After Action Report: Bloc 2012

So Bloc 2012 crashed and burned.

It's still not really clear what went wrong, although from our vantage point on the ground, the failure seemed to come from a perfect storm of poor organisation, technical problems and issues with the venue. There's still a load of conjecture and rumours running about, and it's not clear whether the full truth will ever come out.

Over the past six years, Bloc has become an increasingly important part of the year for us, and whilst it was a shame to see it move location away from the holiday camps of old, we remained optimistic that it would survive the change in venue and an attempt to break into the UK festival mainstream, especially with such a strong lineup on offer. The disappointment of Friday's fail was crushing because we all had such high hopes for the weekend.

It would be a shame if the Bloc omnishambles were to sink Baselogic, although it is unclear how they will recover from this. Even if they survive the financial cost of refunding the punters and paying off the artists, venue and other huge costs associated with putting on a festival in the UK, the Bloc name will forever be associated with Friday's massacre. It seems that the five years of trust and goodwill generated by Bloc's amazing parties are pretty easily forgotten, although a lot of the internet rage on Facebook and the like appears to be coming from people who had no experience of Bloc before Friday. Whilst a degree of anger is understandable in the light of Friday's events, it is depressing to see the accusations of greed on behalf of the promoters. They've always come across as motivated by the music rather than the bottom line, and it seems that this time they bit off more than they could chew, rather than overselling to make a quick buck. You don't make money from electronic music anyway. Much like D&B, most people would pay £55 not to have to listen to the majority of the Bloc lineup.

Bloc had come to fill a niche in the UK scene that no other festival really met, and it's death is a huge loss for electronic and alternative music in the UK in general. Maybe it'll return, but I'm not holding my breath.

Having said that, before things went south, Amon Tobin's ISAM show was spectacular as ever, and Ray Keith on the Acid Waltzers killed it...

EDIT: Baselogic goes into administration [FACT MAGAZINE]
Refunds aren't looking too likely then.

Also, POSH PEOPLE COMPLAINING! Never would have had this sort of nonsense at Hemsby...

After Action Report: Bloc Weekend 2011

Dear Techno,

I'm sorry about all the horrible things I said about you. I didn't really mean any of it, you just have to understand that I really like drum and bass, and sometimes I say things I don't mean.

I'm sorry I said you weren't fun.
I'm sorry I said you were just for the French.
I'm sorry I said you were just for the Germans.
I'm sorry I called you Belgian.
I'm sorry that I said people can't dance to you.
I'm sorry I said you were just boom boom boom boom for three hours with all build and no drops.
Most of all, I'm sorry I said you were boring.

I just didn't understand that you were different. I see now that I was wrong. I was prejudiced and I let that get in the way of my better judgement. I just have a short attention span, but that is flaw with me, and not with you.

I'm sorry Techno, let's put all the horribleness behind us. If you'll still have me, can we be friends?

xxxx



PS. At least you're not Trance.

After Action Report: That Mixmag Thing 4/2/2011

Lured down to Shoreditch by promise of free entry and a pretty stellar lineup, we didn't really know what to expect from The Queen of Hoxton, other than a lot of fancy trainers and stupid hats.


Unfortunately we arrived late because of work, but managed to get in after the post-Caribou exodus, meaning we missed Technicolour and Komatic. Word is they ran a good set and I've been keen to check these guys live for a while, with tracks like Daydreamer really nailing that soulful liquid vibe.


We did arrive just in time to get stuck in for some heavy business with Rockwell and Icicle, two producers who have both had an incredible year in 2010 and can only get bigger in 2011. Dreadnaught is really killing it right now, and Icicle's album is gonna do some serious damage when it drops in April.



Fabio and Grooverider played drum and bass music effectively and without incident. They dropped a few big tunes, but largely filled time before the Brookes Brothers, who absolutely levelled the place. It's always nice to hear Tear You Down, but the rest of the set was also fantastic. The album is about to drop and promises to be another must have for 2011.

All in all, a great night. Can't really argue with free entry either!

