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...
March 15th is a date to mark in your diary, for that is the release date of the new mix CD from our favourite French cult cutie Agoria, who has delivered the latest installment in the Balance series. I haven't heard it yet, but needless to say this release is eagerly anticipated around these parts. Although I do wonder if that is even really Agoria under all that packaging detritus? (But I am sure it is actually him "in the mix"!).
You hopefully remember our boy James Holden's own early contribution to the Balance series (the fifth compilation in the series, and the first from a non-Aussie). It was also James who then kicked off the At The Controls mix CD series, which Agoria also chipped in on with the fourth and final volume. With Agoria now climbing aboard the Balance train I could be tempted to make some kind of joke about him mirroring James' career, only in reverse, but that really wouldn't be fair: the Balance series has gone from strength to strength following James' participation, and with Agoria's addition is about to notch up its sixteenth release. The At The Controls series meanwhile sadly no longer exists, following the Resist label's unfortunate bankruptcy, although the back catalogue can still be snapped up at bargain prices from Amazon.
All this talk of Agoria is all very well, but if you are wondering where James himself is headed next on his own mix CD odyssey, do watch this space for an exciting announcement coming very soon!
i really wish james could of joined the balance party at wmc/miami (flyer: http://rizo.ws/misc/listed_balance.jpg ) but understand back to back north america travels are not the most fun...
hopefully james makes north america stop again soon. crossing my fingers for los angeles again and maybe san francisco :-)
i saw the dj kicks thing too. sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet. i used to be so up on the tunes holden spins but now i have literally no idea what he's doing, so will be good to hear (and see the tracklisting).
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!
I have just packed our boy James Holden off to the airport for his weekend ride on the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Wuppertal express: first stop is Pixel at Amsterdam's Trouw club tonight (4th February), which occupies the former newspaper printing warehouse of the Dutch national newspaper Trouw until the end of 2010 as one of those multi-functional restaurant / club / art spaces that the Dutch do so well. The last 300 tickets are still available to buy on the door, so I would get yourself down there early to avoid disappointment:
And in a coincidence that I can only describe as blogworthy, an installation by LA-based artist Richard Wearn (titled simply Trouw) that recently opened at Crisp London has a little more to illuminate about this special party location to the unwitting foreigner (me!). Focusing on the building's sign as the sun sets and the sign is turned on, his 30 minute long dual screen rear projection video (video art - how very Dutch!) is concerned with the traces of utopian mythologies that exist within our urban environment: the word "trouw" means "fidelity", and the newspaper was initially extablished during WWII to counter the Nazi occupation and extermination of Holland's Jewish population.
And just as Wearn is occupied with seeking and highlighting the clues and submerged meanings that exist within the buildings around us, the techno scene too traditionally loves a venue with a bit of history whenever it can get its hands on one, even if the signifigance of that location ends up being lost on a large proportion of their footfall. But thanks to the Wearn installation, James at least has been made aware of the Trouw story in advance of his appearance, lending that little extra spark to proceedings later on tonight...
Just waking up from the Trouw Club party in Amsterdam, I can only say I had the perfect night. I was 1 hour early to get at least one of the 300 doorsale tickets, assuming there would be some queue allready. On the contrary, I got in as the first guest and even for free, met James himself for a brief chat'n hug! If it wasn't perfect enough allready, I got more and more into the dancing mood because of Jom Liefdeshuis' great intro performance, whereafter I could really burst into the feeling when James started to mash up and finally explode the audience for over 2 hours (4 hours of pure joy). Dancing on top of the speakers @ the DJ booth was definitely a highlight, but it wouldn't be so much without the "unanimously happy and enthausiastic" audience. Once again thank you all so much for this evening, it's been a highlight in my dancing career (hobby).
Yrs, Sjors "Yellowsleeve'd dancer"
p.s. If you wrote that XX on my hand, I'm still looking for you (find me: Sjors Doedens on facebk)!!
James at the Catwalk in Rotterdam was also brilliant. Thanks for giving me and my girlfriend an amazing night. I was standing right infront of the dj-booth most of the time enjoying the music and your skills. We will definatly be there when you are in our country again!
