance floor was banging but I had switched off and needed my bed. 10 minute drive home. Amazeballs.

After a darn good nights sleep and a most excellent lasagna cooked by DSL came round 2 of the weekend. Colony Vs Scand at Corsica Studios. The last one of these I reviewed was a totally awesome night out and I was really looking forward to it - not least because our mate Simon Heartfield was on the line up with a live AV set. We arrived to no queue, polite security and a virtually empty club at 11:45pm. Simon was on at midnight. 

Now Simon may be a mate so you may see me as bias, but I don't know him that well at all. Trust me that if I can badmouth legends of techno on here, then I have no qualms telling my mates when they are crap. Let's face it - if I big them up for a bad job I am helping no one, least of all them. So I hope that you see that I really mean it when I say I was gutted for the techno community of London that they did not haul their arses out for this set as it was immense.

We've heard Simon play before and seen his AV sets but this was Simon Heartfield on an unusually angry day it seems! There was a march of bass drumming. Rhythms led by the lower end of octavial spectrum, which made for warm, tribal, strong, purposeful beats that got you marching, with lots of mid range riffs and very feint high end warm smooth rippling melody just on the fringes.

The visuals were interesting. I saw cabbages at one point, a london bus, hazard signage, led panels, binary

Simon Heartfield

code, buildings, machinery, numbers, more codes, it all felt like the music was telling a story and the visuals were a manila folder for a crime case being emptied out on the desk and pinned up on boards for us to string together all the clues. As each track became a new one we were getting ever closer to solving the case and the tension and energy built. I was on tenterhooks wondering who dunnit! That was the first half. I went for a loo break. It was a bit calmer and less angry when I got back, like whatever had happened had blown over and there was time for contemplation. The visuals slowed in pace too and I was more wobbling about on the spot than dancing to this bit.

15mins from the end the big purposeful march began again and pushed on and surged you forward. Kaboom. Home stretch. Mad dash to catch the culprit and solve the crime. A military operation. March! Bouncy bass lines, marching mid range this time with the odd vocal sample and a slightly more euphoric edge than at the start of the set. Layer built on layer upon layer til you felt like you were spinning, feeling totally focused but spinning in slow mo with the world blurring around you as you just... let... go. Music to get lost and immersed in. I loved it. It was like being in Inception rushing through story after story and then suddenly it ends and you just... wake up.

At this point The Wife (my bezzie mate who had come out with us) left for half an hour to go and eat. This brings me to an important whinge... Why is there no food in clubs? For those of us staying sober and eating our dinner at about 8pm, dancing is hungry work. And for those people drinking until they fall over, a plate of chips at 1am might save them. The psy trance nights I used to go to in my teens and early twenties always had hot drinks and some kind of hippie organic cake and snack stall. They were always packed and it is SO nice to have a tea and a munch then carry on dancing til the sun comes up. I can't think of one club in London that serves so much as a packet of crisps.

Venturing in to Scand's room 2 for Morphology live it was a definite breakbeat tip. The two of them were

Morphology Electronic

set up on a table in front of the DJ booth and the volume was pretty low for the earth shattering subs that we usually hear in there. It was weird being in there and hearing chatter and the walls not shaking.

The tunes were nice but a bit lackluster. The set kind of just pootled along with no real builds or breaks for ages. When a break did come, there was one the girl in front of me who totally went for it but she had more energy than the break required. Good to see some enthusiasm though as the tracks just glided onto the next thing. The production was nice & crisp. The room filled up a little more, with both people and smoke from the over exuberant smoke machine. Towards the end of the set things ramped up and we finally got some massive bass and the DJs looked like they were having a great time.