After Action Report: Hospital Fabric Takeover 7/1/11

A simple Fabric takeover may seem like a bit of a step down for Hospital, considering that it was only last September the label sold out the 5000-odd capacity Brixton Academy, but with the Hospitality brand going nationwide over the last couple of years, it was nice to have another London Hospital night, and there was certainly a lot of buzz around this one, despite it coming so soon after Xmas and NYE.

Fabric can really be a hit or miss venue. Either you'll get in nice and early and have a great time wobbling around on Room 1's bouncy floor before crashing in Room 3, or you'll queue for three hours to be groped by security on the way in, become hopelessly confused by the club's bizarrely dysfunctional maps and accidentally wander into the girl's loos, at which point someone's coke-addled boyfriend will punch you in the mouth. Whatever happens, you'll mostly end up having a good time.

Anyway, onwards to the DJs:

Stanza opened in Room 1, with a really good mix of old Hospital tracks, recent D&B anthems and a few newer curve balls. Essentially the standard This Is Drum And Bass sort of mix, but all the better for it and a good warm up for the night ahead.

Next up was S.P.Y., easily one of the strongest contenders for Producer of the Year 2010. Having been on fire throughout the year, I was really looking forward to seeing the Brazilian DJ and he did not disappoint on the night. By Your Side has yet to get old, and when we ambushed the man himself by the merch stand, he seemed like a bloody nice chap, and very impressed by the response the track has been getting over the past year.

S.P.Y doesn't get all of the Room 1 glory however, as Nu:Tone's subsequent set more than kept the energy going. Gotta give a nod to Natalie Williams' magnificent vocal work as well, and hearing the Room 1 crowd singing along to System was strangely beautiful, although sonically pretty damn horrible. Dan Gresham's new album is hitting the streets at the end of February, and from the stuff he's been dropping recently, it's gonna be good.

Other Takeover highlights were Joe Syntax, who kept things fixed well into the deep end in Room 3, along with London Elektricity, whose Room 3 Med School set reminded everyone that drum and bass is serious business. At 2.00 - 3.30, Blu Mar Ten were perfect for a battery recharge ahead of Cyantific's incredible Room 1 onslaught, and I urge you to check their promo mix if you haven't already done so. Rounding off the evening were Sigma, who pulled the trigger on the night with a heavy final set.

All in all, a fantastic night of D&B. See you at Hospitality Brixton in April.

After Action Report: Ninja Tune XX 02/10/10

Twenty years for a record label is a lifetime, let alone an independent like Ninja Tune, and Matt Black and Jon Moore (label founders and the team behind Coldcut) should be incredibly proud of their achievements as they reflect on the last two decades. The label has brought together so many incredible artists, that it's quite scary to imagine the musical landscape without it. In celebration of this impressive anniversary, Ninja Tune have been running events all around the world, with the Ninja Tune XX night at the Ewer Street Car Park offering the most impressive of lineups.



From a personal point of view, Ninja Tunes' artists, albums and compilations have provided the soundtrack to a great number of important moments in my life and very many happy memories, and I was looking forward to Ninja Tune XX as an opportunity to bask in the golden glow of nostalgia, as much an opportunity to see some of the artists whose music I'd been enjoying live for the first time.

As a celebration of Ninja Tune therefore, XX certainly didn't disappoint. I lost count of the number of times tunes such as Timber, True Skool and Witness were dropped across the night, and it's always good to hear them played out. Also, the design team had done a fantastic job in converting the soggy Ewer Street railway arches into a Ninja Tune museum, with some awesome graffiti and design work from Mutate Britain.

Unfortunately it was all a bit of a shambles getting in to Ewer Street, so whilst we queued for about an hour in the rain, we managed to miss Kentaro and Bonobo, who are both fantastic DJs, and more disappointingly Kid Koala and Hexstatic, who I've never been able to see before. This did start the night on a bit of a low, but fortunately the always awesome combo of Strictly Kev and DK picked things up and soon everything seemed to be alright after all.

