Jaunt (jônt, jänt) n. A short trip or excursion, usually for pleasure; an outing
Plain and Simple’s roving reporter/man about town and clubbing addict Jammy brings you his eye view of the events he was partying at in the last week… This time he spent his jaunts at Decoy Records Launch, BM Records/Be-At TV, Fabric and Drumcode.
Hello and welcome to Jammy’s Halloween Jaunts! Your weekly clubbing review of my antics over the Halloween weekend in London. This extended weekend consisted of the Decoy Records launch, a very random visit to Fabric on Friday, EarToGround’s 1st Birthday as a label, Truncate at the Be-At TV studios and him playing at Fabric. This was concluded with the Drumcode Warehouse. So the first jaunt began on Thursday with the launch of Decoy Records comprising of Rebekah, Chris Page and Hans Bouffmyhre. Boxpark in Shoreditch was the venue on a cold rainy day and by the time I arrived there, there was already a pretty decent turnout for a weekday night. The launch was also recorded and streamed live by the Be-At TV guys. First up was Chris Page (Affin, Backwater Community Records) warming things up for the cold Boxpark crowd. Nice rolling techno on the guerrilla style setup, shame it wasn’t very loud, but loud music in open spaces is frowned upon by councils in London! Only an hour for each DJ and he started well. It’s always slightly unnerving when playing live and the set being broadcasted to the world of the internet so you can be forgiven for being nervous, but the job was done well!
Next up was Rebekah of 8 Sided Dice and now signed to techno super label: CLR. By the time she had come on, there was a nice representation on London Techno heads and everyone was having a good time and trying to keep warm! The parasol heaters were definitely being put to good use! Some great techno being played by Rebekah and it’s always good to see her smashing out techno. Last up was Sleaze records label manager: Hans Bouffmyhre, who I last saw at Crucifix lane where Tilanbiik presented Sleaze records back in August. He continued where Rebekah left off and concluded, with his last hour of devastating techno. Great to see so many people out to celebrate the launch of this record label on a weeknight! Definitely will be keeping my eye out for their releases!
The next jaunt was randomly to Fabric on Friday after a night out! Safe to say that this was completely unplanned with a couple of DnB friends of mine and only my second time there on a Friday! I didn’t have a clue who was playing and the crowd was totally different to the Saturday nights that I spend there, which was interesting to see. It was mainly full of young Drum and Bass enthusiasts and as you can imagine the music was super fast and MC’s everywhere! I believe if my memory serves me rightly I saw a bit of DJ Hype and DJ Hazard before it was time to go home.
Saturday was the special 1st birthday of EarToGround as a London techno label. Having a mini showcase at BM records in London, it was great to see a good turnout of people supporting the label and even indulging in some record shopping! Free cider too, which many people didn’t shy away from! Chris Stanford, Gareth Wild and Dax J all played there and were representing fully. There was even an EarToGround competition at the end of the showcase at BM where tshirts and vinyl being given away and to my shock and surprise, I managed to win the excellent new ETG EP release: Revok. A must buy for any aspiring techno DJ to have in their collection. I very much recommend this!
Also making his appearance at BM was none other than Truncate (David Flores), a pretty incredible DJ/producer and my producer of the year for last year. Once we had finished at BM, we all moved to the Be-At TV studios, where Truncate played a warmup as a preparation to his set at Fabric. Tucked away in the heart of Soho, the place was rammed to see Truncate and the ETG crew play, and it made for a real intimate affair. At one point, it was so loud, the neighbour came down to complain about the noise, but this was a minor affair and there was no threat! The party continued and the whole show was being streamed live. Truncate really smashed it and it was great to see him play over here as he very rarely plays in the UK. After him was Gareth, Chris and finally Dax, who proceeded to tear things apart with some relentless techno! I stayed there right to the end for maximum support and I’m sure it was all appreciated. Talking to some of the Be-At TV crew, they mentioned, this was the busiest that they have ever seen the studio and compliments go out to ETG and everyone who came out to support them! By the time it was all over, we all went to Fabric. Truncate was playing early on from 11-2 and we went to support him and wow, what a job he really did! He really surpassed all my expectations and it was an honour to see him play at Fabric. Hope he comes back to the UK very soon. Following him was Wincent Kunth (live) and the Berghain machine: Ben Klock. I came for Truncate and that was it for me. Next stop was the Drumcode Warehouse!
Last but not least in this length jaunt was the Drumcode Halloween Fright Night. Arriving after Fabric, the place was extremely busy, with everyone having an amazing time. I managed to catch the end of Maetrik around 3am, who really was banging it by the time I got there. It was a shame I didn’t hear much of him. Over in the other arch Pan-Pot had just started and were playing their deep hypnotic loops which sent the crowd into a constant frenzy with an incredible soundsystem. This was evident in both arches. Speaking to many people, they mentioned that the sound quality was sp
ot on and incredible in both arches. I floated between arches and it was pretty hot in both arches, but it was manageable heat! In the end I found a decent spot with my friends and caught most of Alan Fitzpatrick’s set and of course he didn’t disappoint! Finally came the Swedish techno God: Adam Beyer to wrap up proceedings from 4:30– 7:00 he was really the highlight of the whole Drumcode experience! Track after track was incredible and on that soundsystem, it was a real treat. It was one of those moments where you had to be there. I can’t really describe it, in that detail. The official Drumcode afterparty was at Jaded shortly after. Wow! What a weekend! Great music, great friends, great times! Same time, next weekend? 🙂 Drumcode pictures below by the very excellent Sophia Whitfield http://sophiawhitfield.com/