border community blog

Bananarama

2008-12-16T18:02:00.007Z

It seems that I am to spend this week paying for my weekend of fun, after the disco sniffles well and truly set in throughout the night and are currently doing their best to convince me that next time I ought to stay at home. But I won't let those germy bastards grind me down, so in the name of lifting my spirits and reminding me that it really was all worth it, here is a quick re-cap of this weekend's whistlestop tour of Germany's twin-cities of techno, Cologne and Berlin.

I left James to take care of the Cocoon mega-rave at Madrid's Macumba all on his lonesome, and met up with him on Saturday afternoon in Dusseldorf airport for the drive to Cologne. It turns out that the party wasn't actually at Gewolbe as previously reported, as the venue had sadly lost its license earlier in the week, so promoter Tobias suddenly faced the task of finding a new venue by the weekend: the Tresor-esque basement of last minute substitution the Altes Gaswerk (a disused-apart-from-the-odd-party gas facility) certainly didn't disappoint!

Cologne is of course the home of the Kompakt musical empire, and ambassadors Jon and Christian were naturally dispatched to take their place amongst the clued-up crowd (and to keep me company while James played). Cologne is also famous for its Christmas Markets, the likes of which the UK just can't get enough of this year: London's Southbank Centre will be hosting an authentic Cologne example up until December 23rd (presumably leaving the stallholders free to celebrate Christmas as they normally would in Germany - on December 24th). Our Christmas Market mania has indeed been noted by the German media, Tobias informed me, with stallholders confessing that they can make more money by relocating their Christmas Market concept to a UK hungry for a sniff of someone else's Christmas tradition than they otherwise would from taking up their normal pitch in Germany. The news report also apparently contained the revelation that an English woman can drink as much as a German man at one of these festive market benders, so I did my best not to let the side down: but fairly early on in proceedings I saw Tobias drinking vodka straight from the bottle like it was water, and I was forced to admit defeat - this particular English woman can't quite drink as much as that German man!

Bananas somehow ended up being the theme of the weekend: the above specimen was photographed at the party in Cologne, and then when we arrived at the decidedly messy Panorama Bar in Berlin the next afternoon, our clarinet-playing (but not yet shirtless) friend Andreas who had been at the club for a lot longer than us was topping up his energy levels with a banana, which he then proceeded to wear on his head as a hat (I would have taken another photo for you, but cameras are famously banned from Berghain). Then later on at the bar Rory (a promoter from Galway who somehow made himself a regular at The End, and this time had popped up in Berlin) tried to tell me about some sort of anti-banana website, but I am afraid the precise details have rather slipped my mind since then...

Coming straight into a party that had already been going on since midnight on Saturday, initially we were in rather a different place to most of the people there. But the infectious sweaty atmosphere, a few drinks, and the fact that you couldn't tell what time it was outside anyway soon had us back in the mood. James' set went off on a slightly different tack to Radio Slave before him, but the crowd seemed to be pretty accepting nonetheless: although with hindsight John Maus' 'My Whole World's Coming Apart' may have been a little too bang on the money for that hour. The music apparently continued until 2am, setting a new Berghain record (excluding their New Year extravaganzas), but left with pretty much only the truly strung-out for company, starving hungry, and desparate to escape the all-pervasive disco dirt, I am afraid we couldn't hold out for much more than a couple of hours after James' set had finished.

Probably for the best, given how I am feeling today. Lets just hope that these cold symptoms have eased off a little in time for tomorrow's Fondue Fun-Do Two Christmas party extravaganza - the advance tickets may have gone, but there will be more available on the door on the night, so I hope to see you down there early doors!

Coloured in memories

2008-12-12T16:57:00.010Z

The famous colouring competition we launched a few years ago proved to be massively popular: entries continue to trickle in to this day, although lately we haven't been able to find a good excuse to use any of them so I suspect it may finally have run its course. So I have good reason to believe that there are plenty of colouring competition fans round here; Google Analytics also leads me to believe that there are a decent number of Norris Cole-esque colouring competition fans out there in the wider world web too, who occasionally happen upon this site whilst trawling the internet looking for new colouring competitions to enter.

Whichever particular category you fall into, our favourite papercutter Pinky (who you may remember provided the rainbow bright artwork for Fairmont's Coloured In Memory album) has just the thing for you: the Colour Me Bad! activity kit, containing a giant A1 size poster to colour in (thereby entering Pinky's own take on the colouring competition) and a bonus selection of ever-popular badges and stickers, all for just £15 (£20 including special delivery in time for Christmas).

I am sorely tempted: the poster design is in a similar vein to Pinky's new line in watercolours that were recently unveiled at his afore-mentioned current show at Cup in Manchester, which I have been eyeing up covetously for our hallway ever since. Some custom-colouring to match our decor could be the way forward:

And if the colouring-in kit doesn't solve some of your Christmas present dilemmas, then maybe Pinky's latest hand-painted psychedelic owl soft sculptures will do the trick instead? Right up Mr Luke Abbott's street, I would have thought. Although since I know he is such a dedicated reader of this blog, that would have rather given the game away if Santa was actually planning to bring him one this Christmas. James has a theory that a swift blow to the head can ensure the temporary memory loss necessary to cancel out any surprise-spoiling premature Christmas present sightings - but I wouldn't try that one at home, kids!

Finally, the truly dedicated colourer will also want to pick up one of our painting-by-numbers t-shirts or bags from our online store to complete the set, which await your own unique colourful twist using fabric, paints or whatever else your imagination dictates. One day I might even finally get round to adding some handy customisation kits to the shop, which I have been dutifully assembling like a sewing squirrel hoarding vintage fabrics and accessories to tide me through the winter. But if you have already managed to give your t-shirt or bag the personal hand-crafted touch without my help, we would dearly love to see a photo of the results!

No sleep till Berlin...

