Sunday, 12 August 2012
Time flies
... when you are having fun.
Damn I've written a long piece about the various freeparty fotobooks I've acquired over the years and now I've sat on it so long, I've fucking lost it. Grrrr.
Anyhoo, will try to dig it out...
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Curley RiP
Gone but not forgotten. Taken from - http://www.expressillon.com/curley/Curley_Uk.html
Born in Leidschendam Holland 16 April 1973 Curley Schoop spent his childhood years in Curacao (Netherlands Antilles). After moving back to Holland with the family in his teenage years his love for music came into true fruition. At the age of sixteen he released his first record on the DJAX label (D.I.C.E. - rubba dice stylin).
In 1994 he was to travel to Berlin with R.A.F. who were his friends Joep, Katja, and Chiel as well as with his friends Sazz and Ratski where they played on a party of Acid Orange.
By now the entire Spiral Circus had descended on invitation to stay at the 'Blauwe Aanslag' squat in Den Haag, Holland. This is where the infamous Acid Planet parties from Jan, Unit Moebius, Siuli and Guy where happening and where Sebastian (69db) and Simon (Crystal Distortion) from Spiral Tribe together with Unit Moebius were beginning to inspire a whole generation. These happenings were to change everything for Curley as they did for so many from this period.
After returning to Holland the 'Hardcore Peace Generation' was formed. Holland was by now in full party flow, parties and sound systems were springing up all over the place. Curley moved to Den Haag from the south to be in the midst of it all. Time was filled squatting and organizing parties and tekno café’s big and small all over the place. It was in this period Curley was making music together with Jan, Sebastian and Simon. Together a sound was made: that sound would become legendary: 'the Spiral Sound'.
It was somewhere around this time Curley met Barbara who he was to be with for the rest of his life. Holland had much to offer for a young inspiring musician and DJ with its full flow party mayhem from the likes of his friends from Cyb-X and Mononom Soundsytems for whom he would play his legendary mental mix of acid, hardcore and tekno many times.
In 1995 he made the move to London. Barbara was English and Curley was always up for new adventures. Although a far cry from what he knew from the free party scene in Europe Curley would flourish in the diversity of the music in London. New influences were creeping into his Dj sets, breakbeats, drum and bass, the London style. I don't think there are too many recordings from his DJ sets from these times, in fact I don't think you could capture it on a tape, you just had to be there, those that were there know exactly what I am talking about, some things you just can’t capture in a recording.
Curley had the utter ability to ignite a dead party, to whip up a dance floor into free flow mayhem. He never looked the part, a black guy in a predominately white hardcore scene in a funny hat and flared trousers, but he was still somehow the coolest geezer in the building, everybody wanted to talk to him, everybody wanted him on the decks, to hang out with him. Probably some of his finest moments DJ'ing was in those warehouses in London, there he would create his voodoo magic on the wheels of steel.
A lot of people who had not been out to Europe could not understand what he was playing but they loved it. It was a combination of the Spiral sound, the Dutch sound and the London sound all mixed in and mashed up, it was truly unique.
It was in London he would meet Ben and Brett from the Fear Teachers: he would play a lot at their parties together with the Mainline Soundsystem. The Fear Teachers and the surrounding people would be a big influence on Curley. They had been to Europe, they did know what was going on but they had their own sound, their influences were also from electro and more distorted and messed up beats. Curley thrived of these new ways and sounds; he would revel in the London ways of music. Drum and bass were to seriously influence his DJ sets where he would play out together with his friend Beven (Dj Terroreyes) with their three deck mash ups. At this time he releases on Ben and Brett’s Audio Illusion label and made his other classic releases on the Club Craft, Utmostfear and Crowd Control labels.
In 1997, Curley now just twenty four years of age was a proud father happily in love and with his music seriously taking off. By now his DJ gigs were constant, playing out in London and back home in Holland as well as Italy, Germany and France; his records were also now starting to come out in a steady stream. After always releasing on other peoples labels and as he was always wanting to push forwards he decided together with Barbara to start their own label Kibra Hacha. The first release on this label was to be his final one in his lifetime.
After spending Christmas together in London with his new family, Curley & Barbara set off to drive to a big party in Rome Italy for the New Year of 1998. This was to be Curley's final set. In the early hours of the third of January whilst still out in Rome Italy Curley died suddenly in bed of a heart condition he never knew he had. It shocked us all and sent tremors throughout the party scene in Europe. Many tributes were made and several huge memorial parties were made in his honor, in Holland, England and Italy. One of the finest had been taken away in the prime of his life with everything to live for.
Some stars light up the night sky brighter than others, they give off more energy, sometimes those stars will burn out quicker because of this, but those are the stars you remember. In the end it's not how many years you have lived that are important but what you did in those years and Curley lived every minute of his life to the full. I think the following written by his friend Brett after Curley's death says it all:
"Within our creative dance culture there are few people with the active energy and dedicated commitment necessary to keep the scene fresh, vibrant and at the cutting edge. Curley possessed all these powers and spread them like a virus, infecting all who crossed his path with a positive feeling and uniting us all in confidence for the future" (Brett Youngs R.I.P)
[Huge Thanks to Skurge for writing this very difficult lovely words]
Thursday, 15 March 2012
"Truth" about young people and drugs revealed in Guardian survey
A fifth of young drug users admit to taking "mystery white powders" without any idea what they contain, according to an international Guardian survey that reveals the extent of reckless behaviour among a new generation of high-risk drug takers.
The poll of 15,500 people by the Guardian and Mixmag magazine also found that more respondents in the UK and US admitted taking cannabis than either tobacco or energy drinks. Those who defined themselves as clubbers were more likely to take ecstasy than smoke cigarettes.
The headline findings from what is one of the largest ever surveys of drug use raised alarm among health experts, who pointed out that even those who think they knew what they were taking could be consuming another drug entirely.
John Ramsey, toxicologist at St George's medical school in London, said: "It is amazing that so many people take mystery white powders. The truth is nobody knows what the risks are and it is patently dangerous to take untested drugs."
The survey found 15% of respondents say they have taken a unknown white powder in the past 12 months, a third admitting it was supplied by someone they didn't trust.
But younger drug users were much more likely to take risks with unknown substances, with a fifth of all respondents aged between 18 and 25 saying they had taken mystery powders. Respondents who spoke to the Guardian were confident that they could balance drug taking with their careers and relationships, and regarded the side effects of drug use as often no worse than a hangover.
One respondent, James, a financial broker, told the Guardian: "My daily life is sensible, regimented and very stressful, so at the weekend I want the opposite. When I go out, the last thing I want is to think about work and responsibilities. I just want to lose myself for a few hours."
The survey also reveals:
• There are signs of an emerging "grey market" in legally prescribed painkillers and antidepressants, often acquired from friends, dealers or through the internet.
• Mephedrone, which gained media notoriety and was banned by the British government in 2010, is falling out of favour, with reports of more harmful side effects compared with other substances.
• Survey respondents caught in possession of small amounts of illegal drugs are unlikely to be punished heavily by the law, and stand a high chance of being let off.
• Alcohol is used regularly by almost all drug users, and, apart from tobacco, is the substance respondents would most like to take less of. Two-thirds of male respondents and 60% of women reported drinking at hazardous or harmful levels – though a fifth of regarded their drinking as average or below average levels.
Some 7,700 UK drug users and 4,000 from the US and Canada took part in the detailed survey, carried out online in November. Respondents were asked a range of questions including what drugs they took, how often, and what the health and legal consequences were. It was conducted by the independent drug use data exchange Global Drug Survey, in association with the Guardian and Mixmag, the clubbing magazine and website.
One of the strongest underlying messages is that this group of drug users report as happy, healthy and educated, and feel at ease with their recreational consumption of a range of illicit substances from cannabis to ecstasy to cocaine. They are not in rehab, prison or in trouble with the law and do not take heroin or crack.
The mean age of UK respondents was 28. Nine out of 10 were white, three-quarters were in work and earning between £10,000 and £40,000. Some 55% were educated to degree level or above.
Dr Adam Winstock, a consultant addictions psychiatrist and director of Global Drug Survey, said: "This is the largest assessment of current drug use ever conducted. What is overwhelmingly tells us is that people are not defined by their drug use, but that the harms that drugs can have are defined by the way people choose to use them.
"The challenge for government and policy makers will be how to regulate and craft a public health response which remains credible and respects individual choice."
The drugs most likely to be used by respondents were overwhelmingly alcohol and tobacco, with 92% of respondents saying they had drunk alcohol in the last month, 53% had taken cannabis, 34%, MDMA and 22% cocaine.
One in 10 respondents said they had been stopped and searched for drugs in the past 12 months. Of those found with cannabis, just under half were let off. Over a third of those caught with MDMA were let off.
Niamh Eastwood, chief executive of the drugs charity Release, said the findings suggested the police might be reluctant to criminalise this demographic group for carrying drugs.
"If you sent the same survey to different groups – young black males in inner city areas, say – it would tell a different story. The survey probably does represent the experience of middle class people who use drugs."
David Nutt, the former government drugs adviser sacked for suggesting LSD and ecstasy were less dangerous than alcohol, said he was not surprised by the survey findings about the extent of drinking and the concerns people had about it. "That's what I expected. People understand. The message is out there and people know alcohol is the biggest problem. It confirms what the evidence has been saying."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/truth-about-young-people-and-drugs
The poll of 15,500 people by the Guardian and Mixmag magazine also found that more respondents in the UK and US admitted taking cannabis than either tobacco or energy drinks. Those who defined themselves as clubbers were more likely to take ecstasy than smoke cigarettes.