The DJ Food sets have always epitomised the live Ninja Tune experience for me, running the perfect mix of hip hop, jazz and electronica, with enough deviations into rock, soul and most importantly D&B to keep the crowd dancing from start to finish. Mr Scruff also played an incredible set, and one of the best I've seen for a while. I hate to say it, because I love his standard six hour sets, but the two hour slot seemed to make everything a lot tighter, with Scruff running out a constant stream of his own big tracks, and plenty of Ninja classics.

Over in Arch Three, Daedelus provided another of the evening's highlights, giving a wonderful live performance that managed to be chilled out, whilst thoroughly ravey at the same time. After this, The Bug seemed to be much louder and more destructive, although the real structural damage was reserved for the D&B mayhem produced by The Qemeists who closed Arch One, and King Cannibal whose face smashing dub/D&B mash was as ear-wreckingly heavy as ever.

As with Wang's 10th Birthday last year, Ewer Street remains a great venue for providing a watered-down simulation of the old skool illegal rave experience that many of us missed out on due to being at primary school when the scene first blew up, but it was really annoying to miss out on so many artists because of the poorly organized door system. Thanks to hitting the Brixton academy last week, the beer prices actually seemed quite reasonable at £3.50, which is in fact a terrible state of affairs, but as with petrol, beer prices aren't going to go anywhere but up over the next few years, so there's no point whinging about it (although I will continue to do so).

All in all however, a brilliant night, and a fantastic celebration of Ninja Tune. I hope that I live long enough to make it to the 30th anniversary party, and that Ninja Tune can keep doing what they do so well.

NINJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

After Action Report: Hospitality - Brixton Academy 24/09/10

The Hospital Records crew can always be relied on to run a good party, and the past few years have seen the Hospitality nights rise from a promotional side-interest to both a major aspect of the label and one of the UK's biggest D&B events.

Whilst it was sad to see Matter close it's doors, Hospitality always seemed a little bit big for that place, despite it being a custom-built superclub. The gantry of death was pretty cool, and Room Two had a great vibe, but there often seemed to be too much pushing and not enough dancing.

It was therefore with some trepidation that we rolled out to Brixton for the largest Hospitality yet. With something in the region of five thousand tickets shifted, it seemed like we'd be in a for a night of long time queuing and jabby elbows.

On the night however, these fears seemed to be completely unfounded, with the Brixton Academy easily able to accommodate the five thousand-odd liquid ravers messing the place up. Hospitality evolved from a club night into a full on rock concert/religious pilgrimage a long time ago, and the open plan set up and balcony of the Academy was much more suited to this than Matter's main room ever was. There was plenty of room for bad dancing, and the soundsystem backing it all up was truly trouser-shaking.

Having missed B-Complex because of previous commitments, we steamed across London at Warp Nine in order to catch Nu:Tone and Logistics. The frantic scramble was rewarded, and we were able to catch the majority of their set. Hearing By Your Side go off was definitely something special, and Nu:Logic was probably the highlight of the evening, despite the best efforts of MC Ruthless.

London Elektricity also played a blinder, with the Hospital CEO clearly revelling in his role as superstar DJ and label chief. When you're playing to a crowd that size, it must be pretty rewarding to reflect on just how healthy the Hospital brand is right now, and Tony Coleman really is at the top of his game. A live performance of Just One Second by Elsa Esmeralda rounded off the set perfectly, making LE a hard act to follow.

Fortunately, High Contrast was next up, packing fresh tracks from his current project. I'd never heard this stuff before, but going on these tracks, Lincoln Barrett's new album going to be one of the biggest things to happen in 2011.

The other standout performance of the night has to be Danny Byrd, who raised the roof with a brilliant set, plugging his new album and throwing plenty of old skool rave classics in as well.

So overall, one of the best D&B parties of recent times. Link To The Past going off five times in one night was both awesome and hilarious, with every DJ apparently running it out. Here's hoping Hospitality will return to the Brixton Academy before too long. Matter was fun, despite the drawbacks, but The Academy seems much more suited to this sort of large scale D&B shindig. Twenty thumbs up!



£4.45 for a Gaymers though?
FAAAARCK ORF!