2008-12-11T15:47:00.010Z

Living club legend Berghain (and its Panorama Bar annexe) will be four years young this Saturday 13th December, and in true Berlin style they have assembled quite a line-up for the occasion to see them through a 24 hour long celebratory clubbing marathon. Octave One and Kevin Saunderson bring a taste of Detroit to the cavernous Berghain hall, whilst Jesse Rose, Claude Von Stroke, Tristan Da Cunha & Adam Shelton, Cassy and Radio Slave provide the contrasting soundtrack upstairs in the Panorama Bar, as night gives way to morning, and then morning gives way to afternoon...

We'll be making our own fashionably late arrival to the party sometime on Sunday afternoon, in good time for Mr Holden's 6pm appointment. Before that James will have already completed his Saturday night engagement at Gewolbe in Cologne, then snatched what sleep he can in a hotel, before dashing to the airport for a lunchtime flight: but this being Berlin, there could well be members of the crowd who have remained in the Berghain complex during that whole time. Other Holden fans may want to ensure they get a good nights sleep in preparation for their Sunday afternoon outing, but it is always a strange experience turning up sober and straight-faced to the full-on messiness of a party that has already been in swing all through the night. The transition from your bed straight to the club is the biggest shock to the system: at least our flight from Cologne will give us time to wake up and ease ourselves slowly back into the party mood.

What the Berghain website rather aptly describes as "der vielschichtige Fantasiesound von James Holden" (James' multi-layered fantasy-sound) will I imagine feel entirely appropriate for the hour, and James is looking forward to the chance to play around in the libertarian environment of the Panorama Bar. Previous appearances there assigned him to the mans music domain of the Berghain floor, where shirts-off techno is very much order of the day, but the time and location of this particular session ought to lend themselves very well to a spot of that blueprint-warping techno that our boy Holden does so well.

The terrifying clown collage of the club's December flyer meanwhile is probably better viewed before, rather than after, your 24 hour Berghain birthday bender:

Say cheese!

2008-12-08T18:05:00.007Z

Just a quick heads-up for any dedicated readers who have subscribed to the feed from this blog (but have yet to subscribe to the news feed from our front page) that a limited number of tickets have just gone on sale for the second edition of our legendary Fondue Fun-Do parties - imaginatively named 'The Fondue Fun-Do Two' - to be held on Wednesday 17th December at the St Moritz Basement, 161 Wardour Street, London from 10pm to late.

We'll be simultaneously celebrating the occasion of our Christmas Party and the birthday of the lovely Steve from Allez-Allez (with whom we are collaborating once again to bring you another cheese-music fusion): the perfect excuse to wheel out the cheese. On this re-run, our own James Holden and the Allez-Allez boys will again be providing the uncheesy music, while a complimentary cheesy fondue buffet will be served in the in the dedicated fondue room next door. Make sure you join us by securing your £6 ticket from WeGotTickets right now, or else get yourself down to the venue early on the evening to grab one of the remaining £7 tickets available on the door.

I am getting hungry just thinking about it!

Ticket to rave

2008-12-08T14:46:00.007Z

There was one destination on Fairmont's tour itinerary this month that particularly caught my eye: the BrainTicket night at Caleido Club in Bologna, Italy, this Saturday 13th December - mainly because BrainTicket seems like a rather excellent name for a club night to me:

I did initially think that they may have derived their name from the legendary kraut / psychedelic / space rock band of the same name, whose Cottonwoodhill hippy jam album James picked up on the recommendation of the man behind the counter at Rough Trade near the beginning of his krautrock odyssey:

The psytastic artwork, slap bass and posh-bird-on-acid vocals on the eponymous 'Brainticket' trilogy made the album an instant (but possibly dangerous) in-car hit for us, and the reasons why you ought to also add it to your collection are perhaps best illustrated through the instructions contained in the liner notes:

"Listen to the first recording of this LSD / Hashish / Fixy / Jointy Sound. Take a trip into your inner light. See the hallucinations of reality rise out of the groove. You've got your Brainticket now! Hallelujah.

Advice: After listening to this record, your friends won't know you anymore.

Warning: Only listen once a day to this record. Your brain may be destroyed. Hallelujah records takes no responsibility."

But after some further digging (well, I asked the promoters!) it turns out that the clubnight's name was actually a loan from an early nineties techno track from Germany by Ramin, which in a twinkly melodic sense (if not in tempo) does perhaps strangely also have a touch of the Fairmont about it (listen for yourself on Last.fm).

So I do hope that Jake has a better time in Italy next weekend than James did this weekend just gone by, namely in Bari, where he ended up accidentally eating a mouthful of ham after the promoter told him a dish he had just tried was vegetarian (when it blatantly wasn't!), and then nearly missed the flight on the way home after the driver turned up too late. James' last visit to Bari (along with Nathan) also resulted in a missed flight thanks to a driver no-show following a highly-inappropriate club booking, so I don't think he will be in any rush to head back there ever again! But if the BrainTicket website's handy hints on enjoying the party (which to me sound more Japanese in spirit than Italian!) are anything to go by, then the Bologna-based BrainTicket crew appear to be a conscientious set of promoters very concerned with ensuring a good time for all, as the following excerpt would suggest:

"Thank you for... Not Driving No Matter What!

Ok, not a single teetotal friend of yours, and you digged hard into that rhumy things.
Take a taxi, or wait for the bus!

Don’t be an idiot...

Thank You!"

Sound advice

2008-12-05T17:49:00.008Z

The link to this interview with DJ hero DJ Koze is currently doing the rounds on email, so I thought it might be nice to also share it with you here for some weekend reading for anyone else who doesn't trawl the pages of Resident Advisor as a matter of course.

James and I first ran into Kosi one snowbound winter evening in Montreal where the two were booked to play together at La Nuit Electronik, and we were most happy to find that he is very much on our wavelength, both musically and personally, as well being quite possibly the funniest living German. Actually, we were already pretty confident that we would get on after hearing the tales from the legendary Taico Club festival in Japan, when DJ Koze met Nathan Fake and his travelling visualist and partner in all crimes Vincent Oliver, and ended up inviting his exhibitionist new best friend Vincent onstage with him for a spontaneous outburst of breakdancing. I have been assured that the visual evidence of this bizarre occurrence lurks somewhere on Youtube, although I have yet to unearth it myself.

