I couldn't think of a better way to welcome back Now We Rave and its eleventh installment, as always bringing you the very best filthy, abrasive, synth-heavy electro sounds of now. I'm also going to use this as an opportunity to discuss the events of last night, which involved me, Chris and most importantly our old friend Erol Alkan at Kill Em All in fabric, in what was a classic rave of pure maximal electro/techno pleasure on Chris's birthday, to make things a bit more of an occasion.Despite my roots in electronic music owing a lot to the noisy, savage electro from the likes of Justice, Boys Noize and SebastiAn, I would be kidding myself if I said I went to many events with this sort of flavour anymore. It's not that my love for the style has at all diminished , in fact my passion for good electro productions remains as strong as ever, but the intense nature of the style makes it difficult to keep going back for more, which is perhaps why I now see electro nights as something of a treat. While my doses of more minimal beats is ten for a penny these days, being reunited with the old electro kings such as Erol, is something I can never contain my excitement for. Maybe it's just nostalgia, and the associations I make with the sound and the DJ's I first really fell in love with, but whatever the reasons are, a good old-school electro rave is simply unbeatable, as the Filthy Dukes proved once again last night at fabric with their Kill Em All residency.
Very rarely do I step foot inside fabric on Friday nights anymore. This is not just down to the style of music pushed by the club on Fridays, but also because of the awful crowd that gather there too, who I blame entirely for the theft of my iPhone when I reluctantly agreed to go with friends from university sometime towards the end of last year. It does baffle me that for a club I couldn't possibly love any more on Saturdays, I actually genuinely dislike it on Fridays. There is one exception to this though, and I thank Tim Lawton and Olly Dixon of The Filthy Dukes who since they began their quarterly residency at fabric have provided me with at least one Friday every now and again I can fully trust to give me a top quality electro fix.
So far they have not once disappointed, with the two events last year I attended being nothing short of complete successes. Guests such as Four Tet, James Holden, Gold Panda, Floating Points, Carte Blanche, Jamaica and Brodinski among many others made sure that all angles of the indie-electronic spectrum were covered, while the Dukes themselves ensured their sets remained consistently fresh and exciting. It was in their Room One set last Autumn that I was first introduced to one of the year's biggest hits, Tensnake's sensational Coma Cat. For their first event of 2011, as they did at almost the identical time last year, the duo enlisted Erol Alkan to headline, with Paul Chambers in Room One, while over in Room Two, Hey Today! and Shadow Dancer were the pick of the bunch.
By the time we arrived at fabric, our childish excitement got the better of us at first as we were embarrassingly refused entry for apparently being 'too drunk'. Co-operating wholeheartedly with the fear of not getting in at all, we returned soon after, as suggested by the door staff and made our way to Room 1 where Erol was soon at the helm once again. Now I can't say I can recall much in any great detail, by this time I was well and truly in the rave spirit, but I remember Erol laying down a typically magnificent two hour set of classic, top-quality electro with plenty of his own acclaimed productions with Boys Noize used. Having lived in London for the best part of 4 months now, if there's one thing I can be sure of it's that Erol Alkan is one of this city's most celebrated and respected DJ's and events with his name in are almost always sold out. If fabric was not at its capacity during his set then it wasn't far off as a densely packed Room One leaped about wildly to all the devastating bombs Erol had up his sleeve. It didn't take long for him to unleash his recent edit of 2009's Death Suite he created with Boys Noize, something we confidently anticipated after recently (and technically prematurely) acquiring Boys Noize's new Super Acid Compilation. The edit is arguably the star track, giving far more dance potential to the original with a more solid, regimented beat and it was obvious to me and Chris that Erol would be desperate to road test it on Room One's soundsystem. When he did, it received a predictably raucous reception, the edit proving to be one of the night's special moments. Other highlights included the compulsory Pacha On Acid that never fails to reek havoc, and both Lemonade and Avalanche, two of last years greatest releases from Erol and Alex.
It was an unforgivably maximal affair that epitomized the thrilling nature of when Kill Em All arrives at EC1. After bouncing around feverishly to every explosive drop in Room One for a duration I'm unsure of, we made our way to the rumbling smoky chasm of Room Two where German duo Hey Today! were delivering a searing session of more merciless electro-techno. The experience was essentially a blur, but I recall genuine euphoria and a frenzy of embraced arms and bodies with my companions when we sensed Boys Noize's Yeah gradually sizzling in from those gargantuan Martin Audios. This was followed immediately by Hey Today's own bleepy electro cut Talk To Me which elicited poor attempts of trying to recite the elementary lyrics from me and Chris. We finished off what had been nothing short of splendidly hazy night back in Room One where resident Stopmakingme kept things moving right until lights-up with more fantastic synth-heavy beats. One tune that made a lasting impression on me, due to the instantly recognizable Twin Peaks sample used, I soon discovered was an obscure little number called Stop by an artist called Dekker. I knew it definitely wasn't Moby's rave classic Go that I was aware used a TP sample, but I made it my mission to find out what it was and thanks to the Filthy Dukes' willing assistance I managed to track it down. Unfortunately it's unreleased as of yet, but enjoy this magnificent production on Dekker's myspace page.
As way made our way out at what I believe was a time close to 7am, I felt undeniably shattered yet remarkably energized. I forgot why I loved the brutal sound of electro and why I was hardened electro-kid not too long ago, but this night reminded me exactly why. Maybe this is why it's such a treat these days.
MUSIC Please...?
As I mentioned earlier in this post, Boys Noize has just released his Super Acid compilation- a collection of the finest and rudest acid techno he and his friends have been destroying dancefloors of late. You would have had to have been hiding somewhere pretty remote to not have noticed the burgeoning trend for the acid sound last year, and Boys Noize has certainly not hidden his passion for this classic style with several of his productions and pretty much all of his sets last year littered with that notorious squelch. His tribute compilation is a perfect collection of ravey acid cuts from the likes of Jan Driver, Brodinski, Feadz and Erol Alkan, who's also aforementioned edit of Death Suite is arguably the show-stealer of the compilation. We have it, but its official release date isn't until next Monday, so until then we'll leave just a couple of tracks to whet your acid appetite...
Joakim & Krikor - Azid
Erol Alkan & Boys Noize - Death Suite (Erol Alkan Edit)
Super Acid compiled by Boys Noize is out on 31.01 on BNR - available on Beatport
Keeping things BNR focused, Shadow Dancer has just released his new 5 track EP Murder Room. The title track is a typically sharp, ruthless electro outing, with plenty of top-quality rave credentials, but we like the far more disco-themed Parallax which is sure to get hands in the air. Available now on Beatport.
Shadow Dancer - Murder Room
Here's a few more bludgeoning bombs that have been incessantly irritating my neighbours and frying my ears of late. All three have interesting stories behind them: Falcon Punch comes from The Japanese Popstars latest EP titled Controlling Your Allegiance and is yet another demonstration of the Irish act's proficiency in producing savage yet often quite interesting work. If you haven't already been exposed to the hype surrounding the release of David Lynch's new two track EP Good Day Today / I know then it's worth checking what all the fuss is about, especially as Alex Ridha (yes, him again) among several others has remixed Good Day Today. And finally Jori Hulkkonen's dub mix of Villa Nah's All The Days is another gem from Turbo Recordings.
The Japanese Popstars - Falcon Punch
David Lynch - Good Day Today (Boys Noize Remix)
Villa Nah - All the Days (Jori Hulkkonen Dub Mix)