The headline findings from what is one of the largest ever surveys of drug use raised alarm among health experts, who pointed out that even those who think they knew what they were taking could be consuming another drug entirely.
John Ramsey, toxicologist at St George's medical school in London, said: "It is amazing that so many people take mystery white powders. The truth is nobody knows what the risks are and it is patently dangerous to take untested drugs."
The survey found 15% of respondents say they have taken a unknown white powder in the past 12 months, a third admitting it was supplied by someone they didn't trust.
But younger drug users were much more likely to take risks with unknown substances, with a fifth of all respondents aged between 18 and 25 saying they had taken mystery powders. Respondents who spoke to the Guardian were confident that they could balance drug taking with their careers and relationships, and regarded the side effects of drug use as often no worse than a hangover.
One respondent, James, a financial broker, told the Guardian: "My daily life is sensible, regimented and very stressful, so at the weekend I want the opposite. When I go out, the last thing I want is to think about work and responsibilities. I just want to lose myself for a few hours."
The survey also reveals:
• There are signs of an emerging "grey market" in legally prescribed painkillers and antidepressants, often acquired from friends, dealers or through the internet.
• Mephedrone, which gained media notoriety and was banned by the British government in 2010, is falling out of favour, with reports of more harmful side effects compared with other substances.
• Survey respondents caught in possession of small amounts of illegal drugs are unlikely to be punished heavily by the law, and stand a high chance of being let off.
• Alcohol is used regularly by almost all drug users, and, apart from tobacco, is the substance respondents would most like to take less of. Two-thirds of male respondents and 60% of women reported drinking at hazardous or harmful levels – though a fifth of regarded their drinking as average or below average levels.
Some 7,700 UK drug users and 4,000 from the US and Canada took part in the detailed survey, carried out online in November. Respondents were asked a range of questions including what drugs they took, how often, and what the health and legal consequences were. It was conducted by the independent drug use data exchange Global Drug Survey, in association with the Guardian and Mixmag, the clubbing magazine and website.
One of the strongest underlying messages is that this group of drug users report as happy, healthy and educated, and feel at ease with their recreational consumption of a range of illicit substances from cannabis to ecstasy to cocaine. They are not in rehab, prison or in trouble with the law and do not take heroin or crack.
The mean age of UK respondents was 28. Nine out of 10 were white, three-quarters were in work and earning between £10,000 and £40,000. Some 55% were educated to degree level or above.
Dr Adam Winstock, a consultant addictions psychiatrist and director of Global Drug Survey, said: "This is the largest assessment of current drug use ever conducted. What is overwhelmingly tells us is that people are not defined by their drug use, but that the harms that drugs can have are defined by the way people choose to use them.
"The challenge for government and policy makers will be how to regulate and craft a public health response which remains credible and respects individual choice."
The drugs most likely to be used by respondents were overwhelmingly alcohol and tobacco, with 92% of respondents saying they had drunk alcohol in the last month, 53% had taken cannabis, 34%, MDMA and 22% cocaine.
One in 10 respondents said they had been stopped and searched for drugs in the past 12 months. Of those found with cannabis, just under half were let off. Over a third of those caught with MDMA were let off.
Niamh Eastwood, chief executive of the drugs charity Release, said the findings suggested the police might be reluctant to criminalise this demographic group for carrying drugs.
"If you sent the same survey to different groups – young black males in inner city areas, say – it would tell a different story. The survey probably does represent the experience of middle class people who use drugs."
David Nutt, the former government drugs adviser sacked for suggesting LSD and ecstasy were less dangerous than alcohol, said he was not surprised by the survey findings about the extent of drinking and the concerns people had about it. "That's what I expected. People understand. The message is out there and people know alcohol is the biggest problem. It confirms what the evidence has been saying."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/mar/15/truth-about-young-people-and-drugs
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Critical Beats #4
Might sludge along to this-
Critical Beats #4: Sound Systems
From 19/04/12 to 19/04/12
Location: London Stratford Circus, United Kingdom
Special Events
Links: stratford-circus.com
The series of symposiums on electronic dance music and club culture, co-hosted by The Wire and the University of East London, continues with a panel discussion on the culture of sound systems. With Julian Henriques (author of Sonic Bodies: Reggae Soundsystems, Performance Techniques And Ways Of Knowing), Colleen Murphy (Lucky Cloud Sound System) and others tbc. London Stratford Circus, 19 April, 7:30pm, £4/£2.
Critical Beats #4: Sound Systems
From 19/04/12 to 19/04/12
Location: London Stratford Circus, United Kingdom
Special Events
Links: stratford-circus.com
The series of symposiums on electronic dance music and club culture, co-hosted by The Wire and the University of East London, continues with a panel discussion on the culture of sound systems. With Julian Henriques (author of Sonic Bodies: Reggae Soundsystems, Performance Techniques And Ways Of Knowing), Colleen Murphy (Lucky Cloud Sound System) and others tbc. London Stratford Circus, 19 April, 7:30pm, £4/£2.
Whose hardcore continuum?
Over the last ten years, the music journalist Simon Reynolds has developed the concept of the hardcore continuum ('nuum' for short) to describe a scene which began with rave and progressed through various styles including drum n bass, jungle and 'ardkore through to dubstep and grime, then to 2step to funky in the present day. He draws out connections between genres in terms of labels, dubplates producers, pirate radio stations and places. But he's missing out as much as he leaves in.
I'm more concerned with underground music than following fads, and despite dabbling in therory, Reynolds seems to ignore the fact that capitalism consistently recuperates any challenges to its hegemony. Thus labels and people sell out, pirate radio stations become mainstream to develop an audience, free parties become recommodified as commercial festivals like Lowlands or Glade or Bangface. Just because pirate stations like Rinse used to play drum n bass and now play garage, or certain artists have developed in the same direction, doesn't mean that garage is in any way hardcore.
Whilst I like some of the ideas behind the nuum I'm not sure how relevant it is to me, since I'm more interested in dark fucked up sounds and sonic experimentation (the real progression of hardcore, surely). The last time the nuum got me going was dubstep and I don't think there's anything hardcore about funky.
To be fair, Reynolds did say in 2009:
It's even not the only dance continuum I'm interested in as a listener or as a writer, for instance I've written a lot about another music called hardcore, the gabba tradition, European four to the floor kick drum pounding terror techno, I'm a big fan and defender of that
... but then he hasn't mentioned it much lately. At a 'Critical Beats' talk in 2012, he even seemed rather dismissive of gabba, possibly because he has lost touch with its offshoots through living in New York and listening to shit like Burial.
Yet as we all know, one offshoot of rave, the faster hectic strand hardened into gabba which then itself influenced many forms, such as happy hardcore, french tekno, speedcore and breakcore. Various subgenres have splintered off and sometimes form into valid scenes themselves eg flashcore.
Where does that leave us now? Well, we are in the future. You tell me. Having gone through explosion then death, whatever breakcore now means nowadays still throws up a shitload of good stuff, since experimentation and sonic deviance is explicitly welcomed by its broad parameters. Wrong Music pioneered a return to weirdness and now bassline (Kanji Kinetic, Figure, Warlock) is getting people raving on the dancefloor again.
Personally, what I'm hoping for would be just as dubstep bass infected dnb basslines, we'll end up with a fast return to the darkside, with massive basslines anchored on 220 bpm beats.
At the Critical Beats talk the heroes seemed to be Zomby and Burial. I'd prefer to sit down and talk about Venetian Snares, Enduser, Shitmat, La Peste, No Name and Mouse. Vsnares is on mu-ziq records, Enduser is on the consistently interesting AdNoiseam (among other labels) but these names didn't get mentioned once.
That's a bit weird, since these people really are maintaining some sort of hardcore continuum (although that name's taken already). For example, VSnares frequently drops in references to allsorts of stuff in his tunes (commercial drum n bass in 'Fuck Toronto Jungle' and 'A Lot of Drugs',' punk in 'Abomination Street', rave in 'Husikam Rave Dojo' and 'Calvin Kleining', gabba all through the Winnipeg album and so on).
Reynolds is correct to identify how a scene develops in reflexively self-referential style, which can be almost impenetrable to outsiders who don't know the heritage of the scene. But he is wrong to track continua as they mainstream and become commercialised. It's personal choice I suppose, but surely it's much more interesting to stay underground.
Flint Michigan wrote in the initial manifesto for Datacide magazine that it was:
A communication tool of the trans-european Undo*round, it is intended to give the a deserved coverage to those who do things, not for the kudos, prestige and cash it might bring in but for the buzz of inter-activity and mutual respect
There is an underground quietly bubbling away, partying at the weekend, communicating through zines like this one, creating music of all sorts with a seriously anti-capitalist and anti-commercial attitude. That's what gives me hope and what I see as the real hardcore continuum.
I'm more concerned with underground music than following fads, and despite dabbling in therory, Reynolds seems to ignore the fact that capitalism consistently recuperates any challenges to its hegemony. Thus labels and people sell out, pirate radio stations become mainstream to develop an audience, free parties become recommodified as commercial festivals like Lowlands or Glade or Bangface. Just because pirate stations like Rinse used to play drum n bass and now play garage, or certain artists have developed in the same direction, doesn't mean that garage is in any way hardcore.
