It might sound like the beginning of a joke, but I am afraid you will have to write your own punchline, for actually this is a little plug for Border Community's impending Mexico excursion. This morning James Holden and Avus (the Scott of my headline!) set off for Mexico via Amsterdam, where they will join up with their exuberant Border Booking comrade Phil Kieran (from Belfast) for the journey onwards to play at their first stop-off, Mexico City's H2o club tonight (18th March).
James used to be a regular visitor to Mexico a few years back, and became a bit of a local hero; the feeling was reciprocated by James, who became quite a fan of the country's laid back attitude, as well as their Queso Fundido. But now several years have passed since his last visit (I think maybe it was as long ago as 2007?), which makes this latest tour long overdue. Monterey will be the second port of call for our intrepid trio tomorrow evening (19th), where they play together at the AM Club.
Then finally it is on to Juarez on Saturday 20th, the real-life border community that lies at a crossing point between Mexico and the USA, which unfortunately has recently hit the international headlines for all of the wrong reasons. Juarez (care of the Hardpop and Pastilla Digital crew) in particular was the place in Mexico that took most readily to James' sound, and their Germanic-themed club has played host to some wild nights with James at the helm, as well as a whole host of the rest of our Border Community crew. Life has been tough in the city of Juarez in more recent years, but on Saturday it is hoped that the loyal Holden-fans will feel ready to come out and play again:
Residents just over the border in Juarez' Texas counterpart El Paso may be wondering what happened to the previously advertised Sunday evening show at The Vault that has now mysteriously vanished from James' calendar: due to visa considerations this particular date has been moved back to July, when James will be back for a long-awaited full US tour. As ever, watch this space for details, and until then you can relax safe in the knowledge that you will get your Holden-fix eventually!
It's too bad that James didn't make his way down to central america. I got to see him in El Salvador back in 2005 and 2007, it sure would be lovely for him to visit again!
As tonight's Corsica Studios shakedown dawns, I undoubtedly have better things to be doing than updating my blog (now I see why they invented Twitter!). But I thought some of you may appreciate some set-times in advance, so I feel duty-bound:
I also have a sad announcement to make: the Tombola has been cancelled this time, on account of a lack of effort on my part. But if anyone finds themselves too traumatised by this devastating news, I will be offering my counselling services on the evening. Hey, maybe next time?
Hopefully the Kraut-tinged live set from Falling From Cloud 9 will offer enough incentive to get yourself down there early (check his Myspace and the Avus guest mix for a sneak preview); fans of a certain other Border Community artist on tonights bill should pay particular attention to the Falling From Cloud 9 set for a special guitar-based re-interpretation of something very familiar!
And beyond that there lies the magical mystery tour of a Kate Wax DJ set, Fuck Buttons' Andrew Hung's taming of the dancefloor, Avus' mainroom big guns, Ed Chamberlain's extremely BC twinkles, the long-awaited revelation of wherever it is that Petter' head is at nowadays, and of course, our old faithful golden Holden. I can't wait!
Our return to Corsica Studiosthis Friday night (5th March) is fast approaching, as I am sure you are aware. But as if you needed any more inducement to attend, those crafty devils over at We Fear Silence have come up with the goods, in the form of this Fuck Buttons DJ set that they have just uploaded to their Soundcloud page, and having previously directed all of my internet expertise towards trying to track one of these down, I do believe that this is an internet exclusive, so well done them!:
Everyone knows that the best producers have the best taste, as this half of the Fuck Buttons' guest mix neatly demonstrates (and Transitions seems particularly topical!). And there will be plenty more where that came from this Friday night, when the electronically-minded Andrew Hung (representing the Fuck Buttons) joins our own James Holden, Avus (listen to his own guest mix over on Mixcloud!) and Petter, and special guests Ed Chamberlain, Kate Wax and Falling From Cloud 9, for another Corsica love-in. Get your advance tickets here, and invite all of your mates here. It is going to be great!
Then if you are still standing on Saturday evening, I propose that we reconvene in the slightly more fraught surroundings of a Free Saturday at Cargo, hosted this week by the dedicated Upset The Rhythm. Kria Brekkan, former member of Iceland's Mum and current wife of Animal Collective's Avey Tare, headlines in support of her charmingly titled Uterus Water EP, whilst Walls, the exciting new Kompakt-endorsed project from Sam Allez-Allez and Alessio Banjo Or Freakout, provides the intriguing and able support. Say you'll be there?
The submerged Fisher Price screaming buried in the wall of noise of Fuck Buttons' Colours Move has the power to divide audiences, or at least the sort of people who leave comments on Youtube:
I love it, of course, but then, as those who know me can testify, I am not averse to the odd bout of shrieking myself: as well as the elephant noises that came with Andre Kraml's original parts, the breakdown of James Holden's remix of Safari (out on Crosstown Rebels back in 2004, so it might take some tracking down) also features additional monkey noises provided by my good self, animal impersonator extraordinaire. In the end I didn't get my credit on the vinyl (I will have to take that up with my agent, I suppose), but Mr Luke Abbott has hinted that he may have cause to call on my services in the near future, so it looks like my career in animal impersonation isn't over just yet...