So it is no surprise that Kosi's disgruntlement at the formula-based conservatism in dance music is a textual echo of sentiments expressed around these parts on an almost daily basis. James and Kosi once even concocted their own card-based solution to that age old plague of the harder-faster brigade, whereupon it would be politely explained that persons requesting that they up their tempo might be better off going to see another DJ play that evening. But it was this quote in particular which caught James' attention:

"I think it is fairly easy to rock the house, but so hard to look out of the window."

Indeed, we have pondered this conundrum together on many an occasion, like at last night's Poni Hoax gig at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen (and in particular during the god-awful between-bands-DJ's indie-dance set), where the dark gothy new romanticism that we really love (as heard on the perfect The Paper Bride) was largely overshadowed by their more brash punk funk tendencies. Sure, the ramshackle mixed-up crowd were doing their best Dad-at-a-wedding dancing impressions throughout, but I think musicians of all genres would be wise not to interpret the immediacy of a crowd's reaction to their most lowest common denominator surefire crowd-pleasing elements as a sign that those songs are the "best" ones. James has previously talked about how easy it is to prompt this type of reaction in a crowd, and we are glad to see that DJ Koze agrees that there ought to be a bit more to the art of DJing than this. To focus your efforts on extracting those overt signs of "pleasure" from the crowd is not only a cheap route to personal gratification, it also inevitably encourages a DJ to select from only the most conservative palette of music, and dance music is in serious danger of stagnating in an infinite loop unless more DJs learn to forgo the instant thrill of a whoop from elements of the crowd in favour of taking some musical risks with what, and how, they play.

And for once Resident Advisor's comments section may give us cause for hope, where the universal message is one of promising proclamations of DJ Koze's legendary status, but I do hope that means that the world really is paying attention to his rallying call against the current conservative malaise that blights techno. Those fortunate fellows over at Resident Advisor have also managed to bag DJ Koze for their Christmas Party on 20th December alongside equally fun-loving mobile simians Modeselektor, Lawrence, Move D, doP and Trus'me, and I would promise to see you there, but a) it is at Matter, and b) I have just been invited to a rather unmissable sounding intimate evening of living-room-based audio experimentation across town on the same night. But be sure not to let that stop you popping along if you fancy it!

Drowning in a sea of curly hair...

2008-12-03T14:43:00.009Z

So over a week has passed since that fateful End night, and cameraman Dan has now got his photos back from the processing lab, so I have dutifully trawled through all four films worth to put together the following alternative impressionistic photo-reportage-meets-witty-repartee. See if you can spot yourself amongst the photo motherload by viewing the full gallery here.

The technologically-minded Dan has a bit of a laser fixation, and the combination of brightly flashing club lighting and the lomo's colourific unpredictability produces some magical effects, which I think rather successfully capture the psychedelic feel of the evening:

Regular warm-up boy Avus completed his full attendance record at every Border Community night last Saturday, even if he only took on official residency duties from party number two - an honour which the long-time End regular and tech-house disciple has described as "a dream come true". Over the course of our residency he has really made the warm-up slot his own, and as the pictures show on Saturday night he looked right at home in that DJ booth of dreams:

Another nice shot of Scott (Avus), this time pictured with our old office boy Vincent Oliver and the lovely Rosana, who I think along with only myself, Kat, and our three DJ stalwarts ought to earn some kind of award for 100% attendance. (But if you do know anyone else who can match us, please do speak up in the comments!).

That DJ booth slap bang in the centre of the dancefloor has a handy rail running around the edge, which members of the crowd can conveniently hold onto to prevent themselves being literally bowled over by the musical onslaught. Either it was a tech-house thrashing from Avus that caused them to cling on, or there were a number of hamsters who made it into the club last Saturday to watch their rodent king James Holden. Or perhaps they were just common or garden trainspotters, and I have an over-active imagination:

I think this photo provides a nice illustration of that famed intimacy between crowd and DJ provided by the End's low-slung DJ booth, and it is also about as close as James will ever get to crowdsurfing:

James was happy not to have to take on the graveyard shift this time, playing rather early in the evening for him and cutting a rather dashing figure with his new fringe-heavy haircut:

This fellow was next up: I am sure you can guess who this is - I would recognise that curly hair anywhere!

Comrade Fake and his elbows of doom did his best to elude Dan's photographic efforts, fitting so fast that the camera could barely keep up with him:

But Dan's intrepid efforts paid off, as he managed to capture the electronic sorcerer's other-worldly incantations in full swing, blowing the cover on Fake's pact with the devil once and for all:

And here are the results of Nathan's Ableton-alchemy, as Dan also caught on camera the moment that the mainroom dancefloor transformed into one big writhing sea of curly hair, as the entire crowd spontaneously sprouted a Fake-do in tribute to their techno tormenter:

Finally, the Kieran Hebden, James Holden and Avus threeway that filled the last two hours is already the stuff of legend round these parts. Indeed, we are coming to believe that Scott may actually have also dabbled in the dark arts to a greater degree than we previously realised, after Dan captured him hovering as a translucent ghostly presence between Hebden and Holden:

But I can assure you that Avus did indeed participate in a physical as well as spiritual sense in this fitting conclusion to our two year run, which saw our own holy trinity's exemplary and often conveniently overlapping taste meld together in a dreamlike fashion. James meanwhile was left scampering frantically between Scott and Kieran, demanding that they tell him the key of each record that they played at this most unlikely hour for that sort of thing.

A slightly less fanciful official version of events as assembled by The End's photographer is now up on The End website too, although loyalty to Dan's lomo prevents me from repeating them here: but these snaps of Avus' funny pointy fingers dance, Ellen's record-for-a-hat, and the irrepressible Helios did make me chuckle. The nostalgic Thirteen years of The End photo diary is also worth a tearful look while you are there!

And now, as tears subside...

