Clubs
(RE)INTRODUCING The best new nights in town. This month:
VELVET Residents They like to refer to them as ‘regular DJs’ rather than ‘residents’ and it’s a rather large roster: Le Mac, Kill the Kid, Rob Etherson, MASH, DJ Q, Francisco Saavedra, Mathew One More Tune, Palpatine, Rainey, Jim Hutchison, DJ Dribbler, John Gerrard and James Carroll.
Guests The Edinburgh launch sees a live set from Spektre (pictured) for a night of complex techno, a hard hitting take on early Detroit sounds (Spektre also appear at the Glasgow date and previous guests have included Audiojack, Alex Metric, Andrew Weatherall and Alex Smoke which should give you some idea of where they’re coming from). Music policy Minimal and techno with the odd foray into the outer limits of house.
What they say ‘We love to make people dance. As well as inviting some well known international guests to our events we showcase the vast amount of homegrown talent we have on our doorstep here in Scotland, and especially Glasgow. So, over the next year look out for some fantastic guests and great parties. Come along and enjoy . . .’
What we say Ok, so it’s not a brand new night, but this is Velvet’s first trip to Edinburgh as they take over the intimate Speakeasy at the Cab. And bringing Spektre with them is a great opening gambit, making sure they make an impression with big names like James Zabielia commenting: ‘Spektre’s productions consist of solid techno that really remembers the rave. Music that is cool but also fun and highly danceable. These guys are just going to get bigger.’ Having just reached their first birthday in Glasgow they have already proven they have the talent, tunes and commitment to quality clubbing. (Henry Northmore) ■ Velvet featuring Spektre (live) at O2 ABC, Glasgow, Fri 18 Dec; Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Sat 19 Dec.
44 THE LIST 17 Dec 2009–7 Jan 2010
www.list.co.uk/clubs
ROCK/DANCE SOULWAXMAS Braehead Arena, Glasgow, Fri 18 Dec
To crowds of young ravers the cash-generating might of the Soulwax/2 Many DJs axis places them close to the commercial epicentre of dance music. Just look at this show for proof: set in an arena in the middle of a shopping centre, it’s being promoted once again by Colours, which is about as big as a dance artist gets in Scotland without crossing over to the main stage at T in the Park. Yet Soulwax are the polar opposite of your average Tiesto. Indeed, they’ve defined the decade in urgent, trend-setting dance music in more ways than one, which isn’t bad going for brothers David and Stephen Dewaele. Their decade started at the head of a half- average Belgian indie band whose best song, ironically, was called ‘Too Many DJs’. Paraphrasing
the track’s title as their DJ alias, the pair would go on to have a huge underground sleeper hit in 2003 with As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt. 2, which even now remains the decade’s defining mix album. Alongside Freelance Hellraiser’s bootleg ‘A Stroke of Genie-us’, it would popularise the concept of the mash-up with imaginative, unlikely mixes of Dolly Parton, Royksopp, Jeans Team, Skee-Lo, Salt’n’Pepa and The Stooges.
Not only that, Soulwax’s 2004 album Any Minute Now (also their last original record, not counting extensive remix projects involving their own work and that of other artists) would stand alongside LCD Soundsystem’s debut as a classic of the rock/dance crossover movement. A new album is expected not long into the new decade, but in the meantime, Soulwax and 2 Many DJs remain a dance act everyone must see before they die. (David Pollock)
TECHNO SUBCULTURE VS SENSU DETROIT WEEKENDER Sub Club, Glasgow, Fri 18 & Sat 19 Dec
Isn’t every weekend a Detroit weekend at the Subbie in one way or another? It helps, of course, that this party in two parts will see techno innovator and one of the original ‘Belleville Three’ Derrick May make another of his regular appearances at the club, the very night before his one-time discoveries Octave One play a rare Scottish set on the Saturday. Okay, so some Subbie weekends manage to be more Detroit than others. ‘Detroit techno isn’t really the sound of our city any more, it’s more a genre that’s gone all round the world,’ says Lenny Burden, half of the touring Octave One vehicle with his brother Lawrence and one fifth of their studio incarnation alongside fellow siblings Lynell, Lance and Lorne. ‘In the beginning, everyone in Detroit defined how techno was by trying to create our own different sound, our own version of it. It’s hard to add something new to the style these days, though, because so many things have been done already.’
The Burden brothers are, of course, veterans of the original Detroit scene. Growing up listening to Jeff Mills on local radio stations, they worked as tech staff in the seminal Music Institute venue, which is where they met May, Kevin Saunderson and Juan Atkins. It was the former who would release their debut single, the gorgeous ‘I Believe’ on his own label, Transmat, in 1990, paving the way for a career that hasn’t stopped since. ‘It will have been 20 years next year,’ muses Burden, ‘so we’ll be planning a special tour to celebrate, and also reflecting on our own history in electronic music.’ (David Pollock)
Octave One