Dropping a Fuck Buttons track in a club DJ set can be a similarly divisive act, so no surprises that our man Holden has made something of a habit of doing just that ('The Lisbon Maru', Surf Solar, 'Rough Steez', or Bright Tomorrow, perhaps, but thus far no 'Colours Move' - now that really would melt some heads!). But does there really have to be this great chasm between "dance" and "not dance"? And if such a fault line even exists, then collectively I think we ought to do all that we can to narrow it.
Edging towards us from the other side of the canyon is Fuck Button's own Andrew Hung, whose acquaintance we finally made at Four Tet's funnest-ever club-concert mash-up at the Tufnell Park Village Hall (I mean the Dome). And just how snugly the tectonic plates are rubbing up against one other will be revealed at our next Border Community night on 5th March, when the Buttons' electronic troubador will steer the Corsica Studios main room through his own danceable territory, which I have a feeling we may find looks rather similar to the landscape of Holden country (a bit like Scotland and New Zealand, if you will).
Captain James Holden, Avus, Petter, Kate Wax, Ed Chamberlain and Falling From Cloud 9 will also be joining us for the trip, so book your tickets here, and don't forget your advance check in here. Your holiday reading list will follow forthwith.
i think the term is 'melt faces'. "O+S - Permanent Scar" is a good example too of genre ligase needed to fix the okasaki gaps in the code between the dance and not dance dna.
The more organised amongst you will have locked down your tickets for tonights Four Tet show at The Dome in Tufnell Park well in advance, and like me and James will now be getting increasingly excited as the remaining hours of this Friday afternoon tick by.
But if you were a little slower on the uptake and are now kicking yourself, you could try consoling yourself by downloading the Essential Mix that Kieran recorded a couple of weeks ago and has now shoved up on his burgeoning Soundcloud profile, confirming his status (along with new album There Is Love In You) as a bona fide dancefloor man. And if you are lucky enough to be going tonight, what better way to put you in the mood!
Other Four Tet favourite Nathan Fake meanwhile is currently readying himself to leave for the US, where the Four Tet / Nathan Fake roadtrip tour begins in style at New York's sold out Le Poisson Rouge next Wednesday 17th February (further dates on the Four Tet website). Now fully equipped with a North-American-winter-proof new coat, if we're lucky Nathan might even bring us back some photos documenting his two-week-long crash course in US touring, which I will be sure to share with you here...
The Four Tet tour then continues back on home turf in March, where availability is also looking increasingly tight. Tickets for the second London show at Village Underground on 10th April are now also out of the question, so it looks like you might have to nip down to Brighton's Concorde on March 17th instead, where they are also throwing in Mr Fake and the hypnotic Rocketnumbernine as extremely able supporting extras (get your tickets here or forever hold your peace). And Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol might also still be worth a try...
BREAKING NEWS: Just seconds after I hit publish, James wandered into my office with the news that poor old Joy Orbison has been struck down with food poisoning, so won't be playing tonight after all. A couple of phone calls from Kieran later, and the ready, willing and able Nathan Fake has been drafted in as a hasty last minute substitution, and as we speak is now building himself up to deliver the next collection in his new line in DJing later on this evening. Stop the press! Hold the front page! etc...
The countdown to our next Corsica Studios shindig on 5th March has begun (line up: James Holden, Fuck Buttons (DJ set), Avus, Falling From Cloud 9 (live), Ed Chamberlain, Kate Wax and Petter - phew!), which means that it is also time for us to coax another guest mix from one of our crew. Kindly soul Avus has obliged: his dependable warm-up sets were a permanent fixture of the End mainroom during our old residency, so it is about time we invited him and his future Moog anthems from his upcoming Border Community EP to grace the hallowed Corsica decks. And what better way to celebrate than by uploading a new mix to Mixcloud, in which Avus wheels out his mainroom big guns in preparation:
Avus - We Fear Silence Mix February 2010 1) Avus – Little Adventures 2) Jared Wilson – Last Two 3) NathanFake – Fentiger 4) Paul Bennett – Backbreaker 5) Falling From Cloud Nine – 80 6) Luke Abbott – Whitebox Stereo 7) Agoria – Magnolia 8) Craig Loftis – Yes it’s right 9) Avus – Poppy 10) Entro Seenestre – Glazed 11) Ratsnake – When It’s Late 12) Regis – Ital 13) Surgeon – Screw The Roses 14) Four Tet - Love Cry
As well as a sneak peak at some of the gems contained within Avus' precious forthcoming 'Poppy EP', you may also have spotted a taster of what to expect from the early doors live set from the mysterious Falling From Cloud 9, aka Northampton's Luke Print, friend and musical cohort of our own Northampton man Avus. We can vouch that Luke's one-man live show is of a decidedly kraut-tinged, danceable bent having previously caught him in his hometown, and naturally we'd advise you to get down to Corsica early to see for yourself, not least because a special Border Community-related surprise that ought not to be missed is apparently also in the works...