Szare was next up in Room 1. The crowd levels were low all over the club - again down to the big weekend before I expect. The place was a third full and needed a hefty injection of pizzazz. I went back into Room 2 Sync 24 & Innume. This wasn't grabbing me either but had more uplifting energy in its acid breaks than room 1. Al, DSL & RSK were stood about like the three stooges against the side wall looking shady. Personally I was in there not for the tunes but because it was mildly more party like and entertaining than room 1 with Szare. We went outside for chat and smokes, talking about beach holidays and how all holidays turn into rave ups for us lot. I am hankering after an actual beach and some quality cocktail and sunbathing time!

Oliver Ho

The only other set I was looking forward to was Raudive: aka Oliver Ho. Simon had tweeted earlier that his sound check had been amazing. I was excited.

He was good. Lots of different ideas and sounds and moved well from one to the other. Definite feel good energy. The girl from room 2 was in here. The one who had been dancing to the beat of her own drum and going mental at mediocre break downs earlier. Blue hair and blue all in one holographic outfit... Looked ready for taking to the stage at Cirque du Soleil. I was part gobsmacked and part mesmerised. She was full on body thrusting dancing at the drop of anything vaguely exciting. I was jealous of her enthusiasm. Wish I had a bit more. I was getting there. The set was moving me into a party mood and was overall highly enjoyable. DSL had his eyes shut shuffling about for ages. And that was how I felt, it sounded great and I just wanted to listen. Not dance really. Like a Boiler Room set in my living room - for appreciating but not participating.

Truss

The final DJ we saw was Truss. We went to get our coats and came back to full on machine gun techno. Quite often I can be found loving such sounds, but I need to a) build up to that and b) be surrounded by a crowd full of as much energy as the music. The room was empty, the crowd was hollow. And that is how I felt.

Overall I think this night just suffered from being the weekend after most people had been out two or three nights in a row and spent most of their wages already. And it's rare these days to find a DJ that caters their set to the crowd that is there and not what they pre-planned. More's the pity.

The Wife gave us a lovely lift home. I was starving. Time for more of DSL's lasagne!

Sat 24th August 2013 - The Hydra: Blueprint Feat. Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood & James Ruskin at Electric Brixton

This blog comes to you direct from my hammock in the sunshine, fully rested at last from last weekends clubbing. One can recover from such things in minimal time if they are allowed to sleep. My cat has unfortunately taken it upon himself to howl at me several times a night all week and wake me up for food and play. Finally I got a solid 8hrs last night just in time to bring my A game for tonight's Colony at Corsica. That will be a blog for next week - This week we talk about the long awaited and much anticipated Hydra event on bank holiday weekend.

Following an afternoon of indoor picnics (the weather was awful!!!) and amusing repertee with friends old and new, we trundled off to Brixton ready for a fine old time. Meeting Hilda and TIR at the door to Brixton Electric I was pleasantly surprised to find no queue, no moodiness from the bouncers and a quick service at the bar. We had arrived relatively early and were off to a good start!

Samuel Kerridge

Simple red lights reminded me of Lost. No Lost this August bank holiday - a first for many years, but who needs Lost when there is a line up like this instead?! The first set was from  Samuel Kerridge whom I had never heard of but will more than happily hear again. All wrong for a first set but amazing none the less. I felt like I was on a giant cavernous alien spaceship listening to various mechanics creaking and moving about. The set progressed to more lively beats and into a lighter more Space Odyssey vibe. The tempo raised and haunting high pitched sounds droned in the background with sonar bleeps a plenty. DSL said it sounded a bit like Empty Set. It really was a storming set and would have been better placed later in the night but, there was no one else on the line up you could really expect to play first, so that was that.

Robert Hood

A totally different mood for the second set. The stage changed from red lights to blue, again reminding me of Lost with it's Red Room and Blue Room. Having seen Robert Hood play at 50 Weapons earlier this year I was hugely looking forward to this. He started hard and fast and keet it that way. Good old Detroit sounds, the odd nanoflash of disco synth, scattered soulful vocals and melody carefully hidden amid bass bass bass bass bass bass. However, I heard a track I knew well coming on. I always think it's Basement Jaxx every time I hear it, and it kept dropping in and out so I could almost have just been hearing things... but it kept coming. And then I knew what it was. Again. Just like at 50 Weapons, he dropped Bucketheads - The Bomb. Again it was fun and stupendous but I felt slightly disappointed that he was pulling the same party trick out the bag. That didn't deter me from jumping about.