Whilst I like some of the ideas behind the nuum I'm not sure how relevant it is to me, since I'm more interested in dark fucked up sounds and sonic experimentation (the real progression of hardcore, surely). The last time the nuum got me going was dubstep and I don't think there's anything hardcore about funky.
To be fair, Reynolds did say in 2009:
It's even not the only dance continuum I'm interested in as a listener or as a writer, for instance I've written a lot about another music called hardcore, the gabba tradition, European four to the floor kick drum pounding terror techno, I'm a big fan and defender of that
... but then he hasn't mentioned it much lately. At a 'Critical Beats' talk in 2012, he even seemed rather dismissive of gabba, possibly because he has lost touch with its offshoots through living in New York and listening to shit like Burial.
Yet as we all know, one offshoot of rave, the faster hectic strand hardened into gabba which then itself influenced many forms, such as happy hardcore, french tekno, speedcore and breakcore. Various subgenres have splintered off and sometimes form into valid scenes themselves eg flashcore.
Where does that leave us now? Well, we are in the future. You tell me. Having gone through explosion then death, whatever breakcore now means nowadays still throws up a shitload of good stuff, since experimentation and sonic deviance is explicitly welcomed by its broad parameters. Wrong Music pioneered a return to weirdness and now bassline (Kanji Kinetic, Figure, Warlock) is getting people raving on the dancefloor again.
Personally, what I'm hoping for would be just as dubstep bass infected dnb basslines, we'll end up with a fast return to the darkside, with massive basslines anchored on 220 bpm beats.
At the Critical Beats talk the heroes seemed to be Zomby and Burial. I'd prefer to sit down and talk about Venetian Snares, Enduser, Shitmat, La Peste, No Name and Mouse. Vsnares is on mu-ziq records, Enduser is on the consistently interesting AdNoiseam (among other labels) but these names didn't get mentioned once.
That's a bit weird, since these people really are maintaining some sort of hardcore continuum (although that name's taken already). For example, VSnares frequently drops in references to allsorts of stuff in his tunes (commercial drum n bass in 'Fuck Toronto Jungle' and 'A Lot of Drugs',' punk in 'Abomination Street', rave in 'Husikam Rave Dojo' and 'Calvin Kleining', gabba all through the Winnipeg album and so on).
Reynolds is correct to identify how a scene develops in reflexively self-referential style, which can be almost impenetrable to outsiders who don't know the heritage of the scene. But he is wrong to track continua as they mainstream and become commercialised. It's personal choice I suppose, but surely it's much more interesting to stay underground.
Flint Michigan wrote in the initial manifesto for Datacide magazine that it was:
A communication tool of the trans-european Undo*round, it is intended to give the a deserved coverage to those who do things, not for the kudos, prestige and cash it might bring in but for the buzz of inter-activity and mutual respect
There is an underground quietly bubbling away, partying at the weekend, communicating through zines like this one, creating music of all sorts with a seriously anti-capitalist and anti-commercial attitude. That's what gives me hope and what I see as the real hardcore continuum.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Critical Beats #3
Critical Beats #3: Simon Reynolds's Reader
From 23/02/12 to 23/02/12
Location: London Stratford Circus, United Kingdom
Sponsored by The Wire
Wire Events Extras
Links: thewire.co.uk/articles/8175 | stratford-circus.com
Simon Reynolds has put together a trio of links for preparatory reading ahead of the 23 February Critical Beats panel at Stratford Circus.
Critical Beats in London/Rave as Militant Modernism
Ahead of the panel discussion next week, Reynolds has published an extract on the hardcore continuum as a form of street modernism, from Partly Political #4, his series of reflections on the debate over the hardcore continuum.
The History of Our World: The Hardcore Continuum Debate (Dancecult, Vol 1, No 2)
For a longer overview on the hardcore continuum, Reynolds points to his article from Dancecult, which looks at the hardcore continuum, its relationship to history and how it’s changed in the internet era.
Running On Empty (The New Statesman, 30 April 2009)
The following is a piece by Mark Fisher (who is no longer able to attend the panel due to illness) on what he terms an energy crisis in music. Fisher asks: "Were rave and its offshoots Jungle and Garage just that – a sudden flash of energy that has since dissipated? More worryingly, is the death of rave only one symptom of an overall energy crisis in culture? Are cultural resources running out in the same way as natural resources are?"
Critical Beats #3: Aesthetics, Innovation and Tradition, features Simon Reynolds, Joe Muggs, Lisa Blanning, plus Steve Goodman (moderator), discussing the aesthetics of current dance scenes. London Stratford Circus, 23 February, 7:30pm, £5/£3.
From 23/02/12 to 23/02/12
Location: London Stratford Circus, United Kingdom
Sponsored by The Wire
Wire Events Extras
Links: thewire.co.uk/articles/8175 | stratford-circus.com
Simon Reynolds has put together a trio of links for preparatory reading ahead of the 23 February Critical Beats panel at Stratford Circus.
Critical Beats in London/Rave as Militant Modernism
Ahead of the panel discussion next week, Reynolds has published an extract on the hardcore continuum as a form of street modernism, from Partly Political #4, his series of reflections on the debate over the hardcore continuum.
The History of Our World: The Hardcore Continuum Debate (Dancecult, Vol 1, No 2)
For a longer overview on the hardcore continuum, Reynolds points to his article from Dancecult, which looks at the hardcore continuum, its relationship to history and how it’s changed in the internet era.
Running On Empty (The New Statesman, 30 April 2009)
The following is a piece by Mark Fisher (who is no longer able to attend the panel due to illness) on what he terms an energy crisis in music. Fisher asks: "Were rave and its offshoots Jungle and Garage just that – a sudden flash of energy that has since dissipated? More worryingly, is the death of rave only one symptom of an overall energy crisis in culture? Are cultural resources running out in the same way as natural resources are?"
Critical Beats #3: Aesthetics, Innovation and Tradition, features Simon Reynolds, Joe Muggs, Lisa Blanning, plus Steve Goodman (moderator), discussing the aesthetics of current dance scenes. London Stratford Circus, 23 February, 7:30pm, £5/£3.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Mash Hits : 60 Years of UK no 1 singles Remixed, Bastardized and Reconstructed
Word from Shitmat on a totally nuts project:
Hey Folks! It’s 2012 and since there is a slim chance that the world might be destroyed by a intergalactic David Hasselhoff doppelganger, i have decided to launch MASH HITS!
The idea for ‘MASH HITS’ came one drunken evening, I wondered what it would be like to re-imagine the entire history of chart music through remixing, bastardizing and reconstructing it. An extreme clusterfuck of music i hate and love fighting for prominence whilst Cliff Richard, Coldplay, Gary Glitter and Prince have a freakout jam perhaps?
After i sobered up the idea got formulated into a more cohesive and achievable plan. I would use every UK no 1 single from 1952 until the present day to make a shed load of music.
The UK singles chat is 60 years old on November 14th 2012. Until then I will regularly be uploading new tracks. The rule is to use every UK No 1 single solely; No other samples, synths or sound sources allowed at all. From Al Martino to Lisa Stansfield, The Beatles to Snap, Bucks Fizz to Bob the Builder, There are over 1150 tracks that topped the chart so it’s a huge undertaking but most definitely a fun one (excluding having to deal with westlife and steps).
The first Mash Hit is here
Please check back here daily to check out the music I make and see if i get sued!
Hey Folks! It’s 2012 and since there is a slim chance that the world might be destroyed by a intergalactic David Hasselhoff doppelganger, i have decided to launch MASH HITS!
The idea for ‘MASH HITS’ came one drunken evening, I wondered what it would be like to re-imagine the entire history of chart music through remixing, bastardizing and reconstructing it. An extreme clusterfuck of music i hate and love fighting for prominence whilst Cliff Richard, Coldplay, Gary Glitter and Prince have a freakout jam perhaps?
After i sobered up the idea got formulated into a more cohesive and achievable plan. I would use every UK no 1 single from 1952 until the present day to make a shed load of music.
The UK singles chat is 60 years old on November 14th 2012. Until then I will regularly be uploading new tracks. The rule is to use every UK No 1 single solely; No other samples, synths or sound sources allowed at all. From Al Martino to Lisa Stansfield, The Beatles to Snap, Bucks Fizz to Bob the Builder, There are over 1150 tracks that topped the chart so it’s a huge undertaking but most definitely a fun one (excluding having to deal with westlife and steps).
The first Mash Hit is here
Please check back here daily to check out the music I make and see if i get sued!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Bury this shit. Once and for all.
Burial is terrible.
I will admit that I got off the wrong foot with him when breakcore producer FFF recommended him a few years back as a hot tippie and I unreasonably assumed that it would be banging mutant breakcore (totally unfair, like any DJ, FFF is into loads of styles, including italodisco). I whacked it on my mp3 player and waited for the break but it never came. Just some slightly dodgy lingering synths and some horrible tortured vocals.
Perhaps if i was completely whacked out on drugs after a massive weekend (like that will ever happen again), I would enjoy it, but then I'd most probably be listening to summat else, thanks very much. Wevy Stonder or Enduser.
Zoviet France - Lief Lulla (1990)
I do however like Zoviet France, who actually came from the same hinterland - or did they? I'm referring to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I'm pretty sure a friend was at art college with Mr. Burial, although Wikipedia claims he's from London, naturally (London's where it's at right, he said and rolled his eyes). In any case, ZF certainly did the whole mournful drone thing way better a long time ago. I was struck by this today and now this has recontextualised my views on Burial since now I see he is simply a repackaged consumer friendly version of what ZF did properly way back..
