Tief w/ Voyage Direct at Corsica Studios, London - August Bank Holiday

A review for www.spoonfed.co.uk 

Tief, the party previously responsible for bringing the likes of Prosumer, Lawrence and Iron Curtis to the music enthusiasts of London were rounding off the last bank holiday of the summer with a collection of acts guaranteed not to disappoint.  Heading back to their home of Corsica Studios after a few flits around the capital over summer, tonight’s party was in collaboration with the Voyage Direct series which had been released through the massive Rush Hour label.  Tonight looked to be a veritable Dutch onslaught; headed up by one of the label’s most prominent producers, Tom Trago and consisting of Awanto3 (whom Trago was due to perform with under their Alfabet guise), Dexter, Legowelt live, as well as Bulgarian techno maestro KiNK.  The evening’s line-up was set to span house, techno, disco and electro, ensuring that the crowd would be kept locked in and entertained until last man standing.

The venue was filling up early as Corsica based party ‘Church’ founder Seb Wildblood played bass driven house that rumbled across room one, as punters grabbed their drinks and headed straight for the floor.  Room two was yet to fill up however the deep sounds of Seldom Seen Smith from Banquet Records included Motor City Drum Ensemble’s ‘Raw Cuts 5,’ which is always a welcoming way to entice folk in front of the decks.

After easing into proceedings it was time to head back into room one where Dutch stalwart Dexter was playing a series of broken electro-funk rhythms that maintained a high energy and occasionally forayed into a techno assault to the appreciation of the rapidly expanding crowd.  After 90 minutes of Dexter it was time for Legowelt to take over and perform a sixty minute live set to a now packed and sweaty dance-floor.  Legowelt  AKA Danny Wolfers appeared, dwarfed by the formidable Corsica DJ Booth as the clock struck 3 to the sounds of whoops and cheers, and his unique electro/disco/techno hybrid sounds hit the low ceilings and boomed out into the cobbled smoking area.   Meanwhile in room two Dutch golden boy Tom Trago was treating his subjects to a selection of deep beats which at this time of the morning had listeners in a tripped out state, however when he dropped his own disco tinged track ‘Use Me Again’ it was clear that people were still paying attention as they showed appreciation in the form of hollers and hands in the air.
As 4am hit it was back to room one to check out techno talent KiNK, who gave the crowd just what they wanted at such a late hour with a chunk of relentless jump-up beats that proved he wasn’t messing about, and turned dance-floor into a pile of party people jumping up and down, and in the end singing their heads off like no-one was watching to a remix of CeCe Peniston’s nineties dance track ‘Finally’ (or it could have been the original, it was late!)

The lights then came on and it was time to shuffle through the streets of Elephant & Castle to head home as the sun came up.  August bank holiday was over for another year, but it had certainly been finished in style.  Tief are celebrating their first birthday in September with Omar S, Daniel Wang and many more, so if strong line-ups and positive vibes are your thing, this party will be the perfect reason to take a trip back to Corsica.

photo credit: www.spoonfed.co.uk

Review of 'A Love From Outer Space' with Andrew Weatherall, Optimo and friends

A review for www.residentadvisor.net


‘A Love from Outer Space’ is the cosy brainchild of pals Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnstone; a third-Thursday-of-the-month get-together that has kept the folk of East London entertained with unique beats and quirky rare musical gems for the past few years.  There was no better time to hold a huge Thursday night party than the beginning of the Easter weekend, where the night could be approached with wild abandonment and no fear that usually accompanies school-night-raving.   It was also an excuse to celebrate Weatherall’s 3 disc compilation that was due to hit the shops at the end of April - any reason for a party.

Weatherall has been labelled a ‘dance music veteran’ more times over the years than anyone would care to mention, but it seems necessary to pay homage to his many years at the forefront of the electronic music scene; making ridiculously good Essential Mixes when half of today’s clubbers were in nappies, producing Primal Scream’s ‘Screamdelica’, playing house, techno, disco, funk, rockabilly and everything in between to crowds across the world.  Working alongside one half of the Hardway Brothers,  ex house, Balearic and techno DJ,  London rave-den Cable resident and future disco spinner Sean Johnstone,  this was a team that had mastered the tried and tested combination of a good atmosphere and a no music policy, music policy.  Joining them tonight for the ride were Berlin duo Trickski, Daniel Avery under his Stopmakingme moniker and Glaswegian masters JD Twitch and JG Wilkes, AKA Optimo.

Upon entering the club, Weatherall and Johnstone were playing slo-mo creepers of the highest order; music so dubby and sleazy it felt like you’d been hit with a tranquilizer dart upon entering.  Traipsing through the dingy corridors and into the smaller second room, Dan Avery was enticing those seeking a little more energy into the fold, with a BPM speed that was still on the ploddier side of the spectrum but with rumbling bass-lines that made your ears itch.  Avery AKA Stopmakingme has made a name for himself through his razor sharp productions, regular slots at Bugged Out!, a residency at Fabric and as the founder of Kill Em All.  Very quickly it was clear the hype was justified as he showcased a series of records that that were rave-heavy yet diverse and never 2 dimensional; with undercurrents of electro, snifters of acid house and waves of breaks and early 80’s riffs, living up surprisingly closely to his chosen genre description of ‘tight machine funk’.   Avery treated his now packed dance-floor to Intruder’s acid house /techno crossover ‘Amame’, and when the decision was made to drop Lil Louis’ ‘French Kiss’, it was received with hollers, whistles and stomping of feet before Optimo took over.