Underground Resistance

Next up was the supposed highlight of the night: Timeline from Underground Resistance. All of us were keen to see "The baddest group of sonic electronic warriors in the world" do their thing and give us an education. There have mixed reviews all over the interwebs this week, a bevvy of arguments and opposing opinions but mine is as follows... Worst set of the night. Killed my mood. Massive disappointment. Let me expand:

We have a DJ, one guy on synths, Mike on keys, and a sax player. Initially it was enthralling, the sax player was amazing and we were treated to snippets of The Bells and were easing into a great live set. But after about 15mins I had had enough. You would think that such a stellar ensemble would have their own sound guy but no, they had an in-house tech who had been dealing with DJs up to now and was no good at changing things on the fly. Having flown in from a performance at Dekmantle, via a same day set at Electric Frog in Glasgow there cannot have been a sound check before the event. And it showed. A lot. All we could hear was the sax. He was out the front of the stage doing some call and response with Mike on a Keytar but Mike's sound was lost. The sax player was quite clearly very talented but was also VERY self indulgent and did not know when to stop. The set would have benefited greatly from him shutting the fuck up here and there so that we could hear the beat and actually dance. The more it went on the more exhausting it was and the more my patience wore thin. It was live improvisational jazz sax and nowt else.

Finally, he finally stopped and the beats and synths pushed forward and picked up, only to trail along doing not much for ages, with the occasional build up here and there but with the levels to low for us to hear it clearly so everything sounded monotonous. Often they all sound like they are playing totally different tracks. It wasn't hideous, I didn't mind it (my fave comment used on Masterchef when John doesn't like something but appreciates the effort). Everything bumbled along nicely enough, the room had a generally nice vibe, the dance floor gained some space whilst people took the chance to go to the bar and vanish off to other parties and there were many many smiley people soaking up their heroes. Then the musicians kind of petered out and vanished leaving just the DJ on stage alone playing similar stuff but with the right levels and correct smattering of sax. It was FANTASTIC. I zipped off to the loo and returned to see the full band back but this time the sax player was on a laptop. Again it all plodding along and I could just about make out good things being layered up but the mid levels were still too low all I could hear was bass and top end. All the interesting stuff was lost. Then I got a priceless text from TIR at the back of the room telling me that EVD was so bored that she was listening to PETDuo on her headphones. That was a little much I thought but then jazz is not really EVD's first love. 

The front venue had by this time turned into a sweatbox and we thought we would head outside for a cigarette. Once again I found myself outside on a roof terrace in the pissing rain so I could watch others smoke. It was preferable to staying inside and losing my sanity to sax though and I bumped into Ash and had a good old whinge with him about jazz improvisation. 

We went back into the main room and it was all ending to rapturous applause and then an encore. The encore was the clearest sound I heard since the first track. It was full of energy and a soulful riffs. The keytar level was higher so I could actually hear it. Too little too late though and I was just glad it was over. The crowd were going mental - clearly not everyone shared by opinion. And then there was a brain cleansing silence and the hum of general chit chat as the decks were reinstated for Ruskin.

The votes are in

During this short interlude we wandered to the back to catch up with the rest of the crew and I took a general opinion pole... EVD had her own party in her headphones. Hilda said the relentlessness of the sax actually made her feel a bit sick after a while. GLM said too much jazz and even gave me the jazz hands. The general consensus was that it had not been "the one" we were after. TIR called us heathens, he loves culture and appreciates the history and said we can't possibly have not enjoyed it if we were true techno fans. Well sorry mate but you were hearing what you wanted to hear. Everyone has a bad day, everyone misses a sound check and sometimes even your heroes are just under par. Respect for all they stand for and have brought to the world of Techno but that does not automatically make what just happened any good. You may not believe this but I actually used to manage a jazz band. I've spent a fair amount of time at various London jazz clubs and seen some of the best in the biz in the world of funk and soul. I feel qualified to have an opinion. The best bit was just seeing so many fans old and new gathered from all over the country to pledge their allegiance. I'm glad some of them felt it was worth the trip.