2008-11-24T16:29:00.004Z

As we attempt to get back into the swing of things this Monday afternoon (it appears that we were a little too successful at turning ourselves nocturnal in preparation for our big Saturday night!), the finality of it all suddenly begins to hit home. The thing about going out with a party as great as last Saturday at The End is that the amazing feelgood atmosphere of the evening obscures the underlying sense of loss, and it is only in the freezing cold light of a snowy Sunday morning that reality sadly sinks in. (Thank goodness for Ringo Pizza's handy dial-a-munch hot food, milk and fags service is all I can say!).

A million thanks to everyone who came down on the evening, and full marks for bravery and dedication for waiting in the sub-zero temparatures to get in - we really felt for you! I do hope that the entertainment once inside made up for it: Avus revelled in the chance to play an unfettered anything-goes warm-up before longtime musical co-conspirator James, who also seized the early doors opportunity to play one of his best End sets yet. Nathan Fake had everyone reaching for the earplugs as he once again managed to somehow push The End's legendary soundsystem seemingly louder than anyone else ever has done before, with the guest we always wanted Ellen Allien then doing us proud by proving that she is every bit woman enough to follow Fake's tough act.

Kieran Hebden's lounge room meanwhile was quite literally jumping all night - even Binary Finary got a great reception this time round! - and the eight hour marathon seemed to fly by. So when he finally shut-up shop and popped over to the main room for some closing session frolics with fellow regulars James and Avus, Kieran still had plenty more to give, trooper that he is. Sinatra's 'My Way' was the rank outsider that crept up to snatch James Holden's last tune title, an emotional moment which was captured for posterity in this video that Kieran found on Youtube this morning:

So all that remains now is a long list of thankyous: thanks to Ajay, Gideon, Liam, Roz, Ryan, Alice, Helios and everyone else involved with The End, whose untiring professionality provided the perfect foundations for a series of great nights. And thanks of course to our eclectic and sometimes eccentric crowd, the fanatics who travel hundreds of miles and everyone who has ever come along to one of our parties alike: your collective lovely natures ensured that our nights had an atmosphere like no other, and for that we salute you. And if withdrawal symptoms are already beginning to kick in, fear not, for we are currently hatching plans for plenty more London-based Border Community action next year: see you on the other side!

Finally, without wishing to prolong the agony, or to be accused of milking it, I will no doubt be returning to this subject later in the week, this time with pictures: the photos taken by The End's own camera-lady should hit their site sometime soon, whilst our own intrepid human tripod Dan Tombs (aka Luke Abbott's oftentimes visual partner-in-crime) also brought along his collection of ex-Soviet Lomo photo-machines to create his own alternative impressionistic laser-heavy photo reportage, which should be with us just as soon as he gets the films developed. How delightfully old school.

Unhappy Endings

2008-11-21T18:14:00.003Z

As judgement day approaches (i.e. the night of our last Border Community party at The End), I thought the readers of this blog might appreciate some set times for the fateful disco happening of this Saturday night, to make sure that you don't miss any of your favourites. Of course, the truly dedicated will ensure they don't miss a second of this final End fix by getting themselves into the queue before the doors even open (a highly advisable tactic given the numbers predicted to descend on us tomorrow night).

22.00 Avus
00.30 James Holden
2.30 Nathan Fake (live)
3.30 Ellen Allien
6.00 Border Comrades Back to Back

Kieran Hebden will of course be handling the lounge all night for the last time, before popping over to the main room for a bit of back to back action with his compadre James to bring the night to a fitting close - providing he still has the energy, that is! He won't be exactly fresh coming into this all-nighter, having already played last night in London and tonight in Manchester along with living legend Steve Reid in an electricity-and-drums rock-out to celebrate the release of their new NYC recording, but something tells me that the dynamo-like Kieran will nonetheless still be up for a spot of last ditch after-hours action. (Any Mancs planning on heading down to the highly recommended hedonistic showdown between Hebden & Reid this evening meanwhile might be pleased to learn that they also get the bonus offering of a Nathan Fake freakout thrown in for good measure - result!).

Bets are still on as to what James' final record will be (take a punt yourself in the comments, should you feel that way inclined). But I think I can say for sure that it probably won't be Binary Finary, given the way it went down when Kieran played it last time in the lounge (as he revealed in his recent interview on The End website). I must admit that I missed that particular selection during Kieran's last set, but I didn't realise that our crowd were quite so po-faced! But if the tongue-in-cheek guilty pleasure of Binary Finary's 1998 really is too much for you, might I suggest that you try the similarly anthemic chord progressions of Caribou's 'Niobe' (found on his Andorra album) on for size instead?

Super Delux

2008-11-17T17:26:00.010Z

If Lisbon's Lux club seemed to get rather short shrift in my preview of the James Holden three-night-run of a couple of weekends ago, that is probably because I have yet to visit the club myself, so I truly didn't have much to tell you. And although I didn't actually go along this time either, a number of reports have come in since James' return that suggest that Lux is also a world-class modern techno club that deserves much more than a passing mention on here, so here follows my attempt to rectify my previous oversight...

The first noteworthy item must surely be the fact that the club is co-owned by none other than Hollywood superstar John Malkovich, as previous Lux-guest Nathan Fake informed me over dinner at the beginning of last week. That almost seems too bizarre to be true (and yet still it had somehow managed to slip James' mind!), but Lonely Planet assures me it is indeed so.

T-Mobile may have managed to cock up turning on the European-wide roaming on James' beloved new Google Phone in time for his trip to Lisbon, but thankfully that didn't stop the camera feature from working, which enabled him to capture this suitably surreal recent addition to the Malkovich-club to show to us folks back home - a pair of giant spread legs which surround the club's front-door-vagina:

This Google-Phone-facilitated rejoining of the cameraphoned masses after a couple of camera-less Nokia calculator-phone years means that we can finally expect plenty more of these sort of endearingly-crappy photos of cheese, rodents and other worldwide curiosities encountered on James' DJ-travels to be added to the collection of ever-changing backgrounds over on that website of his forthwith. And about time too.