And now Burial has brought out some new music after quite a break (I tried to encourage him to take up another hobby but he would not listen), so I thought it might be "fun" to give it a listen. As you'll see I wouldn't really call it fun.
Adam Harper who wrote Infinite Music said at a 'Critical Beats' event in London something almost poetic about Burial being the lingering last backward look at the disintegrating carcass of rave. Harper should shave his head and go squat raving, all them slow beats have mashed up his brain. What he said made me think of Walter Benjamin's Angel of History (he may have explicitly mentioned him I don't remember), which is interesting, coz Benjamin also leaves me cold.
Burial & Four Tet - Moth
Pff I'm listening to this right now, it's so crap!! How can intelligent music journalist types like this shit? Different strokes and that, but all in all, at the end of the day, the emperor has no clothes and this is rubbish, predictable house music and we all know what sort of twangers listen to that.
Burial - NYC (2011)
Um well, what's to like? That fucking twostep snare gets quite annoying doesn't it? It just screams bad party at me. Standing around watching people who can't dance latch onto that fucing tap. Modern life is rubbish.
Burial - Street Halo (2011)
Hmm ... I thought this might get interesting to start with but it's no more than a lame house banger. Those carefully quantized castanets are well annoying, kinda stepping up to replace the snare. Oh and a rubbish vocal drifts in. Even a banging house banger would still be pretty lame to be honest. There's a whole world of music out there and people are listening to that. That bass poop noise is annoying and predictable.
Words now fail me.
Time for some good music.
Venetian Snares - Öngyilkos Vasárnap
I will admit that I got off the wrong foot with him when breakcore producer FFF recommended him a few years back as a hot tippie and I unreasonably assumed that it would be banging mutant breakcore (totally unfair, like any DJ, FFF is into loads of styles, including italodisco). I whacked it on my mp3 player and waited for the break but it never came. Just some slightly dodgy lingering synths and some horrible tortured vocals.
Perhaps if i was completely whacked out on drugs after a massive weekend (like that will ever happen again), I would enjoy it, but then I'd most probably be listening to summat else, thanks very much. Wevy Stonder or Enduser.
Zoviet France - Lief Lulla (1990)
I do however like Zoviet France, who actually came from the same hinterland - or did they? I'm referring to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where I'm pretty sure a friend was at art college with Mr. Burial, although Wikipedia claims he's from London, naturally (London's where it's at right, he said and rolled his eyes). In any case, ZF certainly did the whole mournful drone thing way better a long time ago. I was struck by this today and now this has recontextualised my views on Burial since now I see he is simply a repackaged consumer friendly version of what ZF did properly way back..
And now Burial has brought out some new music after quite a break (I tried to encourage him to take up another hobby but he would not listen), so I thought it might be "fun" to give it a listen. As you'll see I wouldn't really call it fun.
Adam Harper who wrote Infinite Music said at a 'Critical Beats' event in London something almost poetic about Burial being the lingering last backward look at the disintegrating carcass of rave. Harper should shave his head and go squat raving, all them slow beats have mashed up his brain. What he said made me think of Walter Benjamin's Angel of History (he may have explicitly mentioned him I don't remember), which is interesting, coz Benjamin also leaves me cold.
Burial & Four Tet - Moth
Pff I'm listening to this right now, it's so crap!! How can intelligent music journalist types like this shit? Different strokes and that, but all in all, at the end of the day, the emperor has no clothes and this is rubbish, predictable house music and we all know what sort of twangers listen to that.
Burial - NYC (2011)
Um well, what's to like? That fucking twostep snare gets quite annoying doesn't it? It just screams bad party at me. Standing around watching people who can't dance latch onto that fucing tap. Modern life is rubbish.
Burial - Street Halo (2011)
Hmm ... I thought this might get interesting to start with but it's no more than a lame house banger. Those carefully quantized castanets are well annoying, kinda stepping up to replace the snare. Oh and a rubbish vocal drifts in. Even a banging house banger would still be pretty lame to be honest. There's a whole world of music out there and people are listening to that. That bass poop noise is annoying and predictable.
Words now fail me.
Time for some good music.
Venetian Snares - Öngyilkos Vasárnap
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Music, Politics, Agency/Critical Beats
Music, Politics, Agency/Critical Beats seminar series
Critical Beats: Sound, Technology, Microgenre, Rhythm
Date: 3 November 2011, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Participants: Lisa Blanning (chair), Adam Harper, Matthew Ingram/Woebot, Mike Paradinas
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: East London
Date: 16 November 2011, 13:00-17:00, UEL, Stratford Campus, room AE.1.01, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair), Andrew Blake, Richard Bramwell, Steve Goodman (in conversation with Jeremy Gilbert), Derek Walmsley
Critical Beats: Place, Locality and Globalisation
Date: 8 December 2011, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30 free.
Participants: Derek Walmsley (chair), Martin Clark, George Mahood, plus one other
Critical Beats: Innovation and the Past
Date: 23 February 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Gender, Sexuality and Sound
Date: 7 March 2012, 11:00-18:00, UEL, Stratford Campus, room UH.2.69, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair), Bipasha Ahmed, Lisa Blanning, Freya Jarman-Ivens, Tim Lawrence, Helen Reddington
Critical Beats: Sound Systems
Date: 19 April 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Sonic Radicalism
Date: 23 May 2012, 11:00-17:00, UEL, Docklands campus, room EB.1.03, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair) Dhanveer Brar, Adam Harper, Matthew Prichard, Barry Shank, Jason Toynbee
Critical Beats: Dancing and Dance Culture Scenes
Date: 14 June 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Capitalism, Creativity and Music
Date: 27 June 2012, 11:00-17:00, UEL Docklands campus, room EB.G.06, free.
Participants: Tim Lawrence (chair) Mark Fisher, Jeremy Gilbert, Dave Hesmondhalgh, Timothy Taylor
http://culturalstudiesresearch.org/?p=843
Critical Beats: Sound, Technology, Microgenre, Rhythm
Date: 3 November 2011, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Participants: Lisa Blanning (chair), Adam Harper, Matthew Ingram/Woebot, Mike Paradinas
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: East London
Date: 16 November 2011, 13:00-17:00, UEL, Stratford Campus, room AE.1.01, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair), Andrew Blake, Richard Bramwell, Steve Goodman (in conversation with Jeremy Gilbert), Derek Walmsley
Critical Beats: Place, Locality and Globalisation
Date: 8 December 2011, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30 free.
Participants: Derek Walmsley (chair), Martin Clark, George Mahood, plus one other
Critical Beats: Innovation and the Past
Date: 23 February 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Gender, Sexuality and Sound
Date: 7 March 2012, 11:00-18:00, UEL, Stratford Campus, room UH.2.69, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair), Bipasha Ahmed, Lisa Blanning, Freya Jarman-Ivens, Tim Lawrence, Helen Reddington
Critical Beats: Sound Systems
Date: 19 April 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Sonic Radicalism
Date: 23 May 2012, 11:00-17:00, UEL, Docklands campus, room EB.1.03, free.
Participants: Jeremy Gilbert (chair) Dhanveer Brar, Adam Harper, Matthew Prichard, Barry Shank, Jason Toynbee
Critical Beats: Dancing and Dance Culture Scenes
Date: 14 June 2012, Circus 2 at Stratford Circus, 19:30-21:30, general public £3, students £1.
Music, Politics and Agency in the Digital Age: Capitalism, Creativity and Music
Date: 27 June 2012, 11:00-17:00, UEL Docklands campus, room EB.G.06, free.
Participants: Tim Lawrence (chair) Mark Fisher, Jeremy Gilbert, Dave Hesmondhalgh, Timothy Taylor
http://culturalstudiesresearch.org/?p=843
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
you might stop the party
you might stop the party
god i need to relax.
sam's up there blagging her heart out to the copper saying it's her fault she wanted me to drive and i'm thinking christ i hope they dont find the pills stuffed down my shoe. the breathalyser came back positive - no real surprise there, i'm fucken pissed, can't hardly stand up, nearly fell over when the copper asked me to breathe into it, but the whole fucken point is that the pigs cleared us out the building and told us to fuck off.
i know i'm pissed so i tells 'em and they dont care they're all moody at being up so late past their beddybyes and then they start waving their penis-substitutes about and growling so i says ok ok i'll drive the van but i'm pissed alright and they don't care and then we go fifty metres down the road and this fresh-faced traffic cop pulls me over and tells me he had reason to believe im driving under the influence.
christ he ain't half right there, i'm a pharmaceutical guinea pig - like the t-shirt says, testing in progress. if i'm selling pills i gotta take a couple to be a good advert and if i'm pilling i'll have a drink too. why not? i know my limits. someone shoved a tab down my throat and if i get offered k i'll do it, why not, it's no crime. these stupid wankers are the dangerous ones stopping parties and turfing out all these young aggressive moody drugged up punks with nothing to do except a bit of good old-fashioned english vandalism. i can hear them now doing a bus stop. the cop looks round a little nervous and holds onto his radio for support. sam is really bending his ear, he looks worn out and then i see some hoodies turn the corner up ahead.