This is good stuff. Carbon based life. Adenosine triphosphates. All these different levels of reactions. Sound. People. Atmospheric Pressure. Gravity. Laws. Logic. Math. Serendipity. Synchronicity. Mystery. Myths. Language. Places. Coordinates in space. Exchanges. Beginnings, endings and new beginnings. Fear of Death. Intra-species and inter-species competition. Existentialism. Suffering. Dancing. Overcoming. Put the Nazis down and keep them down. Real people can run the show without interference from the right. Be good to each other, be loyal, and marginalize the alpha types. Read Zinn and Chomsky. Watch Fox News. Know what the right is doing. Keep them in your field of vision. Lock the doors of the theater on them and burn the motherfucking place down. Then smoke a joint, strum a guitar, and go for a nice walk on a sunny spring day after a hard winter.
Homecoming king Nathan Fake went back to his roots this weekend, with his first proper hometown gig in Norwich's distinctive Arts Centre last Friday. James and I had a prior engagement in Paris so couldn't be there to witness this momentous occasion, but fortunately my glamorous assistant Rosana did make it along, with camera in tow, to bring us a taste of what we all missed (below).
Extremely able support on the night came from fellow Norfucker and Border Community brother Luke Abbott, whilst adopted son Dan Tombs pitched in on visual duties. Luke even spotted someone in the crowd who had plumped for a pair of wellies for their gig-going attire: only in Norfolk, one might think, but I'm guessing it probably had something to do with the recent return of the snows...
Norwich Arts Centre: from the outside it may look like a church, but if you chose to venture inside last Friday night you would have been greeted with this:
Luke making lot of amazing noise while Dan plays with his colours. I wonder if all Friday nights are like this in Norwich?
The tireless Upset The Rhythm certainly know how to bring a smile to my face: just spotted amongst their latest listings is the return of the inimitable Lucky Dragons to London on March 13th. I've been lucky enough to catch them on each of their recent UTR visits, but just incase anyone was worried that more of the same might start to seem less exciting, this time the Dragons will be bringing their funtastic Sumi Ink Club drawing club concept with them, for a special afternoon session starting at 3pm in the Auto-Italia art space in Peckham. From what I can gather, the frankly unmissable Sumi Ink Club session involves placing a large sheet of paper in the middle of the group for participants to fill in with a collage melange of intricate doodles that come out looking something like this:
Or, as they put it themselves:
"Sumi Ink Club is a Los Angeles-based drawing collective founded in 2005 by Sarah Anderson and Luke Fischbeck. The group holds regular open meetings to execute topsy-turvy, detailed, collaborative drawings using ink on paper. In each of its permutations, Sumi Ink Club uses group drawings as a means to open and fortify social interactions that bleed into everyday life. Sumi Ink Club is non-hierarchical: all ages, all humans, all styles."
So you see, you simply must join us by getting your £5 tickets here.
In other Upset The Rhythm news, the sighting of Holden favourites Xeno & Oaklander's names amongst their listings yesterday sent quite a flurry of excitement through the ranks of our local Wierd-os. Our tickets for their appearance alongside labelmates Led Er Est at Barden's Boudoir on 13th April are now secured, and I expect that you will be wanting to do the same here. Excited is not the word. And the Wierd through and through might also be interested to know that sometime Wierdite Carlos Giffoni's excellently-named No Fun Acid project is also set to make an Upset The Rhythm appearance on 18th March at The Grosvenor (which means yet more tickets for you, here).
James and Kittin first played together a few years back in the unlikely setting of Ibiza's Amnesia for Cocoon, and he has been keen to play with her again ever since, for the pair share a common love of weaving as much cold wave electro and Warp-ed electronica into their DJ sets as is humanly possible. At a Republic of Kittin event DJ duties are shared equally with her specially selected guest to create something truly one-off, and a spot of back-to-back interplay isn't out of the question: the impressively-moustached Andrew Weatherall did the honours back in October.
I am certainly looking forward to it, but personally, I think I am probably just as excited about meeting her new dalmatian (pictured below in a snap nicked from her blog), having also learnt on that Barcelona beach that she is a dog person too!
Another ticket alert as part of my self-imposed public service remit: Four Tet's show at the Dome in Tuffnell Park (where flavour of the New Year Joy Orbison is lending his support) on 12th February has completely sold out now, so if you snoozed, you losed. Almost, anyway: for he has now added another date at Shoreditch's Village Underground on 10th April for the dawdlers; support has yet to be confirmed, but I'd get your tickets now anyway to be sure!