Meanwhile, our virtual tour of Lux continues care of Portuguese fanboy Marco, who offered me a glimpse inside with his own photo reportage showing the club's smashing flashing wall of LEDs in full glorious technicolour (as well as a video showing the scrolling windmill scene you see below rendered in LED form which sadly wasn't quite good enough quality to post here):

And the surreal atmosphere of the exterior continues once inside, James tells me, where a particularly bizarre manifestation of Europe's new legislation against smoking in public places sees one half of the dancefloor branded as a non-smoking area, whilst the other half are permitted to light up at will. I am sure there is a whole article there to be written on the different ways in which the various European nations have chosen to interpret and implement the recently-introduced laws against smoking in public - as well as how successful those different attempts have been - but I think we should probably save that for another day when I am feeling less hungry...

Feeling Lucky?

2008-11-13T15:21:00.007Z

I certainly am. And I am also ever so slightly buzzing after my internet detective work unearthed a list of forthcoming European dates from LA's wonderful Lucky Dragons, including the obligatory London appearance at The Luminaire on January 26th 2009 (although the news has yet to hit the Luminaire website, tickets are already on sale so I am not totally mad to be planning my life so far in advance). I was also lucky enough to make it along to Lucky Dragons' last London show, but it being a weekend, almost everyone else that I know would have loved it was out of town: thankfully this new show falls on a Monday, so this time I won't be accepting any excuses whatsoever from Mr Holden, Mr Abbott, Mr Fake, Mr Oliver or Mr Linares...

That afore-mentioned previous London show also took place at the Luminaire, where audience and band roles began to blur as statuesque Dragons Luke and Sarah set up their array of custom-machines, rocks and wool-clad sensor-cables in the middle of the Luminaire's floor, gently encouraging the participation of the surrounding seated viewers by handing them a rock, cable or touching hands to morph the sound as appropriate, whilst the remainder of the audience were permitted to pile onto the stage for a better view. Actually, I am not sure that any word-based description can ever do justice to the amazing interactive nature of their performance, but luckily the dedicated Upset The Rhythm crew have uploaded a couple of grainy videos from the show to their Youtube channel to give you more of an idea of this rock-based sound modulation:

The Lucky Dragons could also give our own Nathan Fake quite a run for his money in the live-show-fitting stakes, it seems:

My tip-off on Lucky Dragons' European manoeuvres originally came from a plug for Berlin's upcoming Clubtransmediale festival in January 2009, where amongst an impressive 10th anniversary line-up that includes Anja Schneider, Benga, Black Devil Disco Club, Daniel Bell, Dirty Soundsystem, Fuck Buttons, Lindstrom, Mathias Kaden, Mika Vainio, Pan Sonic, Peverelist, Pilooski, Pole, Prins Thomas, Skream, The Emperor Machine and Zombie Zombie, I noted the Dragons' presence. That then led me to the website of booking agents Paper & Iron, and a complete list of European dates so far as follows (with more dates still to be confirmed, so don't give up hope on them dropping by your hometown just yet):

25th January: The Joy Gallery @ Redspace, Dublin, Ireland
26th January: Luminaire, London, UK
27th January: KSET, Zagreb, Croatia
29th January: Maria @ Club Transmediale, Berlin, Germany
30th January: Recycleart, Brussels, Belgium
2nd February: Grrrnd Zero, Lyon, France
3rd February: LJUD @ Musikcafeen, Aarhus, Denmark
4th February: Semifinal, Helsinki, Finland

As you can probably tell, I am quite the fangirl, and as such the Lucky Dragons' drawing-based side-project Sumi Ink Club inevitably also gets my vote of approval, not least for their guest t-shirt design for Upset The Rhythm (available now from the Upset The Rhythm online shop), which I also picked up along with the Dragons' back catalogue at that legendary London show:

Club to club to club

2008-11-05T16:56:00.005Z

It always seems strange to start preparing for the weekend on a Wednesday, before the week even feels like it has really got started, but when James is booked out for an extended Thursday-Friday-Saturday three-night run, I am afraid needs must. Nowadays three-countries-in-three-days sounds a bit too much like hard work to Old Man Holden, but at least all of the nights in this particular series look like they ought to be guaranteed-good-gig-fun.

First up is the ever-reliable Lux in Lisbon on Thursday 6th, before nipping across the Mediterranean to the Club To Club festival in Turin on Friday 7th. Festival organisers have wisely paired him with a live show from Four Tet, one of James' favourite gig buddies (aside from our own Border Community roster of course!). And the rest of the club-based festival doesn't look bad at all if you happen to be in the area, with Luomo, Benga, Pivot, Junior Boys, Skream, The Mole, Magda and Ellen Allien all guesting at assorted clubs over the three days.

Then on Saturday it is off to Paris' Rex Club for the first time in a good long while; in fact it his first Parisian gig since the ecstatic We Love Border Community party we did back in the summer, so I am sure this return is eagerly awaited by all involved. Another happy pairing bills James alongside Buzzin Fly star and Rex / Requiem 45 regular Mlle Caro, whose DJ set last time they had the good fortune to play together at Rex was very much to James' liking - high praise indeed from the hard-to-impress DJ standard-raiser. Mlle Caro's Buzzin Fly album collaboration with Frank Garcia Pain Disappears meanwhile would make a pleasant Border Community friendly addition to anyone's Itunes library who has yet to be converted to the fuzzy Parisian emo-techno sound.

Petter Eat Strawberries

2008-11-04T15:27:00.007Z

It feels like I am always the last to know these things. Our Swedish meatball Petter is stopping by London this weekend for the first time in a good while, but of course, slippery and elusive creature that he is, he didn't think to tell us that. It was left to Amit of the Man Make Music crew to alert me to this most exciting of happenings, when he requested a plug for their new winter residency at yet-another-new-Shoreditch-club - the aptly named The Last Days Of Decadance - which Petter has been given the honour of launching this Saturday (8th November):

Actually, I am not sure if Petter has notified anyone at all of his scheduled presence this weekend, for there has been talk amongst the troops of a rival outing to see Hopen on the same night, which I gather has something to do with Nathan Hrdvision (aka brother of Mathew Jonson), although what exactly that is I am not sure. For me of course there is no contest: normally when we get to see Petter play it is in a supporting role at one of our Border Community specials, so the chance to see him deliver up his special sound blend in a starring role is a rare opportunity which I intend to seize with both hands.