I have never been so pleased to see James Ruskin. The man had one hell of a task on his hands following

James Ruskin

that vibe and he handled it well. The strobes kicked in and so did some much needed tougher, funkier beats. Hands were in the air across the room, everyone shuffling about harder than before. I survey the room from the mezzanine and wonder when it was in club history that people stopped dancing. Was it something to do with a change in drugs? With not wanting to look stupid? With over crowded dance floors maybe? Once upon a time everyone used to bust some proper moves. Two feet came up of the floor, hips swirled and people showed some personality. They didn't just stare at the DJ and shuffle from side to side with their arms just randomly wafting about. Luckily at that precise second Ash appeared and my faith in clubbers returned as he was legs akimbo, arms punching the air, giving the floor a proper seeing to.

Ruskin continued to rock the old school house vibe and move on into his regular energetic pounding techno. Slowly my general enthusiasm and energy levels are returning and I too feel like dancing around. It's now 5am and we must make it through to Jeff Mills. 5hrs to go. It's weird how some nights go past in a flash, but having not been thrilled with all the music and not having sat down for 8 hrs by now, I was struggling. There are many times we've been clubbing for much longer stretches but those clubs had chairs for the odd rest! Determined to enjoy myself I soaked up the high tempo lights and their greens and purples alongside some great serene nature themed screen visuals.  

I spotted Jeff mills soaking it up from the sound booth. Acid synths and bassy vocals, fire cracker rhythms, loads of 303. Technotastic. TIR being his usual jammy self went to say hi to Jeff, who gave him a drinks voucher and had a nice chat. TIR can't drink but couldn't turn down a bevvy from Mr. Mills so we all helped him out with his havana rum on ice. YUM. 

Ruskin's set gets harder as it goes on. I am zapped. Tired. Hot. Sweaty. Need a shower. As the set ends I am just getting tetchy and irritable. Am on the verge of turning into moody troll and ruining everyone's vibe so I carried myself off to sort my contact lenses out and sit down for 5mins on the sofa in the loos.

The names Mills... Jeff Mills

Jeff Mills can famously be a bit hit and miss. Train crashing through some sets and total unadulterated genius through others. I was in no mood for any more let downs so ventured back out into the bar hoping for the kind of experience I had at The Lighthouse watching him play a live soundtrack to Space Odyssey 2001 being screened on the warehouse wall at Lost. I was not disappointed.

After a short experimental intro Jeff slammed away. Very much a danceable set. I was elated, I was relieved and after half pint of Pepsi I was raring to go. Metallic harpsichord downwards sliding scales cascaded over and over. Chugging bass and odd glockenspiel notes like heavy rain drops plopping on a puddle filled my ears. All I could see were mates dancing (to varying degrees depending on the elderliness of their knees).

Bets were put on as to when The Bells would drop. Following a course of dream sequence style riffs and a horrid sustained high pitched drone - like both flat and sharp piano keys being slammed down for fucking ages I was going mental. Too tired to bear it. But as with last the screech ended, doused by a floaty melodic flourish and new beat, which built up and carried me to awakness as The Bells came in 68mins into the set. EVD and GML had just said their Goodbyes but 30 seconds into the Bells they ran over to us. They had almost made it out the doors before hearing The Bells and rushing back in. Even better - The 909 came out in full effect for a little jam session. It gave me wings. Achy legs said Bye Bye. I LOVE LOVE LOVED IT.