Optimo spent 13 years holding their Sunday night party of the same name at Sub Club in Glasgow, with a miscellaneous music policy and a packed out basement every week.  Now touring across the world, this evening it was anyone’s guess what aural direction they would send their listeners: would it be House and Funk?  Rock & Roll? Punk? It became apparent very quickly that this little sweatbox was to continue with the tech-house vibes following Avery’s exit, with another two hours of fist pumping to one half of Optimo JD Twitch which was far removed from the ‘sleazy post-punk nuggets to apocalyptic disco bombs’ billed on ALFOS’s original blurb.  As much fun as that was, once Wilkes, the second half of Optimo took over (following some sound issues which almost saw the set cut short), it was time to seek out some of these disco oddities that had been anticipated from the evening.

Upon taking a trip back to room one it was clear that the sleazy disco soul vibes were all in here condensed into one hazy package, as the ALFOS guys took back to the decks from Trickski after their 2 hour set.  Inebriated groups of girls in frocks and moustachioed guys in shirts waved their arms and sang along under the 4am pink lights as the twosome played their narcotic grooves, until the gaudy strip lights were lit and it was time for the squinting revellers to leave their bubble and journey home. It had definitely been a successful start to the Easter break and a lot more fun than church.

ALFOS will be taking their party as far as Italy and then Brighton over the next few weeks, so why not check them out?

Photo credit: Daddy's Got Sweets

A Private Party with Kerri Chandler

Following successful events with Derrick Carter and Francois K, A Private Party With… welcomed house legend Kerri Chandler to London. Chandler’s reputation following his successful appearances at DC10 over the summer showed that he was not just a pioneer of soulful house but an artist who could appeal to both the purists and the fresh faces of the dance music scene.   His latest surge of popularity through DC10 combined with a rare opportunity to witness a DJ play the entire night, something that most people had not witnessed in many years, was a definite selling point.   The opportunity was there to see Chandler in complete control of the musical direction of the evening, with the power to shape his set across a wide variety of styles, from checking in of coats through to last man standing.  His appearance in London was held in a disused building in a grotty corner of East London, coincidentally sharing the building with Gilles Peterson who was holding his own party in another corner, as were Art Department. None of the parties ever collided, but it meant that there were plenty of confused punters milling around outside the disused space and deciding which queue to jump into.

After finding the correct entrance, punters were greeted with a large warehouse, dimly lit in red.  Chandler - surrounded by equipment at the front was welcoming his audience with a selection of vocal house. The audience consisting of a third soulful house purists, a third DC10 kids who caught him over the summer and a third slightly bolshy Essex wide boys.. The first few hours of Chandler's set were heavily textured, taking revellers from sing-a-long classics such as Cassius' "Sound of Violence" down to the grimy bass of the Jamie Jones rework of Azari & III's "Hungry for the Power," right up again to the soulful chords of "Track 1" from his 1993 Atmosphere EP Vol. 1 with barely room to catch a breath in between, the chords from Track 1 giving a particularly euphoric moment from the jumping crowd who were turning the room into an authentic sauna as the night drew on.

The sound in places was questionable but it was just a small case of finding a decent spot near a speaker, as Chandler played records from the sublime to the obscure, for the number one fans down at the front to those staggering around at the back.  Seminal house records such as Basement Jaxx’s ‘Fly Life’ leading into jump up looping tracks like Butch’s ‘No Worries’; Chandler was as comfortable playing records that were 20 years old through to the hottest releases of the last 12 months, bringing the audience up and down on a wave of tech-beats followed by soul soaked, percussive yet bass heavy tracks.  Big room piano house, 90’s classics, and many of his own releases were interspersed with records well suited to a hazy afternoon on the DC10 terrace.

At one point Chandler chose to play Master at Work’s ‘To be in Love’ – the quintessential soulful house record; perhaps a touch obvious, and most certainly overplayed to the soulful house pedants occupying the space.  It was only on closer inspection however, that Chandler was in fact playing keys over the top of the track, or an acapella; it was hard to tell through the haze.  This was further proof that these were the actions of an artist truly at the top of his game; daring to take a risk that certainly paid off.

At a very hazy 4am, Chandler’s voice shyly came out from the speakers on the mic, asking how the audience was doing and explaining his love for a night where he could play for a whole 7 hours, to a rapturous response his tones broke out into the singingof his own track ‘Rain’ to the elation of the audience who cheered their appreciation.

As 6am rolled around and Arnold Jarvis – ‘Inspiration’ played out to the dishevelled and sweaty crowd, it was wondered whose private party they would be invited to in 2012.