Clubs Factory Floor
THE SOUND OF INDUSTRY Death Disco greets the new student population with a two venue club night featuring the likes of Factory Floor and Lindstrom. David Pollock finds out more
Anyone making Glasgow their home for the new student year is in for a treat here, and would be well advised to get on board the Arches’ Trans-Europe Expressway to see just what sort of clubbing scene their new city has to offer. The cavernous venue under Central Station’s monthly cutting edge club experience Death Disco is already renowned for its staggering array of special guests, and for September they’re going a step further. Next month’s night will require two venues to hold the fantastic, festival-worthy line-up that’s been booked, both the Arches and the equally underground SWG3, another brilliant space buried under a railway track.
‘We’re still in the process of firming up exactly who’ll be playing where,’ says the Arches’ music programmer Andrew Maitland, who put the whole thing together, ‘but you can expect to see the bands and ‘live’ acts down at SWG3 with the DJs mainly at the Arches. You’re not going to be able to see everything but we’re working hard to program in a way people can see as much as possible. Hopefully a regular bus service going back and forth between venues will help.’
As Maitland also points out, the fact it’s £7 entry if you’re on the DD mailing list is a ridiculously good bargain. Potentially that gets you, if you can stand the shuttling back and forth, a night which will include appearances by Lindstrom, Prins Thomas, Feadz, Shit Robot, Retro/Grade and Walls. Maitland says he’s most excited by the appearance of Norwegian space- disco friends and collaborators Lindstrom and Prins 86 THE LIST 25 Aug–22 Sep 2011
Thomas, but that Stay+ will be a less-heralded highlight. ‘They’re from Manchester, they used to be called Christian Aids,’ he says. ‘I caught them at a festival in Brighton in May and they completely blew me away, they’ve got a huge sound and great visuals.’ Another much-anticipated band who are long overdue a return visit, is Factory Floor. A raw-edged and minimal trio whose dark, repetitive soundscapes are gaining adoration from hipster music fans and open-minded clubbers, the London outfit are that rare type of band who can follow a DJ after midnight. Having recorded with New Order’s Stephen Morris in the production chair and with their own debut album currently in the works, the band have a history with Glasgow – their ‘R E A L L O V E’ single was released by Optimo Music following a chance meeting with the label’s JD Twitch in the Arches after the group supported Fuck Buttons. ‘When we play in Brussels, we never go on before midnight,’ muses the group’s drummer and co-founder Gabriel Gurnsey. ‘What we’re writing now is a lot more dancey than even our early material, so if a crowd is open-minded to it – which I know the crowds in Scotland are – then it works completely. We were the last band on at ATP at Alexandra Palace the other week, and it was great. Just stand next to the speakers and we’ll blast your ears out.’
FESTIVAL ELECTRIC FROG SEPTEMBER WEEKENDER SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 10 & Sun 11 Sep Whoever chose to carry out some large-scale maintenance at their Eastvale Place business premises on the last weekend of July has inadvertently done Glasgow’s clubbing fraternity a favour. It might have meant the planned Electric Frog Summer Weekender was curtailed to one day from two at the last minute, but it’s also secured this unprecedented third annual instalment of the city’s premier underground dance festival.
There’s been a bit of a change of format this time, though. While Saturday’s bash boasts possibly the biggest and best dancefloor-moving line-up the event has seen, Sunday will offer, for the first time in Electric Frog’s three-year history, a day dedicated entirely to guitar and alternative music.
‘We have always had wide ranging taste in music and never planned for the festival to be only an electronic music event,’ explains promoter Alan Miller. ‘The line-up is very much a reflection of our collective music tastes and follows on from our ideas to make the festival broader and broader in terms of its musical breadth, filling the vacuum that has been left by previous Scottish events like Triptych.’ As usual, a bunch of Glasgow’s
biggest-name club and music promoters will be involved in programming the artists, with Pressure putting together a star- ridden Saturday street party consisting of Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Len Faki and residents Slam, and disco-centric monthly bash Melting Pot getting in on the act in the warehouse with Joe Claussell, Omar S and resident Andrew Pirie. Plus a rare UK show from Frankie Knuckles: ‘His history encompasses almost everything that is defining about the beginning of contemporary dance music,’ adds Miller. Having postponed their involvement from the July event, Synergy Concerts will be making up for the delay by curating the entire Sunday event, with headliners Mogwai joined by Wild Beasts, The Fall, Mount Kimbie, Jimmy Edgar and Errors. ‘We can’t wait to welcome Mark E Smith to the site,’ says Miller. ‘I mean really, who could miss The Fall?’ (David Pollock)
‘STAND NEXT TO THE SPEAKERS EARS OUT’
AND WE’LL BLAST YOUR
Death Disco: Trans-Europe Expressway is at the Arches & SWG3, Glasgow, Sat 17 Sep. Frankie Knuckles