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!
Digital Grafiti at Aruba Lounge on Thursday night was cooking! As cold as this winter has been so far, the Brothers Underground (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brothers-Underground/7496637978) duo of Tinus and Corné have managed to keep their evenings interesting and growing. The Brothers opened the evening with the first set. They played gentle Tech House, warming up the room. Aruba started to fill up and people started to get 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.
Dark Motion was a great party, with one problem. The venue, after agreeing to allow the promoters, Primal Underground, to use the venue till 4am, on the night told them that they would have to close at 3.30, and later on rudely stormed into the DJ box and pulled down the music at 3am. This was both uncalled for and has become a pattern at CCHQ. Every promoter I know that has worked with the venue has had the same complaint, their party gets closed down early. The bar closed at 2, as per the license, but that doesn't mean the venue have to throw people out unceremoniously because they're no longer making money and are tired. It's bad form.
I was considering throwing a party there and when it happened, I was reminded why I never tried to use the venue before. It always has had the same pattern. It is one of the most beautiful venues to have a party in as it contains thousands of antiques, collected by the owner for many years during his time as an antique dealer. He died a while back and his family carry on the business. Pity they think it's ok to throw the crowd out into the cold without any warning. Bad manners to say the least. It's fine to close early, but then don't pretend that you won't. We don't like being lied to.
There were 2 great sets on the night. The first belonged to Deep Candy (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Deep-Candy/306763771370). She absolutely rocked! A while ago I watched her play one of the best sunrise sets I've ever seen, and her set at Dark Motion was tops! She played dark, groovy Techno, she was loving it and so was the crowd. Well done Candy! The other great set belonged to Gavo (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102945265170), although he wasn't allowed to finish it. He played for an hour, and had the floor rocking. The EV sound system was purring nicely, and he took full advantage of it. He played some really great Techno and I was just getting fully into my groove when the dark haired woman stormed into the booth and pulled down the fader! Classy.
Jono's set (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=574830936) also had sections of greatness but I felt that he was holding back in some parts. He ended off with one of my favourite classics, Moan by Trentemoller, and the crowd loved it. There were also some great builds in his set and some great tracks, nicely done. I didn't get to see Isma's set as I arrived just after he finished playing, but heard it was good.
There was one set that disappointed me during the night and it was the only time I actually left the dancefloor, Just Smart. These guys chose great tracks which I really liked, but their mixing was way off and they kept messing with the tracks to add effects and cut the bottom end at the wrong time. this kept jarring me out of my groove and messing up the vibe on the floor, till I eventually walked off to chat to friends at the bar. These guys need way more experience before I'll be happy to dance to them again.
Overall a great effort from Primal Underground (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Primal-Underground/222385011109515)! The place rocked from beginning to end and I had a fabulous time. I saw tons of my friends too, which was great. Thanks to Sylvain, Steve,Cherié, Gavo, Afrodeutsch, Ursula, Neil, Bella, Lorna, the 2 Candy's, Jason and Jono for the great company.
I'll have some new tracks up on Soundcloud for you to hear this week, as well as my show on Dance Web Radio coming up on Thursday, 12-2pm (GMT+2) (http://www.dancewebradio.co.za). I'll be going to ESCAPE to PSYCHEDELICA ▫▪▪▷ a Fu▫Cha/Teknotribe winter colaboration ▫▫▫▪▪▷ on Wednesday eveningat Groove Bar, so catch you on the dancefloor
It's been frikkin' cold here in Jozi!!! Last night I went to Digital Grafiti at Aruba Lounge and checked out the vibe. It was freezing! I didn't stay very long, was home in bed by 12. Brothers Underground played a good set, but being tired I left before much else happened.
Tonight I'm off to see Primal Underground presents Dark Motion at CCHQ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106351442786594. I'm looking forward to this gig as Jono Baiocchi and DJ Gavo are 2 of my favourite DJ's to listen to. Also, the venue is just amazing. There are more than 2000 antiques in the place, making for an awesome visual delight. It's Gavo's last set before he moves to Zambia, so catch him tonight for the last one in a long time! If you heard the boys set on 5FM last week, I'm sure you'll be there!!!
I finished mixing a special track for a special person's birthday tomorrow, will have it up on Soundcloud soon so that you guys can hear it.