tension mounts, neck hairs prickle. someone throws a bottle. the glass smashes beautifully on the rain smeared tarmac. just like we're in the movies. the cop bricks it. properly shits himself. to be honest, i would too, it's all about the numbers. so he's back in his car and his mate's reversing fucking fast and that just gets the boys excited so they're chucking bottles, rocks, anything which lifts and sam's got her arms around me laughing and kissing my neck. phew. we started a mini-riot.
i guess the drink drive charge gets dropped then. what next? the punks drift past us aimlessly and sam chews on her favourite thumb. there's another party but it's in acton and we're in hackney wick and not really in a state to get there. i've had enough rozzers for a week already and sam don't drive. crapper turns up and shoots the shit for a bit. he offers to drive but he's off his head too. he says he's not. but he is. he leans against the car and gabbles happily, the streetlights bathing him in a warm amber glow. maybe these pills are alright. i sell a couple to the bored punters still milling about and then i think why not a bit of music, so we crank up the speakers and play an old headfuk mixtape. that wibbles evryone out and i sit on top of the car, a little bit cold but enjoying the weirdness of this saturday.
someone says mainline are gonna turn back on, but i doubt it, they wouldn't risk their rig after a noise abatement. and if they did, we'd hear them anyway. this whole area is one dead wasteland. i wonder who complained about the noise. maybe the pigs made it up. i came up here in the day once, strange to see all these normal people walking past raved up warehouses and burnt out factories. i guess some of them are still functioning. it's a little bit sad all this decline and fall, but the tekno makes the desolation special. i feel a bit emotional. must be the pills.
they're beautiful in their own way all these roads - carpenters, roach, dace. they'll get developed soon, they have to, hackney is on the up, maybe a railway line will pass though here or yuppie conversions will regenerate the area. and in some ways that's good, it gives new life to a dead zone although i don't see why rich people should just come in and 'civilise' an area when most council housing is falling down.
shit i seem to be getting more lucid again, that ain't good. i gobble a few more grinners and wonder where sam's got to. she comes back with dom, he's in a bit of a state. no surprise there. seems like some cunt's nicked his jacket and dom can't remember where he lost it. he always does this. but then this big skinhead comes over and gives him the jacket back, says he saw him drop it round the corner a minute ago. dom's pretty screwed by this information and it makes me laugh watching the gears in his brain slowly turning. sam's all stoked to see people being nice to each other and she stands there giving me the wink until i get the hint and give the big bastard some gurners. now he's smiling too. everyone's happy except me, im thinking about profit margins although i know the uncomfortable truth is i've boshed too many myself to care. it's gonna be one of those weekends, if only we could get home. i wanna be in my nice warm bed, all cosy and snuggled up to sam.
she's giving me a dirty look now, i hate the way she can see straight through me. could be worse though. dom grumbles off, bouncing off lamp-posts and there's more business to be had, looks like most people can be fucked to try to get to acton. i still can't be arsed, so i lock up the car and pull sam off towards this building i saw a few weeks ago. it's over by the canal and i think it's worth exploring. sure enough, the gate is hanging off its hinges and we saunter in, a little bit afraid because there's not much light, then we find the stairwell and gain our confidence as we climb. we chase each other up whooping and banging on locked metal doors. the door to the roof has a crappy padlock on it, a few kicks and we spill out into the night sky, stars hanging around us and london spreading her legs like a dirty bitch.
there's the telecom towers and tower blocks in camden. over there is probably stratford. sam thinks she sees her uni but im not convinced. she's swinging her arms about and leaning into me, singing into my eyes. we kiss and it feels great. sometimes i think i'm doing all right. we find an airconditioning vent to perch on, shielded from the wind by the lift shaft. we talk about what were gonna do in our new squat. sam has big plans for the living room. she's thinking cushions and drapes, i'm saying it all sounds very nice, but we'll see what the dumpster god provides coz i'm fucked if i'm spending money on it.
then we start talking about benny, he's this guy we know who topped himself a few weeks back. took lots of acid and they found him swinging from a rope in his room. shame really, nice guy, little bit weird, too quiet, but nice, real nice. its fucked us up more than we thought. sam cries a bit, i stroke her hair and think of things to say but don't say them. and then suddenly it's dawn. the sun just popped up and its six thirty already. i love dawn's early light. i'm staring at bleached out concrete babylon, shame we don't have no music up here. so that was it. goodbye 98. start the year as you mean to go on so they say. well, i'm already draining the last of the water on two more gurners. doubledrop is the way forwards.
we are the future.
i stand tall before london and piss onto the road below.
god i need to relax.
sam's up there blagging her heart out to the copper saying it's her fault she wanted me to drive and i'm thinking christ i hope they dont find the pills stuffed down my shoe. the breathalyser came back positive - no real surprise there, i'm fucken pissed, can't hardly stand up, nearly fell over when the copper asked me to breathe into it, but the whole fucken point is that the pigs cleared us out the building and told us to fuck off.
i know i'm pissed so i tells 'em and they dont care they're all moody at being up so late past their beddybyes and then they start waving their penis-substitutes about and growling so i says ok ok i'll drive the van but i'm pissed alright and they don't care and then we go fifty metres down the road and this fresh-faced traffic cop pulls me over and tells me he had reason to believe im driving under the influence.
christ he ain't half right there, i'm a pharmaceutical guinea pig - like the t-shirt says, testing in progress. if i'm selling pills i gotta take a couple to be a good advert and if i'm pilling i'll have a drink too. why not? i know my limits. someone shoved a tab down my throat and if i get offered k i'll do it, why not, it's no crime. these stupid wankers are the dangerous ones stopping parties and turfing out all these young aggressive moody drugged up punks with nothing to do except a bit of good old-fashioned english vandalism. i can hear them now doing a bus stop. the cop looks round a little nervous and holds onto his radio for support. sam is really bending his ear, he looks worn out and then i see some hoodies turn the corner up ahead.
tension mounts, neck hairs prickle. someone throws a bottle. the glass smashes beautifully on the rain smeared tarmac. just like we're in the movies. the cop bricks it. properly shits himself. to be honest, i would too, it's all about the numbers. so he's back in his car and his mate's reversing fucking fast and that just gets the boys excited so they're chucking bottles, rocks, anything which lifts and sam's got her arms around me laughing and kissing my neck. phew. we started a mini-riot.
i guess the drink drive charge gets dropped then. what next? the punks drift past us aimlessly and sam chews on her favourite thumb. there's another party but it's in acton and we're in hackney wick and not really in a state to get there. i've had enough rozzers for a week already and sam don't drive. crapper turns up and shoots the shit for a bit. he offers to drive but he's off his head too. he says he's not. but he is. he leans against the car and gabbles happily, the streetlights bathing him in a warm amber glow. maybe these pills are alright. i sell a couple to the bored punters still milling about and then i think why not a bit of music, so we crank up the speakers and play an old headfuk mixtape. that wibbles evryone out and i sit on top of the car, a little bit cold but enjoying the weirdness of this saturday.
someone says mainline are gonna turn back on, but i doubt it, they wouldn't risk their rig after a noise abatement. and if they did, we'd hear them anyway. this whole area is one dead wasteland. i wonder who complained about the noise. maybe the pigs made it up. i came up here in the day once, strange to see all these normal people walking past raved up warehouses and burnt out factories. i guess some of them are still functioning. it's a little bit sad all this decline and fall, but the tekno makes the desolation special. i feel a bit emotional. must be the pills.
they're beautiful in their own way all these roads - carpenters, roach, dace. they'll get developed soon, they have to, hackney is on the up, maybe a railway line will pass though here or yuppie conversions will regenerate the area. and in some ways that's good, it gives new life to a dead zone although i don't see why rich people should just come in and 'civilise' an area when most council housing is falling down.
shit i seem to be getting more lucid again, that ain't good. i gobble a few more grinners and wonder where sam's got to. she comes back with dom, he's in a bit of a state. no surprise there. seems like some cunt's nicked his jacket and dom can't remember where he lost it. he always does this. but then this big skinhead comes over and gives him the jacket back, says he saw him drop it round the corner a minute ago. dom's pretty screwed by this information and it makes me laugh watching the gears in his brain slowly turning. sam's all stoked to see people being nice to each other and she stands there giving me the wink until i get the hint and give the big bastard some gurners. now he's smiling too. everyone's happy except me, im thinking about profit margins although i know the uncomfortable truth is i've boshed too many myself to care. it's gonna be one of those weekends, if only we could get home. i wanna be in my nice warm bed, all cosy and snuggled up to sam.
she's giving me a dirty look now, i hate the way she can see straight through me. could be worse though. dom grumbles off, bouncing off lamp-posts and there's more business to be had, looks like most people can be fucked to try to get to acton. i still can't be arsed, so i lock up the car and pull sam off towards this building i saw a few weeks ago. it's over by the canal and i think it's worth exploring. sure enough, the gate is hanging off its hinges and we saunter in, a little bit afraid because there's not much light, then we find the stairwell and gain our confidence as we climb. we chase each other up whooping and banging on locked metal doors. the door to the roof has a crappy padlock on it, a few kicks and we spill out into the night sky, stars hanging around us and london spreading her legs like a dirty bitch.
there's the telecom towers and tower blocks in camden. over there is probably stratford. sam thinks she sees her uni but im not convinced. she's swinging her arms about and leaning into me, singing into my eyes. we kiss and it feels great. sometimes i think i'm doing all right. we find an airconditioning vent to perch on, shielded from the wind by the lift shaft. we talk about what were gonna do in our new squat. sam has big plans for the living room. she's thinking cushions and drapes, i'm saying it all sounds very nice, but we'll see what the dumpster god provides coz i'm fucked if i'm spending money on it.
then we start talking about benny, he's this guy we know who topped himself a few weeks back. took lots of acid and they found him swinging from a rope in his room. shame really, nice guy, little bit weird, too quiet, but nice, real nice. its fucked us up more than we thought. sam cries a bit, i stroke her hair and think of things to say but don't say them. and then suddenly it's dawn. the sun just popped up and its six thirty already. i love dawn's early light. i'm staring at bleached out concrete babylon, shame we don't have no music up here. so that was it. goodbye 98. start the year as you mean to go on so they say. well, i'm already draining the last of the water on two more gurners. doubledrop is the way forwards.
we are the future.
i stand tall before london and piss onto the road below.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Enter the darkness
Among other things I like heavy drum n bass, dark breakcore and fucked up noise. If you are at a party, stood in front of a big black stack of speakers, surely you want to hear the filthiest, sonically interesting shit the DJ can throw at you.