I do like to watch this man at work. He is always so poised and focused. He's like a swan, gliding delicately across the water as its legs do mental flapping away underneath. From the chest up Mills is serene but his hands are a blur as he is busy tweaking and perfecting the set.

Sad to say that we didn't make it to the end. We left 30mins before it was all over. Beaten by tiredness and the wish to get ahead of the crowd for the cloakroom and tube.

A mixed bag over all with some definite highlights, bu the flow and set order was all wrong and UR's lack of sound check and over indulgent sax meant what should have been the best techno night ever, was merely an OK night out. 

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 :)

Sat 3rd August: Colony @ Corsica Studios / Sunday 4th August: VOID @ Cafe 1001

I had a self imposed techno month off after Barcelona. Epic workload for a while meant no social life whatsoever for a while. I even missed DSL's birthday celebration trip to Machine at Corsica (brief review: Oscar Mulero - great tunes but overcrowded main room). Back in full swing for August...

First stop Colony Summer Rave at Corsica Studios. We arrived, queued, took my rucksack stuffed with everyone else's belongings to the cloakroom (one day I will not take a bag and then WHAT WILL THEY DOOOO!?!?!?) and stood about in the smoking area whilst I watched everyone else pumping their lungs full of crap. This was not a Colony of techno and only techno. In the promoters own words "we've assembled what, we reckon, is about the most balls-out destructive Colony line-up to date, spanning house, techno, electro, acid, 'ardcore, jungle, D&B and all kinds of mutant in-betweenness primed to set the dancefloor ablaze - or at least bits of it." This was an eclectic night of genres during which I had a fine old time in the main. For one, I remembered to charge my phone so had no need to scribble notes in the dark this time - a fact checked by CB on the door on my way in.

Finally we got into Room One to watch Kawn's live set. Who the fuck are Kawn? Mates of the promoters according to the line up. I went to look up Kawn and found the dictionary definition is the Turkish word for "an inn". However the urban dictionary says this:

(verb) To trick a retarded person into thinking he's not retarded. Possibly a relative of the much hated "pwned". http://www.urbandictionary.com

Kawn were using modular synths (and a load of other analogue kit we couldn't quite see from floor level) to deliver a set of very not off the shelf funky breaks, steady melodies, cheeky high hats, booty bass, tribal rhythms, acid touches and a bit of everything flung in. It worked well - sounded like a different genre every ten mins and yet the same signature all over it throughout. They best get themselves a Soundcloud account and a facebook page "tout de suite" as I am quite sure that I  - and indeed The World - would enjoy much more of this.

Radioactive Man

Obviously you expect DJ's at decent clubs to have some skills but when it comes to changing between sets, often the set is cut completely for a round of applause or the two sets are mixed one into the other but they don't mesh well - a stubborn DJ will sometimes have a planned set and especially the first track and damn it if they will change their minds to suit the current situation. However, not only did the next DJ mix seamlessly, he did it from a set of decks the other side of the room. Not a big deal really but noticed by all of us as most people don't bother. It's been a while since I last danced about at Haywire at The Fortress to electro veteran Radioactive Man. For those of you not in the know, Radioactive Man is Keith Tenniswood and he also makes up one half of Two Lone Swordsman with Andrew Weatherall. A slow paced start to the set had our mate IT getting impatient and wanting to go check out Room 2 but I told her to give it 20 mins and she was glad she stayed. A solid beginning ramped up and things got bassier, more urgent, the breaks got funkier with some menacing bass lines ripping up the dance floor. He's certainly not lost his touch in ten years. I used to go to Cambridge breaks night Boomslang on a regular basis a few years back and always loved the super tension freeing awesome joyful feel of breakbeat. Somehow Radioactive Man gave it a more mature grown up edge this evening. I had almost forgotten how much I love dancing to breaks. The beats fly off in different syncopated directions and my limbs wanna just follow suit. The sounds got gradually more frenetic as the set went on and techno  influences pulsed through it all in clean waves. Whereas Plump DJs are happy hands in air, this is more layered, more serious, intelligent, hints of dnb and techno with a snippet of Samba beats thrown in for a few bars too. Not that anyone was paying attention to the screen on the opposite wall but there were some nice graphics on show as well. 