After Action Report: Bestival 2010

Over the past few years, and despite it's awful name, Bestival has definitely established itself as both the last festival of the season, and the last hurrah of the summer, making it very much a festival of mixed emotions. It heralds the start autumn, but also gives the summer a massive, ravey pat on the back, and that can only be a good thing.

This was our third run on Bestival, and the lineup remained as diverse as ever, unmatched by any other UK festival for it's ability to cover every strand of the musical spectrum. It seemed that it would be impossible for Rob Da Bank to bring together a collection of performers as fantastic as those in attendance last year (how can you top Kraftwerk?), but he certainly managed it, running from the mainstream (headliners Dizzy Rascal and The Prodigy) to the more left field (basically everyone else).

There were so many good performances this year, that it's hard to know where to begin, but here's some of the highlights, although it's important not to forget the many DJs and acts who filled in the gaps between and kept the music flowing throughout.

The mesmerising, fragile electronica of Four Tet kicked things off for us on Friday afternoon, blowing away the hangovers and broken knees from Thursday night's partying in the Chai Wallah tent, followed up by Bestival stalwarts Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip. We've always had love for Beard and Sideburns, ever since seeing them back at Latitude 2007, and they owned the main stage, with the crowd singing along to every word.

As the day ran on, other highlights included beat poet hero Gil Scott-Heron, who slowed things down a notch with his soul and blues, including an amazing rendition of "We Almost Lost Detroit" and Flying Lotus, whose intensive bass-therapy kept things weird and wobbly in the Big Top once the masses had cleared off at the end of The xx. Despite our general lack of interest in Dizzy Rascal, he really did put on a great performance as he closed the Main Stage for the Friday night.

Saturday saw both Rolf Harris driving back the morning rain with his ancient Australian voodoo magic and David Rodigan presenting his history of dub lesson in the Bollywood Bar, with The Wailers and Darwin Deez keeping things ticking over in between. We couldn't get close to Bollywood to see Shy FX (drum and bass always attracts a bad crowd), but fortunately D-Bridge and Instra:Mental cleared most of the lightweights out, leaving us access to High Contrast, who pretty much played the best set I've seen since the Hospitality at the Scala back in 2008. Following on from High Contrast was Sub Focus in the Big Top, who slightly disappointed by just sticking to his album tracks, but with an album as good as his, you can't really blame him, and we all had a great time singing along to the old knees up classics of Last Jungle, Timewarp and so on. A fantastic end to the night.

With Sunday rolling round, fatigue was definitely starting to set in, but an early pick me up from The Bikini Beach Band surf rock crew certainly sorted us out, as did a nice stroll in the woods. Wax Tailor's trippy hip hop in the Big Top was also great fun, and The Prodigy tore it out on the Main Stage, showing just what an accomplished, nuclear-powered festival machine they have become. Closing the festival in the Big Top was the hauntingly beautiful Fever Ray and of course the incredible LCD Soundsystem, with James Murphy giving it his all. A powerful, emotional performance, and my personal highlight of the Festival.

Bestival remains without a doubt the highlight of the UK festival season, although this year it certainly seemed to be feeling the strain of the extra 8000-odd punters. Obviously it's a business, and for all the promoters' talk about being a celebration of music and gaiety or whatever nonsense the marketing team come up with for next year, it needs to make money. However, it felt like the festival was at capacity last year, and if they try and cram anymore people in, they risk killing it. There was definitely a shortage of toilets and camping space this year, despite the best efforts of the stewards and cleanup squads, and the usual complaints about choke points remain. What sort of maniac chooses to hold a festival on an island anyway?

Beer, programme costs, ferries, shuttle buses and parking fees all remain a massive ripoff, which leaves a bad taste in the mouth, but this has long been par for the course when it comes to UK festivals, and as long as you're prepared for the shock, and sensible about sneaking booze through security, it shouldn't be enough to ruin an excellent weekend. The sad thing is that Bestival has shown that it can command these prices, and will no doubt be even more expensive next year.

But we shall go back.