And as well as the Northampton massive, and our own James Holden, we have yet more guests to offer the humble Corsica visitor on 5th March: topping the bill comes Andrew Hung of the mighty Fuck Buttons with a rare club DJ set showcasing his exemplary musical taste. Whilst one Button (Mr Benjamin John Power) grew up on a diet of Mogwai, the other (our on-call DJ Andrew) apparently travelled a more electronic path through Aphex-ville (this scenario sounds familiar...). Last week we managed to catch him in his more typical between-bands setting at Eat Your Own Ears' Esben & The Witch show, and I can confirm that his taste is indeed extremely "on message", right down to Holdy-Holden's 'Idiot' played at the right (slow) speed!
Meanwhile, over in the other room, we have nailed down our elusive techno wanderer Petter for a family reunion, dragging him off the Swedish party train to play room host for the evening: and it is about time that we all caught up on whatever it is he has been up to lately! We're also extremely excited to welcome Switzerland's Kate Wax into the fold (for the evening, and beyond!) with another rare DJ set outing, as she swaps the studio for the club, taking some time out from the preparations for her vocally-exhilirating new album. And last but by no means least, my beloved British electronica underground is also represented by Avus-fave Ed Chamberlain, he of the twinkle-encrusted electro-breaks as heard at the yearly BLOC workouts.
And no Corsica shakedown would be complete without a visit from the inimitable An'Unexpectacle, who I believe is currently plotting around a glove customisation theme, whilst my not-at-all-confusing Community Cast-Off Tombola will also be returning for a refined second run featuring yet more thrilling prizes on a Border Community (and guests!) tip for those early birds. Those advance tickets are available now from Ticketweb for just £10, or more on the door: so get thee there!
This is something I have been meaning to do for a while: a list of some of our favourite podcasts to fill a rainy day downloading, as I do my bit to spread the word by way of thanks for all the fantastic music they have deposited on our server. I just hope your bandwidth can take it!
Marvin Suicide Marvin Suicide's half hour weekly show for London's wonderful Resonance FM is also available as a collectible take-home podcast; but what is most amazing about each top-notch tune-packed dispatch is that all of the music featured has been found for free and legal download on the internet (from netlabels and the like), without ever having to compromise on quality. Marvin has a funny farmer-voice too, although I suspect that he might be putting that on for the radio...
One of my favorites is Tycho's http://blog.iso50.com/ Not so much a pod casting blog but the Scott & crew posts some really great music along with its daily design posts.
High up on my list of first-day-back-in-the-office duties has to be extending a big thankyou to the Die Registratur crew for organising last Thursday's Happy New Border Community shindig in Munich: we really couldn't have hoped for a better location in which to see in the New Year. An optimistic gem from the fifties recently restored in an equally forward-looking, sensitive fashion, the Alte Kongresshalle is truly an awesome building, and the prospect of doing more parties in such an amazing location does I suppose just about make up for the unfortunate loss of the near-perfect former Die Registratur cosy club nest.
Come the midnight hour, we took ourselves outside to the open area infront of the building for the obligatory fireworks free-for-all, where much to our surprise it emerged that us Brits are considerably more uptight around these miniature charges of gunpowder than our German cousins. A far cry from our eminently sensible roped-off public Bonfire night displays, the whole thing seemed rather haphazard to our eyes, as rockets were shoved into an upturned beer crate at a jaunty angle and set off just metres from the free-roaming crowd (as the photo below is intended to show). The British contingent slowly realised that we were collectively edging backwards away from the explosions, a lifetime worth of government public service fireworks advice echoing in our ears. As VJ Dan put it, "Where is the metal box to hold the unlit fireworks?!".
But our hosts certainly weren't alone in their laidback approach to fireworks, as this was a scene we could see and hear being repeated all over Munich, not least on the Oktoberfest site across the road - and indeed all over Germany. By the morning the streets are quite literally littered with the incriminating debris. And here was me thinking that if anything the Germans might be even more Health and Safety conscious than our good selves!!
James' impending DJ set provided a welcome excuse to retreat back to the safety of indoors, where he delivered up his first selection of the evening. And then, with a quick blast of My Girls, all too soon it was over, as James handed over the baton to the jovial Phil Kieran and his quirky TV screen glasses, and we had to say our goodbyes and head out onto the cold dark road to Berlin. Avus and Luke Abbott were yet to deliver their musical resolutions, and it really was a shame to have to leave; a couple of photos borrowed from Kat provide my only clue as to what they all got up to once we had left:
(The giant 'K' emblazoned on the wall might initially appear to be tantamount to writing the letter 'E' everywhere during the early 90s, so I do feel at this juncture it is important to point out that it is not intended as a drugs reference: K stands for Kongresshalle, replacing the R of the old Registratur logo in a subtle rebrand to go with the relocation. Honest!)