I urge you to do the same of course, although past experience has taught me to remain cautious in my endorsement of these kind of untested new Shoreditch venues that are springing up all over the area like a rash. But I think we can trust the Man Make Music boys to have chosen their spot wisely before trading in their nomadic warehouse party lifestyle in favour of residency security. Back in March our bunny boy Nathan Fake guested for them at the sike warehouse party they organised together with our good friend Matt (aka barrow-jam merchant and resident situationist An'Unexpectacle), from which evidence I can confirm that they most certainly know their rave onions. So who is coming with me?

Last Ditch Attempts

2008-11-03T14:40:00.005Z

London's going-out scene is certainly in a transitional stage at the moment: every few weeks brings news of old club stalwarts closing, or new venue ventures springing up not-quite-in-their-place. Either this is the end of an era, or the beginning of something new and exciting. Unfortunately my I-don't-like-Mondays head is currently leaning towards the former: although I can't say I felt the loss of Turnmills or The Cross too acutely, no amount of lame new Shoreditch style bars or corporate superclub revival attempts can ever make up for the massive gaping hole that will be left when The End closes its doors for good in January.

A couple of weeks ago we got to experience the authentic eighties empty dancefloor of music video legend at East London's latest take on the free entry dancing concept, the new Cube club space in the basement of the Bedrock-B borrowing Tabernacle Bar and Grill, where cuddly Colognites Michael Mayer and Tobias Thomas served up an evening of kitschy techno-disco in a David Walliams-studded celebration of the release of Kompakt's new Pet Shop Boys collaboration. As the PR-assembled glitterati gradually emptied out of the venue at an all-too-sensible hour, the supposed "freaks and geeks" of the club's marketing campaign were in short supply as our Kompakt heroes bravely chucked ever more synth-pop anthems into the mix.

A chance for London to redeem itself in Mr Mayer's discerning eyes comes in December, when he will be back in town for another freebie, this time for the T Bar - relative scene old boy and pioneer of the free entry concept. The T Bar has been on club death row since May, when it slightly desparately offered a £2000 kickback to any Resident Advisor reader who could find them a new replacement location for when their current lease runs out, and although my last visit to the T Bar (to see our beloved George Issakidis) was a rather dismal experience populated by the wrong sort of free-entry-loving club tourists that the picky door policy originally intended to keep out, there is no denying that the original Shoreditch club-bar blueprint did things with much more style and panache than any of the would-be heirs to its throne ever could. Michael Mayer spearheads this last-ditch attempt to revive the T Bar's glory days on December 8th, reuniting with former cohort Damian Lazarus (also returning to town for the occasion following his recent defection to LA) to dig up their long-since disbanded Stink shindig from beyond the grave for one final whiff before the T Bar's departure. If any night is going to get you through the T Bar's doors one last time, then this is probably it.

Another one bites the dust, as the rather depressing saying goes.

I feel like chicken tonight...

2008-10-20T17:24:00.003+01:00

"The chicken" is a mystical figure that haunts my waking life. Ever since James turned his alarm off one morning because a chicken in his dream told him to do so, the spectre of that chicken has become an all-purpose scapegoat for any of the stupid things that James does. Not that he actually is stupid, you understand, but he is surprisingly prone to the odd logic-circumventing brain spasm that leaves you wondering: what on earth possessed him to do that? "The chicken told me to..." is the best excuse he has come up with yet...

So I did chuckle when I spotted the cover of Sascha Funke's new mix album for Berlin nightclub professionals Watergate (released on 24th October), which also forms a fitting next chapter in this blog's occasional series of pretty-brightly-coloured-album-covers-of-note:

Sascha's latest mix CD offering is the second in Watergate's brand new compilation series, and the Venn diagram intersection between a DJ who is very much on our wavelength, a top-notch world class club, and a rather tasty tracklist selection makes this one priority purchase. As well as the sublime Four Tet remix of our own Nathan Fake's You Are Here, Sascha also had the presence of mind to include a series of other high-profile soundclash collisions between Miss Kittin and Ellen Allien, the Wighnomys and Minilogue & Kab, and the formidable tagteam of Tobias Thomas and Superpitcher taking on Sascha's own 'Mango', alongside alternative electronic heroes in their own right DJ Koze, Closer Musik and The Mole.

The truly impatient can get their MP3 fix from What People Play today, or if you can wait that bit longer, pre-order the real deal CD from Watergate's own online shop, perhaps also taking the opportunity to slip in the eagle t-shirt to complement Onur Özer's contribution that formed Watergate's debut compilation release. The white version gets my vote: and don't you think Sascha's colourful chicken friend would look even more wonderful blown up to fill the front of a lovely soft white t-shirt?

They're the Pet Shop Boys

2008-10-16T15:51:00.008+01:00

I think it is probably not too much of a secret that sardonic synth-pop pair the Pet Shop Boys number amongst the list of influences of our jokers in the pack The MFA. The faithfulness of Rhys-MFA's Pet Shop Boys press photo tribute is a clear indication of his adulation, whilst Ali "Bear" MFA's subversion of the pastiche of this classic shot by wearing an all-too-colourful Santa Claus bowtie probably points towards the fact that French fiddlers Daft Punk figure more prominently in his own personal ranking of legendary dance duos:

When I first discovered the tongue-in-cheek We're The Pet Shop Boys tucked away on sassy syntheticist My Robot Friend's Hot Action! album, I felt like it was a song that The MFA really ought to have written themselves - or at the very least covered. But then somewhat unbelievably the actual Pet Shop Boys, and then even Robbie Williams, beat them to it!