We need to go back.

There's a magic to Bestival that one struggles to find anywhere else, despite it becoming increasingly mainstream. The music, the performers, the strange bits of sculpture, the site and the crowd all come together perfectly to create a wonderful vibe.

It's the best festival.

After Action Report: L.E.D Festival 28/8/2010

As we trekked down to Victoria Park, Hackney, for the first London Electronic Dance Festival (or LED; wonder which came first, the name or the acronym?), we were expecting August rain and mud. Fortunately, the sun came out and the clouds parted. An auspicious sign for what looked to be a great day of music, albeit a weirdly diverse one.


We skipped LED's Friday night, with the headliners David Guetta, Calvin Harris et al. promising largely cheese-flavoured house (great if that's what you're into, but not really the sort of artists anyone would want to pay money to see when you can hear their stuff at a million Lloyd's/Wetherspoons across the country on a Friday night). I'd had a quick look at the Internet chatter, which suggested the first day of the event had been a bit of a shambles, with set times all over the place. It's important to remember however that people always rush to Facebook when they feel even a tiny bit aggrieved with something, so one has to take the e-rage with a pinch of salt and the anticipation of Leftfield and Aphex Twin far over-powered any trepidation.

Anyway, as we approached Victoria Park, everything seemed to be running well. Security weirdly confiscated the lid from my water bottle, whilst missing the eight keys of uncut cocaine in the bottom of my bag, but apart from that there was little trouble retrieving the tickets and getting through the gate. We arrived to the sound of Sub Focus's Timewarp thudding away in the distance and were surprised to find that it actually was Sub Focus, on at three in the afternoon.

Sub Focus - Fantastic set from Mr Douwma, even though he kept veering off into house and dubstep (at least it keeps the kids happy). MC ID largely got in the way of the music (as to be expected) but occasionally shut up long enough for the audience to hear what the DJ was doing. Was amazing to hear Xample and Lomax - Link To The Past go off loud, and it's impossible to get bored of Last Jungle and Rock It, no matter how much it's been run into the ground over the last few years.

Professor Green - Pretty good performance, even though Grime isn't really of interest to anyone ever. General opinions seem to be that he sounded like Eminem, but that this was a good thing.

Shy FX - Lovely, solid drum and bass from a DJ that for some reason I've always found it hard to get excited about, even though he's done great sets in the past. Opening with SL2 - On A Ragga Tip set up the perfect festival vibe and with the absence of an MC, Shy FX's set was actually more satisfying the Sub Focus's.

Boy Better Know - Lots of shouting men. Meh.

Annie Mac - Functional set from the Radio 1 DJ. Wasn't expecting anything special, but the crowd seemed to be enjoying it. The overpriced beer/cider double team must have been working its magic by this point.

Goldfrapp - For a festival with only two stages and not that many acts, the fact that Goldfrapp clashed with Aphex Twin was pretty unforgivable, although perhaps the organizers felt that Aphex's abusive electronic hatenoise and Goldfrapp's airy synthpop would have little crossover appeal. Anyway, we missed the start of Aphex to see Goldfrapp, but for this I have no remorse. Goldfrapp gave an awesome performance, with Alison Goldfrapp seemingly dressed as a swarm of bees, mixing older tracks with newer stuff as the sun set over Hackney. Lovely stuff.

Aphex Twin - Despite missing the start of Richard D. James' LED performance, we fortunately arrived in time to feel the full force of his deranged techno throatpunch. As his set built to a thunderous climax, it felt like being trapped in the boot of a taxi whilst dinosaurs pound on the outside, shining lasers and strobes in through the keyhole (i.e. he smashed it).

Leftfield - Being the last act, everyone flocked to the main stage to catch Leftfield in action, so there was no way to get near the front and feel the full impact of the band. Leftfield will always hold a special place in my heart, as Leftism was one of my first albums, and it was fantastic to hear so many tracks dropped. Space Shanty, Afrika Shox, Open Up, Afro-Left; they all still pack a one hell of a punch, and when Phat Planet inevitably went off for the encore, my head exploded.