The cold snap that has engulfed Europe this year might have been well-timed for White Christmas fans, but it hasn't worked at all in our favour, as we faced fog, blizzards, snow, slush and ice, and added an hour to our already tight journey time. Thank goodness for sturdy German auto-engineering and Oliver's confident handling, piloting James to his second appointment as swiftly as was humanly possible whilst the precious DJ cargo slept like a baby in the back seat. He woke up just in time to spot the Avus Motel on the outskirts of Berlin, before readying himself to relieve Akufen from trawling the depths of his record bag as he gamely tried to hold onto the thinning Weekend crowd.
That beloved tower-block-top location might be great for gazing out over the ever-changing Berlin cityscape, but it must be said that it is slightly less so in the cold light of the after-hours break of day, and only the most far-gone of rave zombies could ignore the winter sun's massive glaring hint to head home. But as long as people are still dancing, James is more than happy to play his favourite records at them, and so he obliged with an indulgent alternative gentle selection that he just doesn't get to play out often enough, until the curfew was finally enforced just in time for the first luncheon of 2010.
What's with the records James doesn't play out regularly? Has this something to do with the crowd? In my opinion he throws himself in front of the lions as the Dutch saying goes.. ;) James got to do what he got to do, play tunes whenever/wherever/whatever he wants and feels! Greetings from Holland! Really looking forward to the 2 days off in Rotterdam & Amsterdam in february!
greetings from holland indeed. bring that shit on back to the bog of the eternal blunt stench that'll have you living in a Gilliam film soon after you hit it one to many times in the basement of the grasshopper. berlin is one thing, but amsterdam has the ghost of Descartes whispering in your ear while you stroll through the fear and loathing. still berlin makes me want to sing Down in the park where the chant is "Death, death, death" Until the sun cries morning. Down in the park with friends of mine
Christmas might be for kids, but the holiday break has at least allowed us to turn nicely nocturnal in preparation for tomorrow's New Years Eve German marathon: first stop is Munich, to usher in a new decade by proclaiming Happy New Border Community to the assembled crowd at the Alte Kongresshalle:
James Holden will be starting the New Year as we mean to go on, namely with some of that excellent music of his from the relatively early hour of 12.30am (straight after the firework extravaganza, and what better way could there be to kick off your 2010?). And then we will have to love and leave the crowd in the extremely capable hands of special guest and Border Booking buddy Phil Kieran, as well as comrades Luke Abbott and Avus proudly flying the BC flag with a taster of things to come and the rest of the old crew from the sorely-missed Die Registratur club, to party on together well into the first day of the new decade without us.
For James must then set off on a mad dash along the wintery autobahn to arrive in Berlin just in time for his 8am appearance at the Weekend club, where the party will of course still be in full swing from the night before:
And as you can see from the flyer above, the line-up for Weekend's whole !!! 4 Days Off !!! blowout does look pretty tasty, beginning this very evening with Digitalism, with Paul Kalkbrenner, Carl Craig, Akufen, Richie Hawtin, Steve Bug and John Aquaviva all popping by to lend a hand over the following days. So if a spot of Berlin club-hopping is on your agenda to kick off your 2010, do be sure to look in and say hello!
by the way, helvetica doesn't mean you know what you are doing as a professional poster maker. it just means you don't care to think about what you are doing.
well you can't really expect an industry that uses helvetica to know anything about anything. i think holden was at the top but moved too fast for the industry to pin him there. he flew right over the top like red bull gives you wings and is currently flying over some shit the industry will take till 2020 to figure out.
Another day brings us closer to our return to Corsica Studios, but if (like me) you feel like you can't quite wait a whole week longer, an obliging Nathan Fake has provided a tasty amuse-bouche to keep us going till then, with this shot-glass sized DJ mix preview of what we might expect from his Room 2 DJ set next Friday (6th November) just uploaded to the pure and simple Mixcloud hub.
As the tracklist below might suggest, we are in for a bit of an electronica fest, something which is extremely welcome round these parts: our own Avus, Luke Abbott (in his Output cloak of yore) and a couple of Mr Fake's own exclusive remixes rub shoulders with a few of Nathan's mates (Operator, 7oi), plenty of the greats (Orbital, Boards of Canada), all topped off with a healthy serving of that shit-hot young British electronic talent that we're so fond of (Gold Panda, Rustie). Mr C. Clark in epic mode rounds things off a treat (and wasn't he on great form in his supporting role at Fuck Buttons' London gig earlier this week?).
