Now that I'm finally over my jetlag I'll try to recall the main points of
my London vacation. Trouble is I'm doing it after a week of Bristolian
indulgences :-D
First and foremost - Tristan was a great host. A big thank you goes out to
you sir. If you ever need a place in Minneapolis you've got it.
Now onto the story...
Got in on Saturday morning around 9am - missing the Werk boat party the
night before. From what I heard it was good but not as good as last year.
To make up for it we went to the Cntrl*Alt party at the Telegraph just
around the corner from Tristan's flat. Primarily an electro/IDM/breaks
night. The Telegraph (for those that haven't been there) is a Thai (?)
restaurant/lounge with a big back room. It wasn't much of a place before I
was told but they've redone it with a bigger and better soundsystem and
nicer decor. They had a small dance floor in the main front room by the
bar - small area but big enough to hop around. Good mix of electro and
drum & bass going on in there with Po-Ski, Shelley Parker, Abstrakt
Knights, and others. Ventured into the big back room early on but the
sounds were of the wonky "funky breaks" kind so we hung out in the front
until a little later when Point B came on. Wow, that guy was fantastic.
He was working off his laptop creating some unpredictable and surprising
electro. His music never fell into a rut but there was definitely a groove
there. Highly recommended. From what I remember from the rest of the
night - Radioactive Man sucked eggs. Never heard him live before but I do
have a mix tape of a live set from a few years ago and I swear that he
played the exact same songs in the exact same sequence that night.
Compared to the rest of the music that night he was 10 years behind. Can't
believe this guy is a member of Two Loneswordsmen! After that I think I
lost it to some jungle/d&b in the front room and then again in the big room
at the end of the night. I think it was NoYeahNo that ended the night with
f*cked up d&b noise in the Sh!tmat vein. Loved it.
Eh, then what....
Lost on Sunday (loosing track of days already by this time). Before that
Tristan took me down to Co-Op @ Plastic People. Tried to blag our way in
since we were only going to be there for about a half-hour and we got there
so early. Didn't work but the price was worth it for me. Can't wait to go
back there again. Thank you very much Tristan for taking me there!
Brilliant club - DJs - soundsystem. So clean and clear with super fat bass
rumble. Quite a small space but really the optimal size. I can see how
Co-Op can just go off. Wooden dancefloor (actually don't think I didn't
see anything else during my whole trip), wish more US clubs would install
wood floors. Who was playing.... uh, I think it was Daz-I-kue on the decks
when we got downstairs and it was already bouncing like bumper cars. The
club had *just* opened. I was immediately hoping around like a muppet and
by the end of our half-hour visit had managed to soak through my t-shirt.
Tristan pointed out Phil Asher when he arrived and I knew we were going to
miss one hell of a night. Ah well, I got an early taste of it and I can't
get it off my mind.
So, off to my first Lost experience. Waited in line with Hanna and Tristan
(Tristan was #1 by the way). Seemed to take forever for them to get it
together but once in the club was interesting to explore. A good size
space, multiple rooms, a bathroom attendant (lol). What else could you ask
for (maybe a better choice of liquor)? Eh, so there was a great big red
cube in one room where no DJs were but some pleasant ambienty music was
playing. Followed people into the main room which was dark and already
full of fog. Now I know where they got the name Lost from. Max Duley's
set - really great mood setter for the night. Slower deep techno put my
head in the same dark space my body was in. He later said he wasn't happy
with it but I think everyone else was. The rest of the night quickly
became a blur. Oliver Ho was on next and it was a seamless transition from
Max to Oliver. Didn't quite realize that Max was done. Don't really
remember much from Oliver's set except that I stayed on the floor except
for the occasional run to the bar while there was still room to move.
Steve Bicknell's set had me leaving the floor for the first and only time
that night. Wandered around into the front space which was set up into a
huge lounge area. Rhythm & Sound were kicking back with a fantastic mix of
reggae/dub. Stood around there for a while looking around for familiar
faces as every sofa & chair was taken. Finally found people sitting down
behind me against the wall. Chilled out there for a while and then went
back in for Spirit/65D Mavericks and Jeff "Bells in 7" Mills. Never heard
Spirit before. They were good but felt that something was lacking just a
little bit. They were working off laptop and as Tristan pointed out it
seems like they were sequencing tracks like a basic DJ set instead of using
all the tools and technology available to them in the laptop. I don't
think that was far off from what was preventing me from really getting into
it. They had their moments though.
Jeff Mills - I was pretty mashed by this time so I can't recall specifics
anymore. I made a bet and lost.
Ended the night back in the R&S room bopping on a floor that was sticky
like fly paper. That is until someone spilled a beer and then I could
skank with the best (or worst) of them.
That, my friends, is part one....
next - the loot I found laying around in a record shop.
MEK
PS - pictures of Rob Taylor shredding on the air guitar soon to arrive on
my new Flickr page