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.
We all need to put our heads together and get looking for some fresh new London party options for next year, as the sad truth that you may have already heard is that Kieran Hebden's pitch-perfect Plastic People shakedown is coming to an end this Friday 11th December. What is even sadder is the fact that I can't make this end of an era, although since I'm heading off to Rome's Goa Club with James Holden and Luke Abbott I probably shouldn't complain too much! But you, on the other hand, simply must go in my place, and be sure to pick up your own copy of the exclusive free mix CD that Kieran is giving out to all last night at the Plastic-proms attendees while you're there:
A Kieran Hebden one-night exclusive that is not available in the shops, the mix is made up of his own brand of idiosyncratic Plastic People hits from the parties of the past year, and is about as "essential" as the music-for-dancing-to scene gets. And if I'm really nice to Kieran, hopefully he will save us one under the counter...
Otherwise I'll have to wait until January 22nd to catch up with Kieran's sounds in person, when he'll be heading up the Eat Your Own Ears takeover of Fabric's Room 2; and there isn't much chance of me missing this session, as our own James Holden is playing too! Gold Panda and Floating Points complete the line-up, whilst a foray into the other rooms may not prove altogether disappointing with the likes of Erol Alkan, Riton, Mystery Jets and Filthy Dukes stepping out for the evening. This will be James' first appearance at Fabric since before The End days, a fact which has caused a few inquiring eyebrows to be raised across the web: but let me assure any concerned parties that amongst this Hebden-hand-selected busting-out-of-the-box Friday night eclection James feels quite at home.
I didn't know about the cds, thanks for the info. Next wednesday we have Allez-Allez and Luke Solomon playing at Plastic People, it might fill the gap left by missing out on hebden's last night. Just an idea... :)
Without wanting to ruin any carefully-planned surprises, it has been all action in our merchandise shop this week, suggesting that Santa is stuffing his sack with a fair few Border Community goodies in preparation for the big day. And no true Border Community obsessive's wardrobe is complete without at least one t-shirt proclaiming your special allegiance: choose from the classic logo design (in traditional blue or daring green), painting-by-numbers (in Holden-approved white or blue-with-a-twist-of-pink), or join the Holden army with the ultimate symbol of idiot pride (in flattering black or his beloved white).
But if you are planning a Border Community-related Christmas surprise for that special someone in your life, be sure to get your orders in soon: if you live overseas (Europe or beyond), you have until next Thursday 10th to place your order, to be as sure as we can be that you will have your package in time for Christmas. And if you live in the UK, you probably have about a week longer, until Thursday 17th (Royal Mail permitting!). So get shopping now!
But for the Border Community fan who truly does have everything (and I know there are a few of you out there!), might I suggest turning to the more wide-ranging Bleep Christmas gift guide for present inspiration? James has already ogled the Gristelism machine on his beloved Matrix Synth (like the Buddha Machine, only with more balls); the Hudson Mohawke t-shirt is also quite Holden-ish (and by that, I mean Judas Priest-esque); and you can't go wrong with the ubiquitous Warp-logo t-shirt (star style spotters should go for the purple version, as worn by our own Nathan Fake and Alex from Skull Juice). And if you are also buying presents for yourself while you're at it (isn't that half the fun of Christmas shopping?), then Bleep's CD sale is also worth a look: as good a time as any to pick up essential releases from Zomby, Bibio, Clark, Hudson Mohawke, Nite Jewel, Black Devil Disco Club, Moderat and Fuck Buttons, all for under a tenner...
As I crawl out of my state of internet hibernation, from beneath the mountain of paperwork that currently engulfs our house, it seems that quite a considerable chunk of time has now passed since our inaugural Border Community party at Britain's best small club Corsica Studios (it is official, and for once I agree with a DJ Mag poll!). And I still haven't delivered my official photo-illustrated lowdown on the merriment! So truly without further ado, let us get on with it, shall we?