Nathan Fake - We Fear Silence Mix October 2009 1) Ceephax Acid Crew - Credick 2) Avus - Darkness Visible 3) Boards of Canada - Korona 4) Bochum Welt - CH Riot On Proxima Centauri 5) 7oi - Byrjunartónninn 6) Piroth - Dance Closer (N.Fake Remix) 7) Operator - 7 Years Over A Mirror 8) Starting Teeth - Venom (N.Fake Remix) 9) Drexciya - Drexciyen Star Chamber 10) Orbital - Planet Of The Shapes 11) Gold Panda - Back Home 12) Gescom - A1 13) Kode9 - Black Sun 14) Rustie - Zigzag 15) Luke Abbott - B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B,B 16) Clark - Farewell Mining Town
Fake's room 2 DJ buddy for the evening Wesley Matsell promises more of the same (may I refer you to Wesley's own Mixcloud installment for evidence of just how complementary this pair's DJ tastes are?), and with Lone's luscious twinkles sandwiched in the middle, we'll be dancing to the left-of-centre all the way. And with James Holden, Kieran Hebden, Luke Abbott and Rocketnumbernine taming the main room, do be sure to join us (advance tickets just £10 from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor, or more on the door).
That our resident daft dance duo The MFA nurture a healthy respect for the Old (Skool Rave) Masters is no secret. In a move that can only be described as "genius", an MFA live set trademark of yore was the appropriation and perversion of the eponymous musical calling cards of the likes of LFO (as in "L - F - O") and The KLF (as in "KLF Aha Aha") to The MFA's own egocentric three-letter cause. Synth-pop gurus The Pet Shop Boys have previously found themselves the subject of MFA press shot admiration, and the man-love continues with a soon-to-be-unveiled video tribute to the deadpan legends to accompany long-awaited new MFA single "Throw It Back (We Will Destroy You)".
The subject of last night's itinerary was a band outing to see the mighty Orbital at Brixton Academy, stepping out on an MFA-style double date to relive the glory days at the hands of the recently reunited Hartnoll brothers. And whilst they are on that theme, if the MFA want to tick another legendary dance icon off their must-see list, then cosy home-from-home Ginglik provides the perfect opportunity right on our doorstep this Saturday night (26th September), when Altern8 dust off the boilersuits, masks and rave anthems for a set at the stalwart I Love Acid night. Self-confessed Altern8 nut Ali "The Bear" MFA is in for sure, and since dressing up in paper-white chemical suits and dust masks purloined from the engineering department was a favourite hobby of The MFA's collective university days, chances are Rhys might be up for it too. And since a certain B12 also numbers amongst Saturday's line-up, perhaps Mr Holden can even be convinced to join us too...
And since we find ourselves worshipping at the Acid altar this fine Friday afternoon, this seems like an opportune moment to tell you about our resident acidmeister Avus' own DJ mix tribute to the genre that he has contributed for this week's edition of the Allez Allez podcast series: featuring quadruple helpings of Armando and a brace of fresh new Avus acid workouts, turn on, tune in and jack out (not up, or off, god forbid) here.
The massive amounts of goodwill flying around after our Hard Islands launch party at Corsica Studios last Friday is giving me a warm glow inside well into the workaday week, contrary to the rest of the world's best efforts to drag me back down to earth with a bump. The usual huge thankyou goes out to everyone who played, helped out, danced, drank and had a merkin fitted: in our wildest dreams we couldn't have hoped for a better way to launch Mr Fake's new mini-album (out this week on CD, vinyl and digital download). It turns out that the Corsica crew simply loved working with us and our right-on crowd, and the feeling is very much reciprocated from our end: it must be love!
We didn't have our own happy snapper on call this time, as usual volunteer Dan Tombs was on visual duties for the evening instead, with this particular shot from his found footage slide collection proving quite the hit with off-duty turkey-fancier Avus:
But we do have some proper official video footage of Nathan's storming set coming soon to replace those shoddy Youtube cameraphone efforts, so do watch this space, particularly if you have yet to experience the Fake-quake in the flesh. And in the meantime, for the purposes of my report we will have to make do with a selection of shots stolen from Facebook (thanks Kat and Isis!) and the woefully inadequate fruits of James' beloved Googlephone (see above), at least until someone sends me anything better...
True to the form hinted at in last week's Deep-Space Chrome Pyramid Mix, Wales' entry to the 'Hard Islands' song contest Wesley Matsell served up an impeccable musical blend, which for some reason he opted to deliver from a kneeling position hidden down behind the decks for the duration of his set. When Wes last looked up there were only around 20 people in the room, and as far as he was aware it remained like that until he finished: when in reality the room soon swelled to considerably more than that whilst Wesley remained blissfully, bizarrely oblivious...
Scotland was up for examination next, with Operator providing the perfect live set prelude to the torments to come. The point at which the techno viking finally took to the microphone for his Exemption Song encore was a real goosebump moment, and the incongruity of the sight of such a rich, oozy, liquid-sweet voice coming out of such a scary-looking hairy monster only made it better:
Only recently decamped to London from Edinburgh, Operator operator Lewis could do with some more bookings in the capital (or even beyond), and comes with the highest recommendation from ourselves and Nathan: hunt him down on Myspace if you're interested in a spot of hairy man karaoke at your own clubnight.
