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 event he was partying at in the last week… We welcome him back and this time he spent his special extended Halloween jaunts at ETG, Drumcode Warehouse, Half Baked Halloween Special and One More’s Halloween special.
Hello and welcome to Jammy’s Jaunts! Your weekly clubbing review of London! This special extended review consists of the very cool ETG (EarToGround) party at Crucifix Lane, the special Drumcode Halloween warehouse special, the Half Baked Halloween special and One More’s Halloween special at Ican studios. So to start off this super Halloween extended jaunt in London, let’s begin at Crucifix Lane with the EarToGround crew supported by Reeko making his London debut, Jonas Kopp making his UK debut and Markus Suckut. Arriving just after midnight I caught the beginning of Reeko’s set and from the start it was pretty much what I expected from him. This was the first I had seen him play and one of my favourites. He played just after the residents from 00:00 – 02:00 and by then Crucifix Lane was filling up comfortably. His sound was very unique and he really was pounding out the techno through Crucifix’s soundsystem. It was raw and very uncompromising! It really set the mood for the whole evening of techno. His 2 hours flew by and track after track was seamless. I was thoroughly impressed and so were many of the people who I talked to about his set. An excellent London debut set by the Spaniard.
Next up was someone who ETG had been trying to get for a while now: Jonas Kopp all the way from Buenos Aires in Argentina. He was on from 02:00-04:00. Another DJ who I have admired for a while now and he certainly did not disappoint! His set was by far my favourite of the night and the quality of tunes being played was of the highest order. It was effortless groove with intense techno hi-hats and kicks. A real pleasure to have finally seen him play in England and a real education in techno was delivered! Last but by no means least was Markus Suckut, founder of Figure SPC / SCKT. It was interesting to see him play last and he really did well closing the night. His set was full of energy and crushing techno basslines and drops. It was the first time I had seen him play and he brought a real vibe that really complimented both Reeko and Jonas Kopp. It was hard to follow Kopp in my opinion and Suckut shone through with his closing set. Top class lineup from ETG and great for techno in London.
Next up on the Saturday was the annual Drumcode Halloween Warehouse party over at Great Suffolk St. Taking over the first arch was Adam Beyer, Joseph Capriati, Alan Fitzpatrick and Nicole Moudaber and in the second arch was Adam Beyer (early set), Ida Engberg and Reset Robot with support from Mark d’Ground and Joe Morley. As usual the Drumcode Halloween antics were on show at the warehouse with the scary face paints and very realistic ‘zombies’ in cages and walking amongst the crowd. As you can imagine it was pretty packed from start to finish. I arrived around 00:30 and the queue was already out of the entrance and down the road which was annoying as it was raining! The queue however didn’t take long and we were in quite swiftly. The Drumcode sound boomed through the venue and it they pulled off a great job as they do every year they have done a party here. Beyer did the business as usual in the main room but the stand out sets for me was Nicole Moudaber and especially Ida Engberg who just pipped her to the post. Her set was full of energy and she really impressed me with the way she tore apart the room. Jaded followed from there with all the Drumcode artists joining straight after.
Next up on the extended Halloween jaunt was the Half Baked Halloween special at Crucifix Lane. Heading straight there from Jaded I arrived quite early on and as usual the Half Baked crew always have the place all decorated with their decor. The lineup for this was Wesley Razzy (15:00 – 17:00) who opened, followed by Greg Brockmann (17:00 – 18:00), Virginia (20:00 – 22:00) and ARK (22:00 – 23:00 live) (Guillaume Berroyer). Getting there early, it was quite empty but with the Half Baked crowd, many people turn up later on and usually the party starts to get going later in the evening. Wesley Razzy brought a real deep flow to the beginning of the party and things really picked up quickly. There was no techno in this party but just very decent house music and coming from techno it was hard to adjust. However the music was of high quality and really groovy and was very impressed to hear this. The soundsystem there really delivered and while Greg Brockmann was playing he delivered some great tracks which got the crowd going. The place filled up quickly and it was great to see so many people having fun.
Virginia came on and continued that warm house vibe and she even got on the mic while she was playing and gave a nice edgy groove to her tracks and it really complimented Brockmann’s style. As she came on, the place looked near to capacity and the warmness of the tracks continued to flow through. It was the first time I’ve seen her play and her selection was of a very good quality. Last up for the Half Baked crew was another DJ that I hadn’t seen play before: ARK. He played an hour live set with an interesting blend of house/minimal house and again it was interesting to hear. Certainly an act that very much suited the sound of Half Baked. I stayed till around 22:45 until I made my last jaunt across town to the One More Halloween special over at Ican Studios
To end this special weekend was to meet friends over at Ican Studios for the One More bash with Ndre, Antonio De Angelis, Arnaud Le Texier, Eduardo de la Calle, Sammy Dee and Bruno Pronsato (live). I arrived around 23:15 and managed to catch the last few hours of this special party. They have always pulled in great names to their party and this one was great at their new place. The room opens out wide with a stage at the front and the bar at the bar. It was absolutely lashing outside and it was nice to get into the warm and dry! As I got there Sammy Dee was on. I’ve seen him play before and the soundsystem there was really pumping. The crowd was very cool and loads of people were still really up for it. Also was nice to see so many familiar faces there and it made for a good ending to an amazing weekend.
By the time I made my rounds and started to really enjoy the music, Sammy Dee finished off really well and next up to finish was Eduardo de la Calle. He was another DJ who I haven’t seen play before, but I did know about. He came out and to my great surprise started to smash it out! His blend of techno was very fitting for the party and time and he really kept that groove going for the One More faithful. I stayed around for all of his set whilst chatting to lots of friends and meeting new ones too. The new venue worked really well for One More and definitely hope to see it full to capacity at their next party. This was a real extended jaunt and much fun was had! What a weekend! What a jaunt! Same time next weekend?