Recently, The MFA's idols moved another step closer to them, when I stumbled across the news that the Pet Shop Boys-produced Sam Taylor-Wood cover of I'm In Love With A German Film Star is to be the next release on Kompakt Pop, on 27th October. It was of course the Cologne-based Kompakt who licensed The MFA's The Difference It Makes from us way back when for an early release on their fledgling Kompakt Pop offshoot, and this recent Pet Shop Boys addition to the roster I suppose makes them labelmates of sorts to our dear old MFA. Exciting news indeed, especially if you are The MFA!

Speaking of those MFA fellows, there seems to be a lot of concern out there in internet-land over their recent musical silence, with a steady stream of emails and this article over on Fluokids wondering what on earth they are up to now? Groundbreaking developments this week that are much too tedious to go into in any detail mean that I can now finally confirm that there will be a new long-awaited MFA release on Border Community early next year, so we can all breathe a massive sigh of relief...

Their silence on the touring front however looks set to continue into the forseeable future, after poor old Ali-MFA was struck down by a pretty serious ear infection at the beginning of the summer, which even knocked out his balance and earned him a doctor's ban from going to any places that play loud music. The loud music ban remains in place for at least the next few months to make sure that the infection doesn't return, so touring is certainly out of the question for the timebeing. But fingers crossed he will be back to normal before too long: Get Well Soon Bear!

Zombie Party

2008-10-14T16:34:00.005+01:00

I might live in London nowadays, but I suppose I will always be a Northerner at heart (in fact, if you got any more northern than me, you would be Scottish...), and I would hate to have that age-old London-centric charge levelled at my blog-baby. So as part of my recent outreach campaign to also blog about events even if I can't actually go to them myself, here is a little pointer to get your advance tickets to see the mighty Zombie Zombie when they stop by Manchester's Ruby Lounge for a rescheduled gig for Wotgodforgot on January 26th (yes, next year). That may well seem like an awfully long way in advance to be planning your life, but apparently the Zombie men are also booked to play at White Heat @ Madame Jojo's in London the day after (January 27th), and if the tickets for that particular outing had already been released, believe me I would be securing mine now...

Synthy-rockers Zombie Zombie's A Land For Renegades album is quite a hit round these parts, and also made it into new boy Wesley Matsell's September AND October charts for online record shop par excellence Juno (handy reference tools for anyone who liked what they heard in Wesley's recent Border Community DJ-debut and Allez-Allez guest mix). Zombie Zombie of course also have a guest mix lurking in the Allez-Allez archives, which Wes recently bigged up on his Myspace, and thus the circle of hyperlink-life is complete...

Surgical Enhancement

2008-10-14T14:32:00.007+01:00

Although James has been playing obnoxious electro-noise anthem 'Xantac' from previous Betty Botox album G4 Faggot ever since its release a couple of years ago, I have to admit that it was only last week that I finally realised that this mysterious Betty Botox character is actually an alter ego of Optimo's JD Twitch, under which he serves up DJ-friendly re-edits of hidden gems from the vaults of his record collection for mass dancefloor consumption. This much-needed wake-up call came to me courtesy of the most recent Earplug newsletter, which also contained the revelation that the three aptly-named Mmm, Betty! vinyl volumes that James picked up a few weeks ago in Phonica are now also available lumped together on one handy CD:

It was probably naive of me to think that there was someone calling themselves Betty Botox locked away in a bedroom somewhere coming up with new music that sounded like this. Indeed, the re-edit origins of all of the tracks would have been obvious to me had I only bothered to read the small-print on the G4 Faggot vinyl:

"All the tracks on this LP have been edited so that they are all 100% dj mixable from start to finish. The purpose of this LP is that these tracks are all tools for djing to be played for the dancefloor. If you feel that the editing / quantisation process has taken the soul out of some of these tracks, Betty urges you to track down the originals and play them instead. Thank you.
Tracks are edits of (or using samples from) the following:
A1 'intro' by flying rhythms
A2 '...and more' by can
A3 'pulsator' by ray davies
B1 'i love you more' by rene and angela
B2 'how long?' by lipps inc.
C1 'lost in music' by sister sledge
C2 'i'm an indian too' by don armando's 2nd avenue
rhumba band and 'i'm an indian too' by tussle
D1 'a day' by xymox
D2 'the anal staircase' by coil
D3 'here to go' by cabaret voltaire"

The Mmm, Betty! CD meanwhile spells it out even more clearly, with an explanatory sticker on the cover, and the inclusion of an email address for Mr Twitch in the obligatory disclaimer, where he also deftly fends off the inevitable geek whinging with the instruction that: "If the process or the fidelity offends your sensibilities, please track down the originals and do it yourself."

Still, whilst the music may not be entirely new in origin, and the perpetrator is not exactly an unknown, the Glaswegian trendsetter's 'Mmm, Betty!' CD compilation is nonetheless interesting, varied and well worth picking up in the absence of any devastating new breakthrough producers that sound as fresh and exciting as this. Even if it does leave me wondering once again if all of the good music has already been written...

James Has Gone To Iceland...

2008-10-10T18:25:00.004+01:00

Our dynamic duo James Holden and Nathan Fake only have one gig a piece this weekend, happily playing together for Techno.is at the Nasa club in Rekjavik tomorrow night, having decided a while ago to take advantage of their coinciding schedules and submit to Iceland's mystical lure by making a whole weekend of it. So I packed James off to the airport this morning with plenty of jumpers, confiscating his usual gym pumps and strapping him into a pair of sturdy new boots, and I trust that Nathan's surrogate mummy did the same for him, as Iceland is unsurprisingly pretty nippy at this time of year (it is all in the name...). We wouldn't want them to freeze their assets off, after all!