Wow, Teknotribe rocked last night. It was freezing, to say the least, but that didn't stop the underground massive from getting their groove on. Everyone played well, and both the Techno and Psytrance floors rocked. I spent most of my night on the Techno floor, which had a way overkill sound system that was intensely loud. Get FX started off proceedings, playing a dark and lovely warm up set. Mike is growing quickly as a DJ and his track selection is superb. There was a complaint, I heard, that he went too fast for warmup, but that's Teknotribe for you.
Next up, Prefix played some great groovy Techno and Minimal. John has come a long way since he first started playing with us at MinTex, Malabar, 4 years ago. He was also wearing the funniest, green, woolen hat when I first saw him last night, ha ha. He wove a tight set and got the dancefloor grooving. The next DJ up surprised the hell out of me. Killer B, playing Techno? He kicked ass! Being a Psytrance DJ, his tracks were laced with psychedelic sounds, but there was no mistaking those hard, pounding Techno drums. Extremely well done!
Glen Gaffer is back on the decks, though he has calmed down somewhat over the last year. Glen used to hammer it balls-to-the-wall, but these days his sets are more crafty. He's still a serious purist, and his long time residency at GAS was the best grounding. Nice to have you back Glen! Andre Frauenstein and Chris Hattingh were up after Glen, with a surprising mix of Techno and Tech Trance. I'm sorry to hear about what happened to Andre. He was attacked by random thugs, who beat his face to a pulp. I was surprised that he pitched up for the gig, dedication, dude, much respect. Hope you heal well and fast. Great set!
Set of the night was up next. Nick Grater carved us new ones... The floor hummed. Even a cheesy remix of Smells like Teen Spirit went down a treat with the crowd. My favourite track that he played, Prodigy-Omen, was unbelievable. His set rocked from start to finish, the huge JBL rig kicking our asses. Heal well too, Nick, he seems to have come down with a nasty flu! Seb took over from Nick, with some sexy middle Eastern vibes, before throwing in his sexy and over-the-top hard Techno remixes of Soulful House tracks, as only Seb can, awesome set dude!
I took over from Seb, with my new track, Mechatron:
I got to close off the Techno floor, winding it down with some mellower and darker stuff I have recently acquired. Like Adam Beyer and Alan Fitzpatricks's new monster, Human Reason. My mixing was challenging, to say the least, but I seemed to have a somewhat reasonable set, according to the crowd afterwards.
From what I saw on the Psytrance floor, Gavin warmed up nicely, followed by a great set by Roman. Then Insaneacyde, playing hard rock guitar along, then Bionic (Nick Grater's Psy-guise) and the only other DJ I caught a bit of was Boogie Monster, Royston's alias, and Manifesto, tearing the crowd a new one with balls-to-the-wall blow them away Psytrance. Packed floor all night.
Awesome Decor, Becky and Caren!
Thanks for the great company goes to Nina, Matt, Mike, Sylvain, Seb, Tash and Candi, awesome to party with you! Catch you on the dancefloor!
Should be good fun! I'm always up for good music, no matter how cold the weather!
I'm looking forward to hearing lots of new music at Winter Wonderland II as well. Everyone always pulls out all of the stops for Teknotribe, it's great. Plus, Nick always makes sure that we have the best sound and production available, it's great. Catch you on the dancefloor!
The Wrigleys 5 Gum (http://www.facebook.com/pages/5-Gum-SA/212359512116024) launch at the Blue Room at Park Station on Friday night was awesome! It was an invite only event that relied on participation in their 3D mapping projection to gain entry. The doors opened at 9pm and registered guests were sampled with gum before going in. The venue was kitted out with a great stage, awesome lighting/projection and a phenominal JBL Vertec line-array soundsystem. Guests were treated to free drinks at the bar while the Afterlife DJ's (Craig Shacid and Wayne Ellis-Lee, (http://www.afterlife.co.za)) played some ambient music and visuals.
Next up came Krushed and Sorted (http://www.facebook.com/krushedandsorted), long time project of African Dope's Fletch. They featured awesome synced visuals of remixed classics and some original breaks material, including a great Kwaito track that's going to make waves. Sean Ou Tim scratched the visuals on vinyl, as well as played some killer drums and bass.
Then came the featured artist of the night, Ettienne De Crecy (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Etienne-de-Crécy/161679867179053). He played hard, old school Techno, live, synced to 3D visuals in a large cube format. It was high-energy, powerful music, and the crowd lapped it up. His show started with a huge curtain , saying Beats and Cubes, falling to reveal him in a high scaffolding cube DJ booth. The sound system was pounding throughout his set and the simple visuals were extremely effective, as you can see on his page and here (http://bit.ly/jAGS1I).