At this point I should also point out that the general sound in Room 1 was much cleaner and crisper than it has been the past few times I've gone to Corsica. Whatever or whoever has sorted that system out a bit BRAVO! I am also loving that Corsica's smoke machines do not point down, just across the ceiling for atmosphere. Nothing invasive that blinds you for 2 mins and gets up your nose. The simple gobo lighting effect on the bar area wall also always draws my attention. Simple but effective.

No return to techno would be complete without TIR and he unexpectedly graced us with his presence at

Untold

2am after a last minute drive down from afar. It was almost time for Untold in Room 2 so we all went off to bars and toilets and smoking areas and had a chat and chilled for a mo. I was looking forward to Untold. We'd seen him in November according to IT but I had forgotten. He had however cropped up in conversation recently with my non-techno friend who had no idea about his techno career standing, but asked if I had ever heard of him as they are old mates. We entered Room 2 and were introduced to a soundscape of bass lines and distant police sirens, after which were immediately assaulted by the subs. My oesophagus was shaking so much in my throat I kept coughing. It was not comfortable. Untold basically took ten mins to scare the living shit out of my ears and I left the room.

I went to the loo to recover only to have my arse shaken to hell by the vibrating toilet seats above Room 2.
Everything in the loos shakes and vibrates from the bass downstairs. I returned to witness a techno DJ do a rewind. For real. That happened. He may be an ex DnB producer but there are limits. The set was not something I wanted to dance to but I was interested to stay and listen if it had been possible. Earplugs would not have worked. The man needed to turn shit down. The speakers could not cope with the levels and the results were a bit scratchy and not pleasant. But its just not cool to go tell a DJ that his sound levels are whack so, we exited to Room 1 where some other kinda abuse to my ears was also playing and so we hung out in the garden for a few mins until something more palatable to my fragile little mind came along. 

Anodyne

Anodyne's Live AV set came next. Another interesting name choice it means "inoffensive" but also is also a painkilling drug. Ha. Crazy, super fast fat bass & machine gunning mid range were complimented by cool hexagonal patterns, graphic equalisers and aerial shots on the screen mixing much slower than the music, which made your mind feel calm as your ears and feet were anything but. This set felt like DnB, Gabba and techno all rolled into one machine. A rare treat.

Perc

The DJ the boys had all come down to see was Perc who got straight in there with some banging wowowowowow sawtooth sound waves and started ripping the floor to pieces. A couple of Planetary Assault Systems tracks dropped in much to our delight. Every time I felt like Perc was slacking off ever so slightly I'd have just enough time to catch my breath and he'd pick it right back up again. A constant onslaught of techno with acid twangs and some beautiful flurry of pianos towards the end of the set. 

Perc was followed by Double O, a friend of ITs who has told me beforehand that he'd be delivering us some Detroit techno. JOY! ... We missed the first 20 mins because when a group of 6 people goes for a smoke, inevitably they chat and have another smoke and then one of them that looks like me will get bored of watching them all smoke and eventually coerce them back indoors to dance about. We returned to Room 1 to see Double O playing to a thinning crowd at about 5am. Great as there was more space for us to enjoy the sounds of wicked claps and synthy melodies. Some gems that can be found in my own collection were played and it's been a while since I heard them in a club. Papa New Guinea was just awesome, shortly followed by LFO's LFO. Then the set started getting old school, veered into hardcore and then residents CB and MB took over the last set for an all out hardcore session - at which point my fuel tank was empty and we headed home. 