So overall, LED was certainly a great day out, with even the shit selection of overpriced beer and slightly dodgy timetabling not enough to hold it back. The only major problem had to be that the sound levels were all over the place. I assumed this was due to evil sound technicians messing with the drug munchers, but it was more likely the result of licensing restrictions. Was quite a shame though, because a little more oomph would have pushed Leftfield into the stratosphere.

Will be interesting to see if LED happens again next year. Certainly one to keep an eye on.

After Action Report: Bonobo Live at the Roundhouse 29/05/10

Since seeing Simon "Bonobo" Green DJing at The Scala last October, I've been looking for an opportunity to see the guy performing his own stuff live. November's Cinematic Orchestra Roundhouse gig was truly magical, so we arrived in a drizzly Camden with really high expectations for the evening.

A brief snippet of Kota announced that the gig was underway, and from that moment onwards, Bonobo proved to be more than deserving of our anticipation. Simon Green himself wielded the bass guitar, whilst supervising the rest of the band and dishing out the shout outs to various band members when due. Mixing up the well known classics with newer tracks from the Black Sands album, Bonobo got the balance completely right. From the hauntingly beautiful Noctuary, to the more upbeat Kiara, the tracklist was perfectly composed. Andreya Triana provided the necessary vocals during the evening, but for me the stand out of the night was definitely Days To Come, with Kathrin de Boer taking over the vocals and perfectly capturing the smokey attitude of Bajka's original version.


A properly enchanting evening, thoroughly worth the mind boggling ticket price. At one point the two guys in front of me seemed so overcome with emotion that they exchanged their (identical) trilbies. Now that's Animal Magic.

After Action Report: BLOC Weekend 2010

I'm not writing a debrief for the BLOC weekender (12th - 14th March 2010), because if you're able to write about BLOC, that means you didn't do it properly.

Instead, I'm leaving you with a selection of BLOC mixes. Hopefully I'll be able to add some more as they're released...

Digitonal (pre-BLOC Fenchurch Mix): http://www.sendspace.com/file/kq6cn7

Luke's Anger (pre-BLOC Fenchurch Mix): http://lukesanger.fun-in-the-murky.com/podcast_fenchurch.mp3

Matt Whitehead (JakBLOC mix): http://www.mediafire.com/?14tdnmnajj5


And a reminder of why BLOCTV is so great:



Roll on 2011!

After Action Report: Red Bull Music Academy 3D Soundclash 18/02/10

Although this night was listed as happening at the Albert Hall, it actually happened in the loading bay/basement, which really makes a lot more sense considering the scale and format of the event. It would be cool to fill the main hall with weird electronic beeps and basslines, but perhaps this will have to wait until the distant future when robots rule the Earth. Or something.

Anyway, I'm all for raving in semi-industrial settings, and I prefer my music served at minus temperatures, so for me, the loading bay of the Royal Albert Hall was the perfect gig venue.

Soundclash was certainly an accurate description of the mix of acts performing; King Cannibal kicked things off with his standard furious D&B/dubstep mix, which was followed by Mira Calix's more chilled out bleeps. While both styles might not seem to compliment each other, they actually worked very well together. Following on from Mira Calix was DJ Food's Strictly Kev, who I fucking love and never fails entertain.

Next up was Chris Clark, and bloody hell, he just keeps getting better and better. There seemed to be some hardcore Clark fans up front, or perhaps they were just drunk, and unfortunately his set was over all too quickly.

The Bug (feat. Flow Dan and Daddy Freddy) were the only artists on the bill that we hadn't seen before, so we didn't really know what to expect. Their proper noisy dancehall/dub stuff was actually fantastic, although I must be getting old, because my ears were fucking bleeding afterwards.

Finishing off the night was Plaid, who I've found in the past to be a little hit and miss. Seems to depend on whether you're there for a rave or a music performance, but their closing set completely smashed it.

All in all, a fantastic evening. Kick arse visuals and fantastic music. It's gonna be hard to go back to listening to regular two dimensional music after hearing this 3D stuff. At times we were literally being bombarded from all sides by different sections of music, and I'm sure at one point it was circling the room. Crazy.