The dedicated earliest of birds to get themselves down to the venue on the night were rewarded with a free ticket to enter The Community Cast-Off Tombola, and therewith the chance to win a truly remarkable and exotic array of prizes donated by some of the artists playing on the night, including music from Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden and Rocketnumbernine (and their synth-operator Ben's side project Elite Barbarian), and the obligatory Border Community merchandise. And what a bemusing little frivolity that turned out to be!
You probably can't make it out from the photo, so to explain, this lucky fellow is now the proud owner of a vibrating hamster that used to live in James Holden's studio:
And further to the rodent theme, this excitable young chap took home Kieran Four Tet's own customised mouse, and a strange USB light up fan device:
The fellow on the right won an exclusive t-shirt emblazoned with the artwork from Four Tet's wonderful Ringer EP that you can't even buy in the shops yet: if you would like one of your own, then you will have to keep an eye on the racks of Uniqlo over the coming months.
And this much-envied winner paired off with the trusty Evolution midi-controller that has notched up considerable airmiles on its travels around the world in the care of Nathan Fake: a couple of the channels are a bit worse for wear, but Nathan assures us that it still works, "enough".
But the prize that seemingly everyone wanted to win was a collage crafted by Wesley Matsell's own fair hands, bearing the title "The Universe Is Over":
A few chancers felt downright entitled to it, but the undignified haggling that ensued as they urged me that I should just give it to them even though they weren't the lucky ticket holder wasn't quite what I had in mind when I dreamt up my caring sharing tombola concept. But making these collages is a bit of a hobby for Wesley, so those that were unsuccessful this time can at least console themselves with the hope that he might donate another Matsell original to be raffled off at a future Border Community event (and I only wish I was allowed to enter!). For although the tombola did threaten to turn into a bit of an albatross when we found ourselves left with a table full of prizes and no more tickets to give out (some early-comers didn't seem to quite get the tombola concept, whilst others just got muddled up with their cloakroom tickets!), I can promise that it will be back for another whirl (with a few subtle refinements) at our next Corsica do. And with prizes like this, it really is worth making sure you get yourself down there early!
Whilst all that was going on at the back of the bar, I did think that the early doors Rocketnumbernine synth-and-drum experiment that was taking place on the stage went down exceedingly well, coersing quite a round of excited whoops and a not inconsiderable shuffling of the feet out of the audience - but unfortunately I haven't managed to hunt down any photos of the happening (unless you want to hook me up with some in the comments?). Mr generosity Kieran Hebden then took over, most considerately coordinating his outfit with our flower decor to surreptitiously drop a Shakira moment on the crowd when they least expected it, the scamp:
Meanwhile over on the other side in Room 2, collage-king Wesley Matsell warmed things up a treat, opting to stand this time, which I suppose is a step up (literally!) from the bizarre kneeling position he has favoured on previous outings:
Then, like a shoal of salmon swimming upstream, most of the Border Community friends and family seemed to intuitively migrate en masse to Room 2: quite a huddle of them were to be found jigging around in there to the sounds of the eagerly anticipated Lone (whose equally eagerly anticipated new album Ecstasy & Friends is now finally available from the mighty Bleep):
Strapping young lad Nathan Fake then launched into to his debut DJ set for us like the proverbial duck to water. The internet went pretty nuts for the special Nathan Fake mix he did in advance of his appearance, and the switch from Ableton to Traktor for the evening was far from a night off for Mr Fake, working up quite a sweat, and the crowd into just as much of a frenzy as we have come to expect from his awesome live sets:
From the cosy security of the celebration of danceable electronica that Matsell and Fake were so ably hosting in room two, the crowd could have little inkling of what was going on over in the main room as our latest greatest Norfucker Luke Abbott took to the stage. Where Luke led the dance, a collection of strange hybrid headonistic creatures followed, and it went down something like this:
You may still be wondering where did that all come from, or (as sleep-deprived animal head sculptor Michael Page pondered on his slow bus straight back to Bristol) was it perhaps all a dream? The answer lies over on Youtube, in the form of Mikey's new video for Luke Abbott's mathematically hypnotic new single Whitebox Stereo (which was also conveniently released this week on vinyl and mp3!), where our new woodland friends get down to the pagan techno at their own forest rave:
At first Corsica's bouncer didn't seem keen on letting our animal friends join Luke on the stage, but fittingly he finally relented just as the strains of 'Whitebox Stereo' came marching in, and a truly beautiful moment came to pass as the too-good-not-to-reuse papier-mache creations were happily allowed to flourish and grow in a new environment.
