Yes, I know, I've been off taking a long break from updating my blog! I'm sure you all got along fine! It seems there's a big weekend brewing in Johannesburg in the underground scene. Teknotribe are celebrating their 8th birthday on Saturday at Voodoo Lounge (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113123082115925). If you've never been to a Teknotribe party before, you don't know that you're missing out on one of the best produced parties in Joburg.
Digital Grafiti last night was great.It was cold but that didn't seem to put people off going out too much. The evening was started with LVS (http://www.facebook.com/pages/LVS/152917272046), who shifted between genres effortlessly, moving from Techy stuff to Dubstep, and keeping it interesting. The standout track of his set was Magnetic Man ft John Legend - Getting Nowhere. It so reminds me of Moby's best stuff, a great tune.
Next up was Brothers Underground (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brothers-Underground/7496637978), who moved between Tech House and Minimal. The crowd started dancing and getting into the groove. The Brother's experience and extensive music knowledge always shows in their sets, it's a pleasure to watch. They played a great set and the floor was rocking.
James Damian (http://www.facebook.com/james.damian.music)took over from them and the place was pumping. He bounced between Tech House, Minimal and Progressive house and kept most of us on his floor for most of his set. I had a great boogie! Best wishes to my friend Jewels, who celebrated her birthday on the night!
You can catch me at the Jacked Up Stage at Beat around The Bush presents Indoor Propaganja this afternoon at 5pm: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206144356073125. It features 2 stages and a whole lot of Psytrance, Techno and Dubstep artists that are going to cook!
Tonight Mr Mon and Afrodeutsch will be playing some laid back vibes at the Metro Restaurant at Benmore Gardens. Should be a great way to spend your hump day evening. Both have been long friends and collaborators of mine and both have a great ear for music. I'm keen to check out this new venue too.
You can also check out LVS, James Damian and Brothers Underground tomorrow night at Digital Grafiti at Aruba. Digital Grafiti has become the place to be on Thursday nights, it rocks!
Saturday you can catch me at the Jacked Up Alternative Stage (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=206144356073125) at Beat Around The Bush
at Sundance Village, Broederstroom, near Paddle Power at the top of Malibongwe Drive. I'll be playing at 5pm. Catch you on the dancefloor!
Grant Van Rensburg (http://www.facebook.com/grant.vrensburg), one half of the Sound Sensible kids, took over from the Brothers and immediately moved into a more Nu Disco groove. He played a great set, getting people up onto their feet. The night was warmer than it had been over the last couple of weeks, and the crowd was up for a good party. By the end of Grant's set, the place was heaving nicely.
I took over from Grant and moved into Techno. The crowd was rocking and I was finding it easy to get them moving. I played some great new tracks from Dusty Kid, Spektre, Joseph Capriati, Funk D'void, Kiko and Carlo Lio. I really enjoyed my set, the crowd was a pleasure to play for, nice one!
Friday night I was supposed to go to Looney Tunes at the opening of the new club in the Marco Polo Casino, but I faded early as I was really tired. I completely missed it. Anybody go? Let me know what it was like in the comments.
Saturday night I was supposed to go to Truth to watch Brothers Underground and Deep Candy (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deep-Candy/306763771370). I spent the afternoon at my friend Rob Dickens memorial service and was too tired to go out after that. There was a huge commotion about the goings on at Truth on Saturday. After the Brothers played a great set, Peter Abrahams took over and was playing old 90's house. The crowd took offense and one of the people there, known to me, switched off the power to the dj booth. What an extremely rude thing to do to a dj. There have been mutterings on Facebook that he deserved it, but still, these things should be handled in a better manor. Apparently none of the managers were there and so things were badly handled.
I had a very chilled weekend, resting and spending time with loved ones. It's so necessary to do that once in a while, take time out and re-charge. Got a big one coming up this week though. I'm playing at Digital Grafiti on Thursday night at Aruba Lounge with Brothers Underground and Grant Van Rensburg: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=222457607785555. I have so many new tunes to play! There's so much good music being released these days that I'm spoiled for choice. I do a weekly radio show on http://www.dancewebradio.co.za where I showcase all of the latest tracks that I like, Thursday 12-2pm (GMT+2). You can download my radio shows from my page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chris-Palmer/73011073272.
