EASTER ROUND-UP Club nights in Glasgow and Edinburgh, various venues. See listings for full details.
Easter is a time of celebration. Those of a religious bent will know that it’s the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, the oldest and greatest festival of the Christian church. God botherers generally like to move into their local place of worship for the duration of the Easter weekend while children and chocaholics gorge themselves on Easter eggs until they’re sick. Club faring atheists, on the other hand, view the Easter weekend as the ideal opportunity to get as wasted as Jesus did on that cross. And with Monday off work, they can crawl into the caves with confidence at the end of a behemoth session and wait till Tuesday for resurrection.
Unsurprisingly, promoters in Glasgow and Edinburgh have been busy organising club events that will go at it like Easter bunnies on Viagra.
Colours, the Scottish club that’s super, once again gets maximum points for effort as it undertakes another two-day bash at the Arches. Way Out West (live), King Unique and Graeme Park will be firing up the weekend’s hedonistic house frequencies on Friday while Seb Fontaine, Trevor Rockliffe and Danny Rampling take Easter out in style on Sunday. If, however, you like your house with a healthy dose of disco, best bet is the Melting Pot Sunday Special at the Riverside featuring special guests Big Bear.
Easter’s not just for house fans either as evidenced by
HOUSE
indie night National Pop League. The Good Friday fix at the Woodside will feature hot cross buns to the first twenty people through the door, a shower of daffodils and a prize draw involving Easter eggs. Hot buns of an entirely different variety will meanwhile feature at the bootylicious Easter Sunday Special of new R&B night Groove Theory. Trevor Nelson tops the bill here with residents Stewart McCallum and Naeem in support.
Over on the east coast, Easter spectaculars are positively rife. Those making an extra special effort include gay night Joy, hosting an ‘Easter Hair Ball’ on Saturday, 30 March. Those sporting kooky hair styles, beards, moustaches and general body hair are invited to make like gorillas in the mist to Maggie and Alan’s up- front, dirty house grooves.
Christ wouldn’t know which way to turn on Sunday as Ultragroove, Progression and Radio Babylon are all hosting nights of biblical proportions. The first of these, Ultragroove, will be joining forces with Manchester’s Robodisco for a night that sees Gareth Sommerville, Colin Cook, Miles Holloway and Elliot Eastwick play real deal house for dancefloor devotees. Tribal house rumblings resound at the Progression Easter session featuring guest DJ Steve Lawler while Radio Babylon begs us all to praise the lord and be thankful for a night that showcases head-hurting techno on the main floor from Andrew Weatherall plus wildstyle funk in the downstairs lounge with the one and only David Holmes. Sing Hallelujah. (Catherine Bromley)
MASTER H Freelance Science at Alaska, Glasgow, Sat 6 Apr.
Hassen GOuaned aka Master H must be safe in the knowledge that he is conSidered one of Soma's truly pri/eu' assets. It can’t be every DJ that is asked to play at their label iioss' wedding. but Gouaned is so lllgll“)’ thought of in Sonia circles that '10 was
72 THE LIST 27‘, My " Aim PM .I/
deemed the suitable candidate for Stuart McMillan's a couple of years ago and now the label prepares for the first full-length Master H album. Along With Silicone Sciil and H-FOundation. Soma's hopes of breaking through this year rest on Gouaned's shoulders and his subtly commercial house style certainly suggests that he's prepared for the challenge.
As you may. not unreasonably. expect from a DJ of Frencn stock. he is keen on all things funky and not averse to the
odd Outburst of sample-filtering. but his talismanic track 'lvlagic K' is as unusual a slice of house mtlSlC as you're likely to hear this decade. HaVing originally appeared tucked away on the b-Side of his debut Sonia release. 'Maytlower'. 'Magic K' has forced its right to a re- "(elezistz haying been heaVily championed by the likes of Laurent Garnier. Carl Cox and Roger Sanchez. The track takes a
uniquely obtuse approach to the house genre with its Eastern influenced melodies coupled with the kind of throbbing bass pulses that at certain volumes have the power to collapse a lung 0r two.
Gouaned is however. first and foremost. a hard-working DJ. His reSidencies in Paris and New York are legendary and the occaSional appearance at Relief in Glasgow keeps the Soma hardcore happy. The release of his debut album 73 should help expand his network even further. Named after the postcode of the region of France where he lives and produced in coHaboration With Slam's live drummer Andy Gillespie. it remains to be seen whether 73 can propel Soma's Charge into the ‘real' album charts even further. but With 'Magic K' set to invade the dancefloors once again. hopes must be high. (Steven Clark)
clubs@list.co.uk
The latest c/ub news... TRIPTYCH TICKETS ARE selling fast already. To make sure you don’t miss the boat, those seeking tickets for the following shows should buy now to avoid disappointment: Derrick May (Edinburgh, Fri 26 Apr; Glasgow, Sat 27 Apr); Richie Hawtin (Glasgow, Fri 26 Apr; Edinburgh, Sun 28 Apr); Luke Slater (performing with Richie Hawtin, Edinburgh, Sun 28 Apr); Madlib/Peanut Butter Wolf (Glasgow, Sat 27 Apr; Edinburgh, Sun 28 Apr also featuring Cannibal Ox).
CAN'T WAIT TO GET YOUR hands on the Nintendo GameCube console? Well. if yOu fancy a trial session before the official European launch on Friday. 3 May. we at The List have free tickets to the mute only ‘Cube Club Tour' due to hit Glasgow's Barrowland on Wednesday 10 8 Thursday 1 1 April (6—11pm both nights). We have ten tickets for each night up for grabs. so email clubs@list.co.uk before Thursday 4 April. including y0ur full postal address and specifying which night you'd like to attend. The ten lucky recipients Will then receive tickets in the post to the event featuring 50 GameCubes. exclusive preViews of forthcoming titles. a 'WaveFtace Rider' and a 'Photo-Cube' which captures you from 6 different angles so can make yOUr own cube head. Fantastic.
THE EDINBURGH BRANCH of souk-style bar chain Po Na Na is set to gain a little clubbing credibility. Despite there being DJs seven nights a week, the policy has previously been geared towards mainstream dance tunes for a hard drinking crowd. This could change though following a recent announcement of a nationwide club tour of P0 Na Na venues under the name ‘Hedflux’. Big name acts confirmed to play the intimate Edinburgh venue include: Mark Moore (18 April); Bentley Rhythm Ace (25 April); Scratch Perverts (9 May) and Norman Jay (23 May). See www.ponanamusic.co.uk for more info.