Panacea - Reality
In 'Running on Empty' Mark Fisher worries that "cultural resources [are] running out in the same way as natural resources are." This statement seems to say more about Fisher's slightly neurotic worldview than anything else (check out his book Capitalist Realism for a hand-wringing realisation that oh no, capitalism is really insidious nowadays ).
Of course it's fashionable to say things are getting worse and perhaps they are politically but music evolves constantly, in a series of cycles and I see no reason to fear that our cultural productivity is drying up. The underground doesn't stop.
It just always needs new blood.
Venetian Snares - Winnipeg Is A Dogshit Dildo
Fisher expands his point with the comment that "The current decade, however, has been characterised by an abrupt sense of deceleration." I think he's confusing the personal and the political here - we all slow down as we age and like any old DJ I tend to loiter on the dancefloor thinking about how much better I'd play. In fact I remember interviewing the programming brains who hooked up with Richard Fearless for Death in Vegas (it was at the Blue Note in Hoxton, so it was indeed that long ago) and him stating something very similar about how he couldn't be bothered to go out anymore becuase he'd always feel he could do it better. I didn't really get him then but now i do. Just getting old, innit.
The only way we can talk about deceleration is in speed, since all this grime / dubstep / whatever the fuck skrillex is making is very very slow. But if you care to look, there's still plenty of stuff going on in the fields of breakcore and speedcore.
This isn't where the money is. And the people making extreme music don't add lyrics saying it's "not about the money" when really it is [yeah that's a sideswipe right there]. They aren't selling out because their music has a certain politics of self-expression to it that any mainstream style simply lacks.
A friend who has a sound system told me at the last party that he really likes the meshing together of breakcore and speedcore, to the point where "you don't know how to dance any more."
Commercialise that! Or this:
Depizgator - Tratataboomterere
Panacea - Reality
In 'Running on Empty' Mark Fisher worries that "cultural resources [are] running out in the same way as natural resources are." This statement seems to say more about Fisher's slightly neurotic worldview than anything else (check out his book Capitalist Realism for a hand-wringing realisation that oh no, capitalism is really insidious nowadays ).
Of course it's fashionable to say things are getting worse and perhaps they are politically but music evolves constantly, in a series of cycles and I see no reason to fear that our cultural productivity is drying up. The underground doesn't stop.
It just always needs new blood.
Venetian Snares - Winnipeg Is A Dogshit Dildo
Fisher expands his point with the comment that "The current decade, however, has been characterised by an abrupt sense of deceleration." I think he's confusing the personal and the political here - we all slow down as we age and like any old DJ I tend to loiter on the dancefloor thinking about how much better I'd play. In fact I remember interviewing the programming brains who hooked up with Richard Fearless for Death in Vegas (it was at the Blue Note in Hoxton, so it was indeed that long ago) and him stating something very similar about how he couldn't be bothered to go out anymore becuase he'd always feel he could do it better. I didn't really get him then but now i do. Just getting old, innit.
The only way we can talk about deceleration is in speed, since all this grime / dubstep / whatever the fuck skrillex is making is very very slow. But if you care to look, there's still plenty of stuff going on in the fields of breakcore and speedcore.
This isn't where the money is. And the people making extreme music don't add lyrics saying it's "not about the money" when really it is [yeah that's a sideswipe right there]. They aren't selling out because their music has a certain politics of self-expression to it that any mainstream style simply lacks.
A friend who has a sound system told me at the last party that he really likes the meshing together of breakcore and speedcore, to the point where "you don't know how to dance any more."
Commercialise that! Or this:
Depizgator - Tratataboomterere
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Oh the memories
I'm in the process of uploading some party flyers, squat parties and underground club nights. I've made a page for them here.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
An Introduction to TAAs
Taken from a 2009 Rupture:
My first TAA came as somewhat of a surprise to me, some of my raving mates said they were taking part in an underground art thing in a pub near Smithfields and asked if I fancied showing up and lending a hand, so I did. I showed up and found the pub a bustle of activity, someone pointed me to a darkish cellar, where my mates weren't, so I wondered back to the door and got chatting with the chap who was collecting donations from the viewing public. It turned out he had better things to do and so within minutes of getting there I was in charge of the door, and the donations tin.
At first, using my societally trained brain patterns this seemed insane, why would you trust some bloke you hardly knew with such responsibility based purely on him saying he knew some crew of ravers? But in the horizontally organised world I was entering, what mattered was who was up for doing what and the fact that I volunteered was enough.
I've been to lots more TAA since then, and the best ones are always like that first one, a mad chaos of frenetic activity in a random building, for a week. A mix and blend of people who get on by cooperation and discussion (sometimes quite heated) rather than through structure and hierarchy. Noone tells anyone what to do, but there's plenty to be done, and most often enough willing hands to do it.
As the TAAs became more regular in London the Random Artists weren't quite so random any more, they knew each other, and had formed into groups, structure was appearing from the choas. Whilst I'd hesitate to say that this was per se bad it did seem to mean people slipped back into more hierarchical modes of behaviour, waiting to be told what to do, rather than seeing what needed to be done and just doing it.
Fortunately people in the group realised that this was happening and two things happened, one was the creation of collectives who wished to do more structured and curated art exhibitions and the other was the exporting of the TAA concept to other cities. Both these strategies seemed to work, but the former was a step away from the TAA. The latter tho worked wonders, the TAAs that then took place round the country were full of that productive chaos.
The art produced and shown at TAAs may be better or worse than other art, I'm sure an infinite number of critics will be along to debate it shortly, but the excellent thing about a TAA is the feeling of freedom it engenders in the participants. Whilst you may have a good experience if you go to a TAA, you sure to have a lifechanging experience if you help run one.
- belliDJarunt
Thursday, 29 March 2007
rave reports 2004=2006
some bbc reports:
Police break up illegal city rave BBC News 19 June, 2004
Police in Devon broke up an illegal rave on Saturday morning. Officers were called to an empty unit at the Marsh Barton Trading Estate at Exeter where they found about 30 people and a large sound system. Rave barriers extended for Live 8 BBC News 9 June, 2005 Hundreds of people invaded Smeatharpe in 2002. Barriers will be put up for longer on an East Devon airfield amid fears people could decide to hold illegal raves to coincide with Live8. The barriers have been put up by police at Smeatharpe annually since about a thousand people invaded the site three years ago. Police said they have no specific intelligence about plans for a rave at Smeatharpe this summer. The South West is considered to be especially vulnerable to illegal raves.
Exclusion zone around rave site BBC News 21 June, 2005
An exclusion zone is being set up around a South West airfield to stop illegal raves. Devon and Cornwall Police have been granted powers under the public order act to arrest anyone organising unauthorised events. The zone covers a five-mile radius around the Smeatharpe aerodrome in east Devon from 23 June to 27 June. Barriers around Smeatharpe have been erected annually since 1,000 people invaded the site three years ago. Insp Norman Amey said the force had invested time and effort in preventing the airfield being used as a site for an illegal rave.
Rave festival organisers warned BBC News 6 March 2006
Festival promoters have been warned by police they risk prosecution if they organise illegal raves over the summer. The Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Dorset police forces are pooling intelligence to target organisers. Officers believe many people will be attracted to the area for the solstice but, as the Glastonbury festival is rested, will look for other events. The public were also being encouraged to report suspicious activity to them. Police said they would liaise with English Heritage and other agencies during the solstice period to ensure the environment around Stonehenge is protected from unlawful activities. Arrests follow weekend-long rave BBC News 30 May 2006 Police have arrested eight people following an illegal rave at a common in north Cornwall. About 2,000 people descended on Davidstow Common, near Camelford, on Saturday night for the event. A police cordon remained in place around the site on Tuesday where about 50 cars were still parked. Eight people were arrested on offences including drink driving and suspected possession of Class A drugs. Four people were taken into police custody. Officers went to the common after receiving reports of a large number of vehicles driving on to it. They said an "extremely well-planned" illegal rave had been set up, including stages containing sound systems. A cordon was placed around the site to stop further vehicles and people from entering. Residents said they were worried about the safety of livestock and property. A 61-year-old Hertfordshire man and a 23-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of organising or managing unlicensed public entertainment.