On Friday night I'll be checking out the opening of a new club in the Marco Polo Casino in Sandton City. The event is called Looney Tunez Urban Treasure: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=216225031733502 and features these DJ's:
Saturday, Brothers Underground and Deep Candy will be playing upstairs at Truth. Should be a great gig to check out. Peter Abrahams, from Cape Town will also be playing his first gig in Joburg. So it looks like a great week ahead for Techno in Joburg! Catch you on the dance floor. :)
Carl Craig in Soweto was a great gig to go to. Carl Craig's performance was awesome, although way too short. He only played for an hour. When I arrived in Soweto at the Thesis Clothing shop, Vinny Da Vinci was warming up the crowd nicely with his style of Deep House, warm and friendly. This was a street party, Kasi style, and the soundsystem was a huge, cooking EV setup.Vinny put it to good use.
Carl Craig took over at 6pm. The change from House to Techno was immediate, and the crowd was captivated. All of the well-known faces were on the floor: Steve Clarke, Shaun Beukes, Rob Dickens, John Vichos, G-Force, Ivan Turanjanin, Craig Massiv, Dogstarr, Fabio, Sound Sensible, Deadbeat FM, Leigh-Anne Harrison, Rob Sloan, Rob Toca, C-Smoothe, Ricky Da Mata, Floyd Lavine, Vick Vaid, Kim Rupping and Emma X.
Carl Craig is very charismatic, and had the crowd bouncing in seconds. He was playing off an Apple Mac, yay for technology! He played some serious classics, and as Ivan said, the crowd got schooled! One of the biggest moments in his set was The Jaguar:
He also played Good Life and The Bells, both huge Techno classics. The crowd was bouncing up and down, energy was high and the place was rocking. Big smiles on all the faces, people having an absolute whale of a time:
The sun set and the night was cold but nothing could dampen the crowd's mood, or so I thought.
Carl Craig finished his set after only an hour. Next up up was Monty Luke, also from Detroit. He started out OK and I was left thinking, cool! Was I ever wrong. His set just went south, for the next 80 minutes. That was as long as I managed to stomach it. The energy was low, the music was crappy and his vibe wasn't great. I was extremely disappointed, to say the least. I would have really liked to stay and watch Culoe De Song, as I really like his stuff, but Monty Luke drove me away. His set was, in my opinion, sloppy, second rate and it sucked.
Thanks to Graham, Ivan and Ryan for pulling off this gig at such short notice. Thanks to the people of Soweto for their great hospitality, and thanks to Carl Craig for an awesome set, albeit short!
Escape to Psychecelica last Wednesday was so badly supported! I would have thought that all the best underground female dj's would be well supported, guess I was wrong. The production was amazing, as Fu-Cha and Teknotribe's parties are always, with amazing decor and sound. The line-up was good, all well-seasoned DJ's with a wealth of experience. So, what was wrong?
Are the Psytrance crowd at odds with Fu-Cha these days? Hardly any of them arrived. Teknotribe had our big Winter Wonderland party only a week before, and it was packed. Did the girls do enough promotion to get their crowds there? There are a ton of questions regarding the poor support of this event that need to be asked.
The Psytrance floor was opened by Hegchick (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=739864250), who wasted no time in getting the ball rolling. She played some great progressive Psytrance, high in energy. It took us through the Lunar Eclipse, with a blast! Next up was Gwen C (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gwen-C/230237917003235), who gradually built up her set and got the crowd bouncing around the room. Nice one Gwen! Dre'ama (http://www.facebook.com/pages/DreAma/96530803268) took over, unexpectedly, as her set time was announced for 1am. She had apparently swapped with DJ Sway from Beartrap. Mel has always been one of my favourite Psytrance DJ's and this was her first set back since an operation. Mel rocked the crowd but I wasn't feeling it. I moved up to the Techno floor for the rest of the party.
So, a great production with great sound, great DJ Line-up, very poorly supported.