A quick spot of hairy man love catered for another one of those moments as man of the hour Nathan Fake took to the stage to take over, clearly much enamoured with his new best friend Lewis's recent services to electronic music. The 'Hard Islands' pounders were duly rinsed out to the joy of a crowd which soon took on rock gig dimensions, as something of a mosh pit ensued down at the front, and the poor old sound engineer risked being guillotined through the waist by the surprisingly not-fixed-down sound desk at the back as the weight of the crowd surged against it. As horrific as I have just made that sound, you will be pleased to know that he did survive to check the levels another day...
Border Community night fixture the Rave Hobbit then assumed his usual position next to James in the DJ booth to punch the air with his trademark youthful abandon, resulting in the following amusing compare and contrast scenario as observed by Lewis' eagle eye. Regardez, Kevin and Perry Go Large, in Ibiza:
And James Holden and the Rave Hobbit go equally large, in Elephant & Castle:
Unfortunately the not-quite-teenage deadly duo were joined in the booth by a certain throwback to James' teenage prog days who shall remain nameless, who turned up out of the blue to try to badger James into doing a remix: hopefully he knows who he is, but since I have never met someone so incapable of taking a hint in all my life, there is no guarantee of that! But if you were as perturbed by his embarrassing DJ booth antics as we were, please believe me when I assure you that he wasn't with us!
A slightly more joyous moment occurred when the crowd stole the white sheet that had previously adorned the stage and subjected it to a spot of crowd-surfing, to glorious technicolour effect:
Over in Room 2, it was never going to be an easy task going head-to-head with the Fake onslaught, but our Allez-Allez partners-in-crime and the charming Dan Caribou Snaith did an admirable job of holding a good balance of people captive (and I mean that in the nicest possible sense!) throughout the night, providing some much-needed respite from the crush next door. And the spiritual healing continued outside in the garden smoking area, where the living legend that is An'Unexpectacle had installed his intimate chamber:
Within the confines of the booth, a captivating character in a white turban who we may call Dwight, or Phoenix, depending on how the mood takes us, made quite an impression with a run of insightful readings derived using his hand-drawn Tasmanic Cards from the school of Balthazar Cogen. James for example was instructed to be more forward in greeting people (advice which he has very much taken to heart), and should make a list of things he wants to do before he dies and tick off or put little hearts next to them as they are completed, as the oft-favoured practice of crossing things off is too negative...
Eventually sufficient levels of social lubrication ushered in the merkin hour, although by that time James was already playing so he had to forgo the sports merkin until another evening. A total of eight merkins were fitted by An'Unexpectacle's trusty band of Merkineers, breaking all previous booth records. One recipient was apparently on her hen night, although I do wonder if I am perhaps breaking the booth code of confidentiality by disclosing such information? One part of me particularly wants to request photos of this part of the evening, whilst another thinks that the full-frontal rear-on view that I got of a trouserless bemerkined An'Unexpectacle as he rummaged around behind the sofa in the backstage attic den is quite probably enough for one lifetime...
And lastly, but by no means least, a Border Community night wouldn't be anything at all without our amazing crowd, so I really couldn't let this blog post pass without also including a few photos of them:
As always, amazing music and the best crowd you could possibly ask for (this pointed out to me on numerous occasions by some BC newbies i took along) I loved the ornithological them to the projections as well. I bet Fake and Wesley we're positively aroused what with all that bird action going on around them lol
Soooo anyway, the big question is when the next party? What's happening with you guys and the Arches seeing as that was supposedly your 'new home'?
Yes the party was fantastic!!! We came from Basel, Switzerland only for the musical experience and back in the morning and it definitely was worth it. (ok, i wanted to stay^^) You guys make me smile and feel good day-to-day. Big thanks! :)
looks pretty fun, wish i could make it, it's hard to seeing how I'm just a poor North American resident who wishes he has the money to travel, but at least i was able to buy the new Nathan album, which by the way, thanks for releasing it... it makes me rock out while I jump up and scream with joy.
As the date of our Hard Islands launch extravaganza approaches (this Friday 15th May at Corsica Studios), I feel like I am drowning under the email deluge, but I think I can justify taking a break from the blaggers to tie up a few loose ends on here before the big day. To answer a few of your queries: our advance ticket allocation has sold out, but there will be plenty more available on the door on the night (just make sure that you get yourself down there early, as everything is pointing towards this one being extremely busy indeed); and the running order is as follows:
The album itself is out next Monday (18th May), but you will be pleased to know that you don't have to expose yourself to the seedy world of those nasty, dirty filesharing networks in order to get a sneak preview before the party, as Warp's digital wing Bleep have an exclusive mp3 pre-release of Hard Islands available all this week for your enthusiastic spontaneous consumption. And whilst you are exploring the snazzy Beta version of the newly integrated physical and digital Bleep store, you might also consider adding some of the gems contained in the Best of Bleep charts from our own Nathan Fake and James Holden to your basket. With plenty more luminaries contributing their own impeccable selections, like our mate Four Tet (confirmed Avus fan), Slam (fans of the Four Tet remix of a certain Mr Fake), Mordant Music chief Baron Mordant, Zomby, Pivot, Thom Yorke (who loves The Sky Was Pink, along with everyone else and their uncle), Bibio and Mr Oizo, a pretty definitive buyer's guide to Warp and its electronica legacy lies at your fingertips...