Police break up illegal city rave BBC News 19 June, 2004
Police in Devon broke up an illegal rave on Saturday morning. Officers were called to an empty unit at the Marsh Barton Trading Estate at Exeter where they found about 30 people and a large sound system. Rave barriers extended for Live 8 BBC News 9 June, 2005 Hundreds of people invaded Smeatharpe in 2002. Barriers will be put up for longer on an East Devon airfield amid fears people could decide to hold illegal raves to coincide with Live8. The barriers have been put up by police at Smeatharpe annually since about a thousand people invaded the site three years ago. Police said they have no specific intelligence about plans for a rave at Smeatharpe this summer. The South West is considered to be especially vulnerable to illegal raves.
Exclusion zone around rave site BBC News 21 June, 2005
An exclusion zone is being set up around a South West airfield to stop illegal raves. Devon and Cornwall Police have been granted powers under the public order act to arrest anyone organising unauthorised events. The zone covers a five-mile radius around the Smeatharpe aerodrome in east Devon from 23 June to 27 June. Barriers around Smeatharpe have been erected annually since 1,000 people invaded the site three years ago. Insp Norman Amey said the force had invested time and effort in preventing the airfield being used as a site for an illegal rave.
Rave festival organisers warned BBC News 6 March 2006
Festival promoters have been warned by police they risk prosecution if they organise illegal raves over the summer. The Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Dorset police forces are pooling intelligence to target organisers. Officers believe many people will be attracted to the area for the solstice but, as the Glastonbury festival is rested, will look for other events. The public were also being encouraged to report suspicious activity to them. Police said they would liaise with English Heritage and other agencies during the solstice period to ensure the environment around Stonehenge is protected from unlawful activities. Arrests follow weekend-long rave BBC News 30 May 2006 Police have arrested eight people following an illegal rave at a common in north Cornwall. About 2,000 people descended on Davidstow Common, near Camelford, on Saturday night for the event. A police cordon remained in place around the site on Tuesday where about 50 cars were still parked. Eight people were arrested on offences including drink driving and suspected possession of Class A drugs. Four people were taken into police custody. Officers went to the common after receiving reports of a large number of vehicles driving on to it. They said an "extremely well-planned" illegal rave had been set up, including stages containing sound systems. A cordon was placed around the site to stop further vehicles and people from entering. Residents said they were worried about the safety of livestock and property. A 61-year-old Hertfordshire man and a 23-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of organising or managing unlicensed public entertainment.
Monday, 1 May 2006
The Party
first published in Link
thousands upon thousands of bubbles float through the room, colliding, popping on the heads of extravagantly decorated dancers, gusting gently above them in the breeze but the men and women coiling around each other in time to the rhythmic thump of the beat are too preoccupied to notice some have their eyes shut others smile you take another glance around and
the mirrored walls only serve to magnify the decadence someone brushes
against your thigh, when you turn they are gone, you feel a breath on your neck, now she is whispering into your ear words you can scarcely make out wait did she say there is nitrous oxide in the air conditioning? certainly the atmosphere is heavy, pregnant with expectation, pungent with
incense, devil weed, jasmine, other odours whose names hang insistently on
the tip of your tongue, just out of reach
suddenly in the corner of the room, there is a commotion animal yells of
pleasure or of pain, possibly both
peacock feathers are waving above the heads of the crowd and more bubbles cascade down from the ceiling
you push towards where the noise is loudest sweaty bodies press against you
and light hands sweep across your backthe music is quicker now, the relentless drumming augmented with a tinkling
melody drilling its way into your brain
a brief silence, then the thump starts again, faster than ever
dancers catch themselves standing still, shake their heads with a glimmer ofa smile rotating their hips in outrageous gyrations, arms wavingup ahead is a mass of limbs, it's getting difficult to pass
reluctantly you can feel your inhibitions being shed you start to press a little back against these lithe athletic bodies
on the left is a massive speaker, towering above you, twice your height, pumping out the irresistibly funky beat out of the corner of your eye,
just for a second, you see it oozing the moo before your brain can begin to process what that means, two elves have attached themselves to your legs and begin to pump them up and down you want to fight but it seems so
much easier to give up, give in, then you think of the cardinal's warning
and with a wrench wipe the smile of your face.
the elves know they are beaten
for now
a trapeze artiste in a dazzling emerald jumpsuit swings down from nowhere and whisks you off over the dancefloor the people below reach up and you trail your fingers over their outstretched palms
free
you cannot help but smile, the music is inside you now orders seem from another world one that is dead and forgotten here is life, energy, dance, movement
swinging across the room you notice the mood man standing over to one one side, innocuous, wires coming out of his head his face is crinkled with concentration sweat beads on his brow and glistens in the strobelight
a small frown and imperceptibly the music starts to change, its getting louder,an addictive squiggle worming up from the mix, what's so wrong with a dance anyway? a tribal tom tom beat thuds to your stomach you throb with the music
like a reflex
the crowd bobs rhythmically, a sea of heads connected by invisible netsfishing for what?
Thursday, 29 March 2001
Teknival Tolworth
1-3 September 2000
Review taken from http://www.partyvibe.org/free-parties/fpreportabs.html
Not many parties happening this weekend.....maybe this is due to the all weekend Teknival planned for London. Nothing this large has been done for a while in this country - and it certainly made headline news around the capital! Unfortunately the media has painted a rather dark picture of the event. We know the truth though!
Setting off in a small convoy, along the M3, M25 and then on the A3, we arrive within an hour of driving. Tolworth, SW London is the chosen site for the gathering. As we pull off the main road, and down an industrial estate road, cars ahead of us are full of blatant party people. Parking up outside a factory, we abandon the car, and head towards the thumping basslines down the road. Climbing over a huge mound of mud, and down the other steep side, we walk into a wasteland meadow.
Rigs-a-plenty. 15 at one count. Loads of soundsytems, so many that I didn't know the names of, but I managed to catch a few .....Colossus soundsystem in one corner. Huge rig, with a large marquee and large speakers....kicking out techno - with Nightstorm keeping 'em company. AKA with another huge white marquee, with video projections on the side of the tent - heavy gabba came out of the tent for most of the night. Evolution Soundsystem next to them had live trance PA's for part of the night. Headfuk, Panik and loads of other London squat party systems were dotted around the field as well. Near the main entrance into the field, the dub 'stage' had a live band playing out the side of a truck.
Unlike the Dutch Tek, heavy techno did not dominate the site. A variety of music emits from all corners of the field....dub, gabba, trance, techno, drum & bass and old skool....something for everyone. Plenty of people turn up to fuel the party.....2000-3000 people reports the paper....probably the only thing they reported accurately! I brought my car in for comfort - not many London clubs let you bring your cars up to the dancefloor!
The night soon passes into day.... the masses came and went. The site was still rocking when we left in the morning and the Teknival came to a final close on Monday. The police tried to disperse the site as soon as they heard about it on Friday night... but lack of manpower provided to be the problem for them. The media coverage has been quite widespread - front page of the Evening Standard. The Times had a column on it. Local TV news showed pictures of Sunday daytime dancing. The papers were reporting thousands of new age travellers turning up, when really the majority of the people attending were typical ravers. The papers also tried to use the litter factor to blacken the name of the party....knowing the way free parties work, I knew the site would be clear by the time the last people had left. Proof on the TV as well. The Evening Standard also mentioned a car being set alight - I didn't see or hear anything about this...
An interesting night, in deepest darkest London....don't believe everything you read in the papers...
Bugs
Read what the media had to say about the event!....
Evening Standard newspaper article - 04/09/00
Main article - 04/09/00 - from the Times
Follow up story - 05/09/00 - also from the Times
Teknival History from the Times! - 05/09/00
ITN news - 05/09/00
Tuesday, 29 August 2000
Dutchtek Eemshaven
Dutch tek Eemshaven Groningen August 2000
Review from http://www.partyvibe.org/free-parties/fpreportabq.html
Little did I know on Thursday evening, that this trip to Holland would be a lost weekend involving a 1000 road miles, dykes and plenty of the Dutch greenery. Fuelled by adrenaline, we made our way to the coastal port of Dover, to catch the EuroTunnel over to Calais. A top blag resulted in our car being trained over to France for free.
Early Friday morning, and were on our way up to Amsterdam, via a maze of motorways. After 3-4 hours driving, we find a place to dump the car, and walk into the city centre. Various coffee shops entertain our needs - Global Chillage, Greenhouse Effect, and The 222. Spending the night in the city, a dodgy hostel was found for our much needed rest.
Saturday morning comes around, and we head off to meet friends at Central Station. In the afternoon, the car parking place is found again, and the journey to the north continues. A 10 mile dyke across the sea, carries a dual carriageway. We're all impressed - quite a feat of engineering! We travel across it and carry on our way to Groningen.
Getting to Groningen, petrol is needed. While wandering around the fuel stop, I start talking to a random bloke, who turns out to be from the Czech Republic ...we confirm where the party is... Emmshaven. Not too far away now.
Right at the far northern tip of Holland, we find Emmshaven. and the first thing we see is....wind turbines. Hundreds of them, all lined up along the coastline. Now to find the party. We drive around for a bit, before stopping and asking someone. They point us in the right direction....
Driving along a wind-turbined lined road, we spot activity up ahead. Cars, trucks, vans, tents and soundsystems have been put into the field next to the road. Parking up, we stumble out. It's about 8pm on Saturday evening, the sun is going down leaving the sky with red streak's. Climbing onto the man-made sea defence mounds, we have a great view of the party on one side, and the sea with the beautiful sunset on the other. People from all over Europe have travelled up to this remote area of Holland - It's a long way to drive, but well worth the journey!