But nice.

After Action Report: Renegade Hardware 19/12/09

Braving the snow and the travel disruptions, we headed back to Area for our first Hardware night since June, and it was certainly worthwhile. Last time was a total blast, mainly due to the awesome presence of Black Sun Empire, but the 19th had an equally strong lineup, with Spor B2B Chris Renegade and the ever delightful pairing of Calyx and Teebee. I have so much love for these two that it's slightly terrifying, and as per usual they managed to fire off an awesome, furious, uplifting neurofunk set. Wonderful.

You know it's been a good night when even Friction does a good set, but this time round the time seemed to fly by, and the uglylights seemed to come on incredibly early. After all my whinging about how Hospital nights just ain't what they used to be, it was nice to be down with a more serious crowd of dnb nerds/chavs/thugs, and Area is certainly a strong venue with plenty of space to crowd round the dj booth and dance. I think we missed Prolix, which was a bit of a shame, and it'd have been nice to check out Room 2 a bit more, but overall, fifteen thumbs up, will have to reach it again in February!

After Action Report: Warp20 London

So...

Warp20. Has it really been 20 years? That makes it almost the same age as me. Whilst it seemed like all the UK Warp love got dropped up in Sheffield (the label's hometown) what with the likes of Clark, Squarepusher, Harmonic 313, Hudson Mohawke (Hell's Bells I wanna see that guy live) and Andrew Weatherall bringing the noise, the London lineup wasn't half bad.

Highlight of the night had to be Flying Lotus, who more or less shredded the place, but the Plaid classics set was a treat too. I really enjoyed Nice Nice, having not really heard anything by them before. Definitely another band deserving of further investigation. Battles were probably good, I dunno. There's been a lot of hype round these guys, but I can't remember a thing about their set. It's quite likely we missed it completely anyway...

Up in Room 2, Nightmares on Wax and Strictly Kev were both fantastic. I could quite happily have stayed there all night if it hadn't been for the lure of Room 1. Kev is seriously awesome and has never failed to impress. If you've never seen him doing the DJ thing, then you really oughta do something about it. Nightmares on Wax will always hold a special place in my brain, having had his stuff on almost non-stop rotation during my first year at university, and it was pretty brilliant to finally see him live.

Also packaged with the ticket cost was a Warp20 compilation CD thing, which I've still not had a chance to check out. Whilst it's a nice touch, I kinda feel they just threw it in there as an excuse to bump up the ticket prices for the night, which is a little cheeky, but it's still a nice souvenir!

After Action Report: Wang! 10th Birthday

My friends are probably sick of my constant whinging about missing out on the birth of rave back in the late 80s. The era before the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 seems to have taken on a near-legendary status in many people’s minds, myself included. Survivors from that period whine that the parties these days just ain't what they used to be.


Wang 10th birthday down in Ewer Street Car Park; basically a load of archways somewhere in South London. There were puddles everywhere, the toilets were shit and it was freezing cold. It was a perfect raving environment. From the industrial strength piles of speakers and the 90s-esque TV wall rig to the empty cans of Lech littering to the floor, the setup just couldn’t have been better. The only real problem was the extreme shortage of set lists, which meant that we had no clue as to who was on where and when. Wasn’t really that much of a problem, because we managed to catch Plaid and Squarepusher, but would have been nice to put some names to other faces/sets.

On the subject of Squarepusher; shit the bed that guy can play the bass! His performance at Wang last NYE was incredible, and he was one of the highlights of Bestival this year, but fucking hell! We spent almost his entire set up the front, gawping in slack-jawed wonder. Absolutely mind blowing.

It seems to me that the reason that the Wang crew are able to put on such consistently good nights is because they are all about having a good time, rather than making fat stacks of cash. At least that’s certainly the impression their nights give. I get the feeling that perhaps I’m going to the wrong kind of parties when I wake up the next day feeling ripped off. Whilst we’ll never get back to the proper raving of the early 90s, at least there are parties like Wang to give us all a taste of what once was. More please!