And as a final enticement to get you down to Corsica Studios as early as you can on Friday night, please accept with our compliments this special preview "genreless" DJ mix care of our Welsh wizard Wesley Matsell, which I have just uploaded to Fairtilizer for you to download again at your convenience.
The Deep-Space Chrome Pyramid Mix contains "a little disco, techno, acid, noise, digital weirdness, electro..." explains Wesley, and provides a flavour of how he plans to open the 'Hard Islands' event. The Timebased Practician has also put together this handy visual segue to go with the sounds, preferring as he does to think of pieces of music and mixes as a collection of images in a process he dubs "Appropriative Oblique Synaesthesia". Says Wesley: "If my djing were a single image, it would be a combination of:"
But if you find it easier to work with the cold hard facts of the traditional trainspotter tracklisting, he has provided one of those too:
1. Wesley Matsell - Binaryreductionlivemix 2. New World Aquarium - Kemo Sabe 3. Laurent X - Machines 4. Drexciya - Waterwalker 5. Dynarec - White Consumption 6. LFO vs. FUSE - Loop 7. Claro Intelecto - Tone 8. Mundo Muzique - A Cluster of Movement 9. Robert Hood - Inner Sanctum 10. Block System - Don't Leave Me Now (Instrumental) 10. Casco - Cybernetic Love 11. Polygon Window - untitled 12. Prime Suspect - Attraction (Extrawelt remix) 13. 808 State - Flow Coma 14. Skanfrom - Confused Machines 15. Front 242 - Take One (Re-built) 16. Shed - Ostrich Mountain Square
Remember: a part of the weekend never dies, and an island never cries...
I know I keep banging on about it, but the line-up (Nathan Fake, James Holden, Operator, Wesley Matsell, Dan "Caribou" Snaith and Allez-Allez, just in case it hadn't quite sunk in yet!) for our Hard Islands launch party at Corsica Studios does look pretty unmissable to me. But just in case you haven't got the good sense to get yourself down to Elephant & Castle on Friday 15th May, or if you simply can't get enough of a good thing, there comes another chance to witness the Nathan Fake live onslaught on Monday 18th May (which just so happens to also be the album release date) at one of those wonderful free instore showcases organised by the mighty Pure Groove:
Proceedings kick off at 6.30pm in the rather different surroundings of the recently relocated Pure Groove record shop in Farringdon (which comes complete with its own bar!), and Nathan's trademark wall of noise terror could well sound more than a little forbidding in the cold light of a May Monday evening. While you're there, don't forget to pick up your own copy of the album on vinyl or CD; Nathan might even sign it for you if you ask nicely enough!
Our old mucker Perc will also be on hand to help make an evening of things, with an odds-and-sods wide-ranging DJ set to take full advantage of the opportunity to play something a little different from your usual club fare. You may be familiar with the Perc name from his releases on an illustrious array of labels including Kompakt, Ovum and Drumcode as well as his own Perc Trax label, and his ensuing international DJ career, but we actually go way further back than all of that. Indeed, it is a little known fact that Ali "Perc" Wells is actually some kind of relation (cousin twice-removed? To be honest I've never quite got my head around the precise nature of the connection!) to our own Scott "Avus" Edwards, who has also naturally had his share of releases on the Perc Trax label. I think the clue ought to be in their extraordinary height: the pair once went on tour together in Japan, which must have made quite a sight to see them towering over the locals like two fairytale giants brought to life. I certainly wouldn't mess with this particular branch of the techno mafia:
They say great minds think alike. Ali "The Bear" MFA sent us this photo over the weekend: a black cab which apparently has the "best number plate ever", where meat meets legendary drum machine to cause much hilarity amongst the synth nerds. Coincidentally, James Holden had already spotted and chuckled at the very same cab out on our travels round London, much to my bemusement: look out for the techno-producing pig-farming taxi driver's P808 ORK cab on a street near you soon.
James was equally excited about our flight back from Frankfurt last night (following his appearance at minimal ground zero - aka Ludwigshafen's Loft club - on Saturday), whose flight number BA909 alluded to yet another legendary Roland drum machine. James' heart seems to skip a beat every time a digital clock rolls round to a Roland-time, whilst at one hotel on our Japanese tour last year James, Nathan Fake and Petter were simply overjoyed to be assigned rooms 202 and 303. Resident acid-house obsessive Avus is just as bad - in fact, for sheer nerdiness I would say that he is probably the worst of the bunch, and I don't think he would object to me saying that!