A mismatch of beats form a lovely background noise, emitting from the 30+ soundsystems in attendance. Desert Storm, have come all the way from the Czech Tek with their huge trucks. They have an impressive setup with pounding techno coming from their large stack of speakers. English systems include, Technosense from Bristol/Bournemouth, who have brought with them a big marquee to house their system. Panik from London, had also brought up their system...but weren't as quite as prepared as some of the other systems...tarpaulin covered speakers! They played some good tunes, and I hung around their system for most of the night.
I didn't catch most of the other systems names, but the final list from the net includes...Plexat, AA, Teknomads, OHM, Dstruct all from Holland.... KDU, Technotice, Teknoasfuk, Kamikaze, Panik, Desert Storm all from the UK.... Tboost, TMLP, Kayhass, TTC all from France...... and Acid Drops from Italy.... loads more systems were there, but it's not easy knowing what's going on when your there!
At night, the site was a totally different place to the daytime. Standing on the sea defences, gave a great view of the flashing lights coming from all the systems. A couple of Spotlights lit up one or two of the wind turbines, making them visible for miles. As the night, turns back into morning, the sun brings warmth, and the sky becomes extremely clear.
We have to make a move, around noon. As it's a long way back to the UK. We say out goodbyes, and head back to Groningen. We stop off in Amsterdam for a few hours, before heading all the way back to Calais. My navigator passengers fall asleep on me, which results in me getting lost in Belgium. After a while we're soon back the right track to the Channel Tunnel.... few hours later and I'm sitting at home. Half a joint, and I pass out. Definitely Fear and Loathing in Holland!!
Bugs
Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Mushroom Hampshire
Mushroom Hampshire
24/4/99
Review taken from http://www.partyvibe.org/free-parties/fpreporti.html
We head off down the motorway from Southampton towards the venue, an abandoned tunnel which is apparently a mile and a half long. Sounds cool. Unfortunately, we see the first convoy coming back, having been hassled by the police - apparently some spanner's put the tunnel on a flyer. DOH !
After a quick debate a picnic site is decided upon in Forestry Commission land. We set the system up with a plane circling above. It's midnight - surely the fuzz hasn't hired a plane to track us down ? The change in site obviously affects the numbers, but by two o'clock there's about a hundred people dancing, chatting and sitting by the fire. There were going to be two systems, but it all gets rolled into one. The music is well-mixed bubbly trance, until some dark drum n bass welcomes in the dawn. Everyone seems happy to be hearing decent music in the great outdoors, so there's a good vibe. It all gets a bit hazy around this point but I do remember seeing some fire breathing.
Soon afterwards, the coppers turn up citing thirty complaints from nearby residents which seems unlikely because we're in a forest. Two guys have turned up from their houses, to be fair, but they both seem more interested than pissed off at people having fun under their own steam. The fact that the party was going to be miles away from anything in tunnel before it was busted doosn't seem to be taken into consideration.We video the police videoing us and get the dbs tested for free.
The system gets packed away and the site is left just as clean as when we arrived. All in all this was a good little party. A couple extra degrees of temperature would have been nice, but they'll come. Nice one Mushroom.
Ed
Thursday, 29 April 1999
Brick Lane Window Party
Brick Lane Window Party
Review taken from http://www.partyvibe.org/free-parties/fpreportl.html
3/4/99
The party was near Aldgate East in a huge blue and white office block. Loads of people are arriving as we turn up around midnight and boom-boom-boom is coming from inside, so in we go.
Oh shit, this place is huge. Over something like 10 floors, there were rooms and rooms of sound systems. I lost count of how many there were, but it was much more than the 6 promised. There was everything from Gabba to that lovely "Housey London" sound, I still don't know this is really called.
The night was spent either dancing myself silly or wandering around this huge building, constantly finding more and more new areas. Fair to say I was getting as trashed as the building was.
One thing was clear though, the event was popular, massively popular. Despite there being no advertising and the phone lines not opening 'till 10.00pm, I would say at a guess at least 5000 people turned up, maybe a lot more. The reason for the popularity is simple, no hassles. This was free land, go mad in an empty office block, have fun.
I continued my wanderings down a second staircase, through the heating plant and into a huge underground car park and a room with the most beautiful sounds.
Back up the stairs to the first floor and a small area with a PA and a guy with a CD, MD and DAT arrangement playing "home made" music of various types. This guy looked like a real thug, huge he was with deep set eyes. He seemed to know his music though and was treating the CDs with utmost care. Now I began to see the strength of the underground in London, the brilliance of the music and the two little figures held stiff against the blandness of commercialism.
More rooms later I find Doug, a friend over from the US and experiencing his first squat rave, who seems to have had an interesting time. I was worried as to how he would feel about all of this, certainly it was quite unlike anything he had experienced in the US. He seemed happy enough and we went upstairs together to yet another room I hadn't found yet on the top floor.
This room was huge. It was daylight by now (had been for some time) and the large "glass wall" windows let the light flood in to show a somewhat trashed open plan office room full of trashed people. After dancing for some time I took a break and sat down for a chill.
As we were talking some geezer, totally off his head, runs over to me, slaps me (gently) on the head and runs away. I didn't think too much of it, but a bit later he does it again to someone else. I'm watching him as he is clearly going over the top, rolling around on the floor and then running around the room. Suddenly, he runs toward me again, but slightly to my left, and smashes into one of the large glass windows which shatters. He seems OK though and goes back to his insane running around. A group of people are concerned about him however, and we talk about what to do. Some of them want to call the police and stop the party before he hurts himself. I thought we should take him downstairs to somewhere nearer ground level and where its quieter.
Before we can come to a conclusion though, he comes running from the crowd again. I see him and I can tell from his eyes, this is it. I try and grab him but fail, then run with all my speed behind him shouting "stop him, stop him", but he reaches the window and dives head first at it.
Fuck
Glass smashes as he goes out the window with a sound I will never forget, but someone catches his feet at the last minute and pulls him back in, we're 6 floors up remember. He gets up and runs again, but this time there is a lot of blood. I catch him and wrestle him to the ground and with the help of about six other people, we apply first aid.
This was serious, and I had wondered what would happen in a place like this if there was an emergency, now I was going to find out. Someone with a mobile phoned 999. The police were there in minutes, followed by the medics.
The guy was out of there very quickly and off to hospital, I doubt he would have had faster attention in a legal place. Police re-enforcements turned up but stayed outside. I was left there, covered in blood and very shaken but with a strange feeling of having just saved someones' life. I've never done that before.
It's also worth mentioning the way others reacted. A girl knew more about applying the pressure pad than I did, someone else checked carefully for glass fragments, someone else phoned the police and directed them to the scene, others helped restrain him. No-one got in the way, everyone helped. The police, it has to be said, were also wonderful, they were calm and polite and accepted help until they were able to take full control.
The bloke was tripping on acid, rather too much acid.
Afterwards me and Doug went up to the roof and I became a lump of jelly. We left the party (it was around midday) and went to have a cup of tea.
There is a happy ending to the story, the person concerned made a full recovery and is still very much with us, if a little shaken by the experience, but it was an unfortunate end to what had been a really good party.
Derek
Monday, 29 March 1999
Waterden Road
First party Waterden Road
17.4.99
Review taken from http://www.partyvibe.org/free-parties/fpreportk.html
Back again to Hackney Wick, a mother of an industrial estate in East London. Down past an array of trucks and after the usual hassle at the door (parties in London are never free or just donation) we're in. Now, I'm quite excited about this party because in the main room is Bedlam, with live sets promised from 69db, Crystal Distortion and les Boucles Etranges, who are all making amazing records at the moment but never seem to venture across from France.
Unfortunately I was to be disappointed. There was no stuff up saying who was playing when and no-one I asked seemed to have much idea. I was hoping to hear some teknival sounds but what seemed to be going on was a sort of extended jamming session over the DJ which meant the overall music was cluttered and only good when the DJ played a good track, which wasn't often because he/she was trying to play looping repetitive stuff so stuff could be added over the top. A case of too many cooks perhaps.
Another downer was the rig which was set up in Spiral style to be as loud as possible, which in a long, thin, low-ceilinged room with a speaker stack only at the front led to quite a bad amount of distortion (although also some interesting sub bass sensations). The toilets in the corner of the room were filled to overflowing which is pretty normal, but here they were feeding a big puddle which you had to walk through to get downstairs, so the piss got spread all around the floors and the stairs were dripping.
Downstairs we had a dub system, Ooops playing crisp jungle, but I didn't stay there long, and either side of Ooops two fluoro trancey rigs. These were Aardvark and Schpank. The latter redeemed itself in the morning by setting up a huge inflatable floor of a bouncy castle type thing which filled their room. It was quite surreal to witness tanked up ravers cavorting around on this big green air cushion, covered in piss from the leaking toilets. Upstairs Mainline had a good-looking set up and played some cool distorted gabba, but were at a severe disadvantage in that their space smelt of rancid butter. The reason being that it had once been filled with huge food processing machines, and I've heard since that the building as a whole was used as an abattoir.
This was an alright party but it promised so much more, so it was a shame it didn't deliver. The atmosphere was never that good either, since it felt slightly empty and there seemed to be an air of people standing around waiting for everything to kick in. Or maybe that's just because I was in that sort of mood, it's hard to say. We left at about midday with the music lapsing into super muffled syncopated drum and bass, and got trapped in the world's most horrible car boot sale next door. And then the pub.
Ed
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