The inimitable An'Unexpectacle of course also graced us with his presence as the living embodiment of his "The more you move, the more you feel it" mantra, only this time he had a human puppet in tow (but again, sadly I have no pictures!). Early teething troubles meant that the puppetry was short-lived after their equipment befell an untimely misfortune, but the pair soon made up for the setback by gamely donning animal heads, and making like a badger (and bear...). Our old friend An'Unexpectacle was quite simply born to be a badger, as I am sure anyone who witnessed his mesmerising antics will agree (note also his hand-customised Border Community t-shirt: now that is dedication to the cause!):
All this madness, and you will note that our omnipresent master of ceremonies James Holden has yet to fire up his CD players! So as current Holden golden boy Luke Abbott's addictive elasticated beats sprung to a close, James eagerly stepped to the plate, putting the cold-that-would-not-die temporarily on the back burner to serve up a bumper three hour set of what only he does best, like the cute little cherry on top of our knickerbocker glory of a night that he is.
So there we have it. Better late than never, as they say - and hopefully the same sentiment applies to the special musical goodies recorded on the evening that are coming to this space very soon. And in case you thought I had forgotten my manners, it would be very wrong of me indeed to leave things without thanking everyone (and I mean everyone) who came along, performed, helped out, donated prizes for the tombola, wore an animal head, danced, and let me pilfer their photos from Facebook: for where would we be without you?
And finally, it seems that it isn't truly over until everyone has had a slice of the animal action:
it was a really great night. rocketnumbernine was incredible, four tet did one of the best dj-sets i've heard and the last hour of holden was exceptional too. we came all the way from holland, and it was really, really worth. would be cool to here the sets, when will they come online?
As the dawn of our new residency at Corsica Studios edges closer by the minute, you would think that I might have better things to do than update my blog. But I, for once, am feeling strangely organised, which gives me a minute to lay out the final pieces in tonights puzzle while James frantically listens through this week's promos...
Eager beavers are also rewarded with free entry to my "Community Cast-Off Tombola": the first 200 guests to arrive will each receive a raffle ticket to present at the tombola stall, where exciting prizes await the holders of the luckiest of numbers. James Holden's Vibrating Hamster, Nathan Fake's hand-broken Midi Controller and a "small collage resembling a face" by Wesley Matsell nestle amongst Border Community goodies and mystery prizes yet to be revealed donated by the likes of Kieran Hebden. I'm half expecting Luke to bring a drawing of a spider as his offering, it being his favourite internet meme du jour (he even made some poor bemused Berliner bring a drawing of a spider with him to Watergate in return for Luke putting him on the guestlist last time he played there!). The inimitable An'Unexpectacle meanwhile has promised me a "a genuine, fully-flattened frog that I found on the street in Oxford a few weeks ago" as a tombola gift; I told him that such unique and fascinating artefact was too good to give away, and really he ought to keep it for himself, but I still dread to think what he will produce later this evening...
On the subject of everyone's favourite merkin tailor, you are no doubt wondering what japes An'Unexpectacle has in store for us tonight. The November chill was deemed to be too inhospitable an environment for an outdoor merkin booth, so tonight will see the An'Unexpectacle crew relocate their activities indoors to present "The more you move, the more you feel it: A travelling repository of devices and techniques to encourage and enhance the experience of motion with music". He'll be setting up his own stall near to our tombola, giving the whole event a decidedly village fete vibe: the curious need simply locate said stall and call upon our trusty guide An'Unexpectacle and cohorts for further enlightenment...
Wow, the story about the spider as payment really made my day. Crazy move, and i really wonder what would happen if tried this in Holland...haha thanks.
Really happy about the new residency taking place at the Corsica Studios, the Fake album launch party proved that it was the ideal venue for BC to make it's new home. Will you guys be on a bi-monthly rotation like you were at The End?
Is anyone else very very confused that according to James' website and myspace he will be playing in fabric of all places on 22nd Jan, which, ontop of the fact it is fabric, is a Friday??!! buh??
aaaaahhhh. the fabric thing makes infinite more sense now. hopefully james and kieran can blast all the christian dior sunglasses out of fabric for once.