Other synth-related humour that we have seen recently includes the Poni Hoax keyboard that has been modified into a "Poland" by colouring in one leg of the R, and Nathan Fake's afore-mentioned Evolution UC-33, which has been renamed "Pluto" through some deft scraping-off and colouring-in. Oh, the fun that these boys have with their toys!
ive got a shitload of photos somewhere with numbers like these at random places that i stumble upon. it happens to often to be incidental. must be some godlike force. and picid is my wordverification, can NOT be a coincidence. picid = acid
hmmmm my message didnt seem to come through yesterday. lets try again:
the point is indeed hard to find, but then again isn't it in a lot of interesting stuff? this shouldnt witheld me from actually doing something so irrelevant such as this, you think? maybe in the future we should make photos of all our discoveries for my new project: www.0bs3ssi0n.com , why not. right? the obsession is absurd! we seem to have triggered a switch that turns on our 1337 vision.
Hello from Paris, great picture of the cab but any chance to know when the MotherFA will be releasing any new stuff. i am dying for that since I saw you at sonar...
I've been much too busy trying to get back into the swing of things after the festive break to provide a full post-party analysis of our New Years Eve Amsterdam extravaganza before now, and indeed it does seem a little redundant after our party-partner Luke Abbott got in there as soon as he got home on January 2nd with a photo blog entitled Oh no, I've spilt champagne on my nighty, complete with the obligatory oily ball shots. I'll leave you to ponder that image, as well as the question of just whose nighty Luke might be referring to...
And instead I will focus on our slightly overdue thanks list: thanks to everyone from Melkweg and Mojo for their ever professional party planning. Thanks to everyone who played on the night: Luke, Avus, Fairmont and Nuno dos Santos in our room, and the army of Dutch stalwarts who ensured that the other three rooms were equally jumping all night. Thanks and full marks to VJ Rick Robin for fusing our penchant for clouds and psychedelic liquid wheel lighting into a rather pleasing reality. And last but of course not least, thanks to all of the Netherlands-based faithful who made good on their resolution to do their best to avoid the scourge of terrible music during 2009 by turning out to see in the New Year with us in a suitably optimistic melodic style.
And now, as we enter a post Christmas wasteland that is depressingly overcast with bankruptcies and job losses, I am working hard for you to find those glimmers of hope - those breaks in the clouds - to try to sustain that optimism well into the New Year. Thankfully we only have to wait until next Monday (12th) for our first reason to be cheerful, when the mighty Animal Collective's much-hyped new album Merriweather Post Pavillion is scheduled to appear in whatever record shops still remain (buy British and pre-order direct from Domino now and they'll throw in that entrancing cover art in poster form for good measure). Included on this album is 'My Girls', which our musical bum chum Sam from Allez-Allez singled out as a special favourite from the last round of Animal Collective gigs, and has been championing ever since.
To celebrate this joyous occasion, the Collective have a gig on the same day at Camden's Koko, which less joyously seems to be pretty much sold out - so if you do already have a ticket then that is a reason to be very cheerful indeed. But if you don't, then their recently announced appearance up the road amongst the faded glamour of The Forum on March 24th - which is still very much not sold out - ought to pick you back up again: just make sure you don't miss out this time by securing your tickets from Seetickets today.
It was a wonderful evening Gemma! I love James his dedication and of course the dedication of the rest of the BC crew. A BC-night doesn't simply mean outstanding, surprisingly new tunes and musical highlights. It's kinda like the whole crowd is formed into one big family! Heavenly! ;)
PS: Will BC release the sets played that night? I know 3voor12.nl put them 90% of the time online, but we've seen nothing yet! It creates flashbacks to the 31st ;)
PS 2: New Animal Collective album available for a total (p)review at: http://3voor12.vpro.nl/luisterpaal/#
I totally agree with above. I also like the way how the Border Community makes it it's own party, instead of making a party for the crowd (entertainment, blehh...)! Just what Mark says, there is so much connection between everybody. On Border Community nights and especially with James Holden everyone is so in to the music (most of the time I hate party-people...) Aaah I can't fully make myself clear in English... Never mind! It was a great high quality new years eve party!! PS. Where can I buy the ticked for next year??????! ;)
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.
did the photographer have epilepsy? no idiot club photos should be blurry. it adds the effect of bass vibrating your futile carbon existence and movement because dance music is all about moving. and drugs.
A "graveyard shift" is when you have to work late, when most other people are in bed. So in club terms that would be the last set of the night / early morning, when only the hardcore remain...
I'm not really sure of the correct derivation, but for example there was a famous late night radio show I used to listen to when I was younger, and they would constantly refer to their slot as the graveyard shift, joking that noone would be listening because they were on so late.
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