Going to Iceland at any time would be pretty exciting, given this afore-mentioned mystical status and its seeming position as the epicentre of all interesting facts. Nathan has long nurtured something verging on an Iceland obsession, and has already organised a couple of trips there off his own bat; actually, when I think about it, I have come across quite a number of Iceland-fanatics over the years, a couple of whom have even gone so far as to learn Icelandic or Old Norse to really cement their attachment. For some the magical attraction of Iceland stems from an ancient linguistic affinity; for others it is the unique geography and location, the geysers and the hot springs; or perhaps the tales of their quirky culinary traditions; or maybe the extensive seabird population; often it begins with the idolisation of individualistic musical flag-bearers Bjork and Sigur Ros that gradually morphs into an obsession with all things cutural and Icelandic. One way or another, the comparatively small country of Iceland exerts something of a bewitching power that has captured the imaginations of Britain's youth.

But given Iceland's recent financial crisis, and today's tough talking from Gordon Brown in a bid to recover the millions of pounds of investments from UK-based councils, charities and individuals which were held by Icelandic banks, today of all days is a particularly poignant time for James and Nathan to be heading off to Iceland, as UK treasury officials follow hot on their heels. Very occasionally a DJ's tour diary will coincide with global news flashpoints, and it is at these times that all of this enforced travelling becomes particularly interesting. Being amongst the many who thought we were being clever by stashing our savings in an Icelandic bank, I can certainly see where Gordon Brown is coming from; but at the same time, it must feel slightly uncomfortable for James and Nathan to be guests in a country that our Prime Minister has implicitly branded a terrorist state. "Welcome to terrorist country," read the text from Nathan's long-time internet pal Joi (aka the rather talented 7oi) shortly after he landed today!

Certainly an odd situation to find yourself thrust into, but it really isn't James or Nathan's place to be taking sides or assuming the role of the political mediator: James may have a Maths degree, but at the end of the day they are musicians, not economists. In both Iceland and the UK, and indeed all over the world, it is normal every day people who suffer at the sharp end of the economic machine: whilst the politicians try to unravel the mess of how to get our savings back, all our BC-boys can do is provide some much-needed musical respite to distract from the depressing daily headlines about the decline of Western civilisation...

It's Bernwerk-ing!

2008-10-10T14:39:00.006+01:00

Many thanks to everyone who came down to our Concrete & Glass festival showcase at Plastic People last weekend, and simultaneous apologies to anyone who couldn't get into the full-to-capacity venue (though thankfully that wasn't quite as many people as were left standing outside the relocated-to-Cargo-at-the-last-minute TV On The Radio gig). There are plenty of advantages to doing an event in a venue as cosy and intimate as Plastic People, but the one big disadvantage is the fact that inevitably not everyone who wants to will be able to get in. Not wishing to rub anyone's nose in it, but at least a good time was had by everyone who did make it in, which I suppose is the most important thing...

For us, it is always a recipe for a good night when we can get the whole crew out to play: I don't think we have ever managed to bring so many Border comrades together in one place before, with Avus and Nathan Fake popping along for the fun of it just to hear billed-boys James Holden, Fairmont, Luke Abbott and Wesley Matsell play. All too predictably, I didn't get any photos of the evening - I am just hoping that someone else did?

The whole East London vibe seemed to go down rather well with Jake (Fairmont) and his Canadian companion James on this visit, which makes a refreshing change from the usual visitor complaints about pollution, expense, size, noise, traffic, black snot and so on... So it is a real shame that some light-fingered lout had to go and snaffle Jake's Kaoss Pad from the DJ booth after he had finished playing (at least it was not before or during, I suppose...), an occurrence which rather took the shine off the evening. What with clothing theft in Newcastle, and equipment theft in London, the criminal community of the UK seem to be conspiring to give our Canadian cousin Jake a less than positive impression of our little island. If anyone does know what happened to the Kaoss Pad and can return it to us, perhaps there is still time to undo some of Britain's negative karma regarding the treatment of our Commonwealth guests...

Last Friday was a particularly big night for visiting Welshman Mr Wesley Matsell, for not only was it his Border Community event debut, it was also the first time he had ever met us, our negotiations regarding the release of the mighty Bernwerk (buy the mp3s now from our online store) being previously limited to a rather protracted email exchange. So even after we had picked him up from the location of our group Vietnamese feast, we still had as little idea as anyone what he would play during his warm-up, having been forewarned of his predilection for "ridiculously eclectic" DJ sets when compiling his biography earlier in the year. Not that an open-minded soul like me was particularly worried you understand, but when the time came, we were pleasantly surprised at just how techy and dancefloor-friendly his hour-long intro turned out to be: we really could see the beginnings of a fairly distinctive sound emerging that ought to hold up jolly well when rolled out onto the world's dancefloors, should the opportunity arise. Completing the trio, Friday was also the first time that Wesley had ever heard his Bernwerk-baby played out on a club system (once by himself, and once by James), and it is always a special moment for an artist to witness that kind of spontaneous crowd reaction to their music first hand.

Wesley's eclectic tendencies coupled with the snippets of noise terror hosted on his Myspace did initially set some alarm bells ringing in our friend Sam's head when I first put Wesley forward as a potential guest mixer on Sam's wonderful Allez-Allez podcast series, but Friday's set certainly allayed his fears of inflicting an out-of-character extreme noise onslaught on the faithful Allez-Allez subscribers. And in an outburst of perfect timing, the Wesley Matsell guest mix is ready and waiting for download from Allez-Allez today, offering everyone a taster of what our latest new recruit is all about, whether you made it into Plastic People last Friday or not. Tasteful tech is on the menu once again, and we trust you won't be disappointed by the selection of quality produce on offer chez Wes:

Wesley Matsell Allez-Allez Mix
1) Hecker - Bsf°tyk 5
2) Gyorgi Ligeti - Lux Aeterna
3) Kim Cascone - Null Drift
4) 2 Dollar Egg - Untitled
5) Maetrik - Kamtron
6) Misc. - Double Tongue
7) We Are Records - Unknown
8) Hugg & Pepp - Krook
9) D.I.M. - Frogger
10) Elektrochemie - Mucky Star
11) Wesley Matsell - Bernwerk
12) Hugg & Pepp - Morfar
13) Pauline Oliveros - Lear
14) Para One - Bike