Brilliant, in all my years of listening to Holden and the crew ive never seen them play at Fabric. But then that isn't surprising seeing as it's such a uber rare occurrence... Has James even played there before?? I can totally understand their reasoning against the place and their overpowering influence on the UK scene. That aside this should be a musical experience not to be missed and hopefully seeing as it's been held on a Friday and the line up isn't a collection of supposedly 'in and trendy wannabees' we probably put bets on the crowd been a lot less touristy and full of pretentious twats. Yay! :)
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).
The date of our next Corsica Studios shindig is fast approaching (6th November to be precise), and I just realised that I have yet to give you your list of recommended listening in preparation for the nights festivities. Time is clearly of the essence here, so get your notebooks out, fire up Bleep in another tab, and the lesson shall begin...
It only seemed right to launch our new residency with the aid of our old partner-in-crime from the old one at The End, so Mr Kieran Hebden will be graduating to our main room to work it as only he knows how. Kieran can currently be heard playing most months at the deep and dark Plastic People, but such a fan am I of his DJing shapes that even that is not enough for me: watch him give Corsica's boho crowd a thorough shakedown using his own decidedly atypical selection of "dance" music, and you will see why. And in a stroke of perfect timing that I can only wish was intentional, the Four Tet man also has a mysterious new vinyl release ready to ship next Monday (2nd November), and available to pre-order now from Bleep: all anyone seems to know about Love Cry is that it has a pretty brightly coloured label, comes backed with a B-side called 'Our Bells', and is likely to fly out of the shops at a similar rate to that Burial collaboration of earlier this year, so don't dawdle...
I am teasing you again here, as this one won't be out until November 30th, but you can pre-order the vinyl now from Rough Trade so you are prepared. Maths and hedonism make surprisingly comfortable bedfellows on Norfucker Luke Abbott's latest EP, which will be given a thorough roadtest in his Corsica live show; the entrancing pagan techno of lead track 'Whitebox Stereo' meanwhile will be unveiled here in video form in a matter of days, so watch this space. But you don't have to wait any longer to purchase Luke's twisted rework of The MFA's synth-pop-tastic Throw it Back (We Will Destroy You): cartoonish collectible vinyl awaits you over at Juno, or get the mp3s right away from our own online store...
Rocketnumbernine are a pair of brothers who (when they aren't playing in post-rock stalwarts Rothko) have their own improvisational synth-and-drum operation that travels a similar road to Messrs. Kieran Hebden & Steve Reid: debut album You Reflect Me is available now from Norman Records. We have had the pleasure of seeing them live a few times now, and have always found their explorations to be eminently danceable; but sadly that sort of thing just doesn't happen in most band venues, which is why we decided that it was high time that someone booked them for a club do. Get yourself down early to catch them, and do be obliging on the feet-moving front, for I am hoping that the combination of the visual spectacle and Rocketnumbernine's loose, easy groove will be the perfect way to overcome that early doors awkwardness of a not-yet-full club venue.
Nottingham's Lone comes booked at Luke Abbott's special request, but to hear Lone's music is to love it, and we are all aboard the fan train. Luke described Lemurian to James as "the ultimate music to listen to when falling asleep on aeroplanes", which I am assured is a good thing, whilst I reckon it could be the perfect stop-gap treat to keep Boards of Canada's legions of fans going until tea time. New album 'Ecstasy and Friends' will be out "soon" on Werk Discs, and I'm afraid I can't be anymore accurate than that; but I can tell you that you can already hear samples from it on his Myspace, so it can't be that far off. More will hopefully be unveiled during the course of his live set in Corsica's room two, where our own Nathan Fake and Wesley Matsell form the DJ bread of one tasty danceworthy electronica doorstep sandwich.
And with that, your shopping list is almost complete: all that is remains is your ticket to the party on November 6th, which you can sort out now from Ticketweb or Resident Advisor. Any further info you might need you will either find on the flyer below, or on the accompanying Facebook event page, and I won't keep you from your homework any longer.
for fans of lone i would recommend lukids "foma", also on werk discs. in my opinion it's even better than lemurian 'cause i get tired of overused sidechainy compression after a while
feed link