Last but definitely the best set of the night went to the Afterlife(http://www.afterlife.co.za) guys. They played a driving Techno set with stunning visuals on 3 big screens. The crowd were going ballistic, and Craig and Wayne outdid themselves with the best set I've ever seen them play. The sound system and room were humming, and I couldn't stop dancing. They played for 2 and a half hours before finally being told to stop as the party needed to close down. Well done boys!
On Saturday night I attended the Contakt event at Truth nightclub in Midrand. It was freezing cold, I made sure I was dressed warmly! I arrived at 11.15, and the Pimp Squad guys were warming up the main quad, which was covered in an Arab tent style marquee. The sound was provided by a DAS line-array and it pumped, perfect for getting cold feet moving. Next up, Nelson/Afroboogie (http://www.facebook.com/afroboogie), playing his first set of the year in SA, absolutely killed it with a great Tech House and Tribal set. A large green laser was used to full effect, as well as a pair of beautiful twin go-go dancers:
Next up was Audiojack (http://www.facebook.com/audiojackmusic). His main set disappointed me, to be honest, as I felt he was playing too gently and the crowd was looking for more energy. A later set on the upstairs floor though, didn't disappoint. Bouncing Tech House and techno were his weapons of choice, though his main set was more Deep House orientated.
I then moved upstairs, just in time to catch Coco Loco's (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=557755970) set. He was playing a great Tech House and Techno set, and the room was humming! The crowd was excited and bouncing around like crazy. It was also nice and warm inside and I was dancing from the moment I walked in. Nice one Kev!
Karmi's (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=790035642) set was up next, and he didn't disappoint! Tech House and Minimal were his tools and the floor just kept getting fuller and fuller. His set was full of energy and no one wanted to leave the floor for a second. going downstairs to the toilet was an horrific experience as it was so frikkin' cold! Well played to Karmi!
The set of the night went to the three youngest DJ's, the Joint Nation boys (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joint-Nation-Records/172011169512212, http://jointnationrecords.com), D Ritmo, Rob Sloan and Rob Toca. They were on fire, and literally lit up the dance floor. I've never seen that room hum like that before! Later on, Audiojack jumped in and was playing one-on-one with them, and the crowd was loving it! I left long after I should have, completely exhausted! What an awesome night.
Thanks to Sylvain, Ingrid, Jewels, Steve, Corne and Tinus for the awesome company, hope we can do it again soon!
The dance scene in Jozi is definitely alive with flavour at the moment. So many parties and happenings on the go. Last night I went to Digital Grafiti at Aruba Lounge to check out the goings on and it was a great evening, despite the chilly Joburg weather we've been experiencing. The night's music choices belonged to Shaun Beukes, Brothers Underground, Coco Loco and Keren Onay. I got there during the the Brother's set, missing Shaun's, sorry Shaunie!!! I caught Shaun the week before though and it was great to hear him gently warming up the crowd for the night's festivities. Soulful and good. The Brothers carried it on with some Deep House, Tech House and Minimal. Nice. Their set at Truth last weekend was really great, set that little upstairs dancefloor on fire.
Coco Loco was up next and kicked it right into gear with some great Minimal. He was complaining about the nasty flu that he's caught but it didn't seem to hinder him at all. Keren took over for the closing set and bounced everybody around till closing at 3am, nicely done.
Tonight I'm going to the invite only 5Gum launch at the Blue Room at Park Station, Joburg Central. I have to say it's been a while since I went to the station! Tonight promises to be awesome as Etienne De Crecy, considered by many to be one of the top electronic artists in the world, is joined by Krushed and Sorted and the Afterlife VJ's, who'll be VJing using the latest 3D mapping technology and showing us a thing or 2 visually.
Tomorrow night sees the return of one of Joburg's finest DJ's, Nelson, or Afroboogie as he's known around the world. He'll be presenting top UK act Audiojack to us at the new Contakt night at Truth in Midrand. I'm really looking forward to that gig as I think it's going to pump! We've been promised rocking sound and a marquee to keep out the biting cold, don't disappoint us! I reckon the music is going to be really happening and that we''l see a thing or two!
Enjoy your weekend and catch you on the dancefloor!