A six hour sleep, a vat of coffee and some scrambled eggs on toast later we ventured to VOID at Cafe 1001. Took us bloody hours to get there due to Ride London taking over the roads and an Arsenal match causing jams on Holloway Rd, so we actually only just made it for the end of Simon Brandreth's stonking set before headliner Ashley Borg came on. I read a friends comment on FB today that he was out enjoying "Ashley Borg Techno, a genre all of it's own." True dat. Once again the floor was packed at 10pm on a Sunday night whilst sensible folks are off to bed. I question the vest but commend the set. Ashley always provides a heady educational mix of classics and totally new unknown tracks from up and coming producers. 

Ashley Borg aka The Mr Motivator of Techno

The Mr Motivator of Techno gave us all a damn good techno workout. A highly animated crowd were hyped up to the max not just by the sounds, but by the overall performance. Ashley was all big grins and air punches and the more he loved it the more we loved it. Lots of whooping, chanting, clapping etc. and an overall great atmosphere. This video shows Mr Borg getting his moves on:

I was feeling a little jaded and snuck off for ten mins to the front lounge at to eat home made cookies from the cafe and listen to the wonderful sounds of the usual resident DJ playing nice chilled house which was more where by brain was at. I am clearly out of practice! Best I fix that... 

The next Colony vs Scand (go and check out Simon Heartfield) is on 31st August with a cheaper combined ticket available to Plex on the 30th here. Determined to get to Plex this month as I missed the last 2 including a set from Rrose :( 

The next VOID is also that weekend. 

Other dates this month to look out for are:

Black Atlantic x Marcel Dettman / Lucy at Village Underground Sat 10th August

The Hydra: Blueprint Feat. Underground Resistance, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood & James Ruskin at Electric Brixton (I have a spare ticket to this so comment if you want it!). 

OFF-SONAR 2013: Tresor, Pampa Records, Drumcode & M_nus, Indigo Raw

You remember that week a little while ago when London was hot and sunny for a whole 5 days??? Well just as that glorious time ended we hopped on a plane to an expected 25 degrees in Barcelona. What awaited us was actually a consistent 33+ degrees and a lot of techno.

I first went to Sonar in 2005 and had not been back. I've either not had the funds or not liked the line ups and only last year did I venture back, for Off Sonar. In 2005 I heard rumour of Jeff Mills playing in a small bar round the corner from our hostel for free entry and thought it was lies. Off Sonar was not so much of a thing then. Last year I discovered it was a big deal and this year it appears to have blown up out of all proportion - everything decent sold out really fast and ticket prices (thanks to a new tax from the Spanish government, are now also far higher than previous years. 2012 was like my techno re-birth. I've always loved techno but had not been hanging out with any real techno fans for some years and Off Sonar 2012 with DSL and friends was me diving right back in. I had no idea who I was seeing DJ most of the time and was taken to nights I knew nothing about. It was generally amazing aside from the fact that the boys favoured night events so the only daylight I got for 5 days was the walks of shame home and coffee on the terrace when we got back, before sleep. You can go clubbing in London over a bank holiday weekend 3 nights in a row and probably get a roof terrace venue involved these days. Why bother going abroad for that?!

Modeselektor & Apparat @ The Roundhouse / Clock #3 @ Rhythm Factory Fri 17th May / Entail presents Warehouse Party with Speedy J @ Crucifix Lane Sat 18th May 2013

Am a bit late with this one - been slacking in the sunshine and attending weddings and being altogether a wonderful vision sensible living. Or something.

KW had a rare Friday night free. I put DSL through 4hrs of post work dinner and wine with me and 3 girlfriends before leaving him to clear up & heading out with KW for a girls night out. Its a rare thing that I go out clubbing without there being a specific DJ I am going out to see. We searched RA for techno in London on Friday 17th May and the only techno nights listed were Clock #3 and Modeselektor and Apparat at the Roundhouse. We went to Clock, ADJ went to the Roundhouse. Here's his review of the gig (shortened as he deleted what he sent me before I could write it up - twit!):

Apparat was great and I could have danced all night to him. Modeselektor was definitely more for the kids and I was not down with it - ADJ