After Action Report: Hospitality At Matter

I bloody love Hospital Records. I love all the Hospital producers and I really love Hospitality. I've been to every one of the Matter Hospitalities bar the first and so far I've always had a really good time, and last Friday was no exception.



Turned up late to the Dome on Friday having been to see the Cinematic Orchestra over at the Camden Roundhouse, so unfortunately we missed Beardyman (apparently he was awesome) and Matrix. It wasn't all fail though, because we also managed to miss Fabio. Result!

We arrived just as London Elektricity was getting going, followed by High Contrast, who both smashed it as usual. We retreated to THE CAAAGE for a bit more space during HC's set and hung around the edges for Danny Byrd. I dunno if the number of tickets sold has been increased or something, but Matter definitely felt more rammed than usual. No room on the dancefloor for dancing and lots of shoving and pointy elbows instead. Perhaps I'm just getting old. Stuck my head in briefly to Room 2, but whoever was dubstepping it up in there almost sent me to sleep. Wish I'd caught D-Bridge's set though!

By the time Cyantific came on, we'd managed to smash our way to the front. This definitely proved worthwhile, because it's only when you get on to the dancefloor that you really feel the sub bass shreading your knees and whatnot. Ed Rush was on last to finish off the night, but everyone was really starting to lag a bit and we ended up calling it a night around half five, which was a bit of a shame.

I still quite like Matter as a venue, despite the fact it's always a bloody mission to get home from. However, I think I'll be taking a break from the Matter Hospitalities for a while. Although the beer prices have always been a rip off, £4.50 is just too fucking much for a bottle of Stella, and the crowd there seems to be pretty angry most of the time. Perhaps these two problems are related? My other problem with Matter is that I always feel really disconnected from the DJs/music. Room 2 doesn't have this problem as much, and nor do the Ram nights where the DJs are set up in the cage thingy rather than up on the stage. Perhaps it's all just a bit too big? Kinda makes me miss The End.

Hopefully taking a break from Matter will allow me to return there feeling refreshed and start to enjoy myself a bit more. Despite all my whining, Hospitality really is a great night and last Friday was throughly splendid and worthwhile. Wish there were more London-based Hospital nights though!

After Action Report: Wah Wah 45s 10th Birthday (Scala)

Bit last minute this one, with the squad being drawn to the Scala by the promise of Danny Byrd, Bonobo, Beardyman (unfortunately a no-show on the night) and Format but none of us really knowing what to expect. Never been to a Wah Wah 45s night before, but I certainly dig the Scala as a venue and the mixed lineup promised a fairly wide range of genres and performances, so we thought we'd give it a go as a change from the usual all DnB diet.


Bonobo: Impressive main room DJ set from Simon Green. Could have perhaps done with hearing a few more of his own tracks in there, but it was jolly good all the same. Must check this guy live ASAP.

DJ Format: Everyone else had pissed off to the Scala's dank, dungeonesque smoking pit for the start of Format's set, so I kicked my way to the front. Format dealt a really good hip hop mix, but it really left me wanting more. Another guy to check out live.

The Apples: Surprise discovery of the night. None of us had heard of these guys before. Best described as a some sort of jazz/funk unit, their performance was really upbeat, although it might have just been that the £4.20(!) beers were finally taking effect. Their rework of Rage's "Killing In The Name", really got the crowd bouncing (although even Killing on a Stylophone will have that effect).



Danny Byrd: As expected, Danny Byrd ran a smashing DnB set, which finished off the night nicely. Everything was running late by this point, and it seemed that most of the crowd had gone home to bed, but it was definitely their loss. Only downside was that it felt that he was playing it a bit safe when compared to his last Matter set, but hopefully he'll smash it up next Friday at Hospitality.

Overall, a jolly good night. The Room Two dubstep made a nice change of pace when we dipped in there once or twice (I think we might have caught some of Loefah) and the only real negatives for the night were the ridiculous booze prices and First Capital Connect not having enough fucking drivers to take us home.