Daft Life
Life Fridays
Well, this is a bit exciting. Arc is back in full effect, with a new name and a full refurb. No offence to the previous promoter, but we can’t remember what happened on Fridays before (Saturdays stays as indie night Hold Up – how could it not?). This alternative dance music night seems right on the money though. Quirky post-Daft Punk electro that isn’t too up itself or obscure. David Parr, Willerby and Senor Mick are the residents – a trio who have plenty of experience behind the decks. Safe, daft hands.
Eddie Halliwell/Nic Fanciulli Honeyclub Sat 1st/Sat 15th
Eddie Halliwell had a sharp rise to fame with his well-practised turntablist approach to hard house. After years of practice he emerged from his bedroom a fully formed DJ, though his new mix CD shows he’s left the scratching behind. Nick Fanciulli took the opposite route to fame and fortune. He’s the perfect example of a resident DJ made good. Years in clubs means that he knows the right tune to play at the right time of night. Ironically his sets with James Zabelia have become highly technical. A good pair of bookings by Sevensins this month – it’s almost like a science experiment. As an aside Fanciulli is an absolute charmer while Halliwell is nice but gave me the most boring interview I’ve ever conducted. He’s too focused for fun – no bad thing perhaps.
Flevans
Fortune Of War Fri 7th
You’ve got to love a city where a DJ of Flevans’ standing will play a pub set on a Friday night. Of course it helps that the Fortune Of War is run (in part) by one of his Tru Thoughts bosses, Paul Jonas. That’s why the music is always so good there. Anyway, back to Flevans – the man has serious funk, and is feeling prolific at the moment. You might even get to hear some of the next album he’s apparently half way through.
Audio 5th Birthday Party
Audio Sun 9th/Mon?
We do love Audio’s birthday parties. Massive name DJs at a price everyone can afford. They always go right off, and this half decade will be no exception as Radio 1’s Kissy Sell Out is at the helm. With a fairly decent electro pop album now under his belt, we’re not sure whether the youngster is still banging it out, but we’d expect some excitement in the room. David Parr and Blah Blah Blah are partners in rhyme for the warm up.
MJ Cole
Funky Buddha Fri 14th
In the first flush of UK garage – before we ended up in the melody-free realm of dubstep and grime – MJ Cole was a god. Coming from a classical background via drum’n’bass, he had it all. Sincere is a cast-iron classic, full of soul and funk – probably the best record the genre produced. He’s been pretty quiet for a while though – he never liked the limelight – and we’re not sure where his head is at musically. This appearance at Release should clear that up.
MSTRKRFT
Ocean Rooms Thurs 20th
MSTRKRFT – beating MGMT in the pronounce-the-missing-vowels band names stakes by a good couple of years – were born out of the ashes of Death From Above 1979, making that break-up easier to deal with. Big, noisy electro house on their debut, new single adds the r’n’b of John Legend into the mix. Last seen at Chaos Rocks, they can definitely manage behind the decks so get down and catch the godfathers of the current blog house scene.
Tom Real
Coalition Fri 21st
Tom Real’s name might be associated with breaks – perhaps explaining his booking at a night called Broken – but his new Disco Of Doom project with long time collaborator The Rogue Element has shown his commitment to a new, hard, dark electrotech sound. That’s not to say that tracks like Warpig are too much, but Tom is definitely striking into his own territory. Ready to go with him? Simon Pieman, Niquid and Benji are tonight.
Battlejam
Audio Fri 28th
JFB rang us up very excited about this one. There’s no Beardyman this month but the DJ arm of the partnership has enlisted one of the best drummers around to pick up the slack. It will be interesting to see what happens when Jungle Drummer gets mangled in JFB’s Serato, and when you add DJ FU to the mix you’ll be leaving asking, “Beardy-who?”.
Tom Neville
Coalition Sat 29th
Gorgeous have scored themselves a good guest again this month in Tom Neville. It terms of productions he isn’t enjoying the same buzz as he was around the time of ‘Just Fuck’ but the Love Minus Zero boss has still got it, with high profile mixes of Santogold, Britney and Keene recently. Serge Santiago told us that the pair were heading onto stage together, but we haven’t seen that show yet. This will more than do in the meantime, especially with Yusuf Sebaiti on warm up duties.
Timo Maas
Honeyclub Sat 29th
More from Sevensins sees German big room master Timo Maas hit our shores. The man behind that huge-basslined remix of Doom’s Night is still producing and in fact has a new album meekly-titled Return Of The Legend. This gig is a brief stop off on the way to Creamfields although the anti-commercial, anti-Bacardi rant on his MySpace probably isn’t going to get him invited to Groove Armada’s Lovebox. His collaborations with Martin Buttrich suggest he’s bringing is techno edge out at the moment.
Danny Rampling
Ocean Rooms Sat 29th
Danny Rampling didn’t invent raves, modern clubbing and the British dance music scene but by starting acid house’s year zero night in a gym in London he certainly had more of an influence than most. He quit DJing in 2005, 18 years later, but seems not to have been able to stay away. He’s been through so many genres and styles that it’s hard to know what he’s going to be playing, but we’re going to plump for the grown up US garage sound that seemed to settle with him later in his career. Is this a permanent return, or the last chance to see a legend?
