[please
notice:
there are no kind of manipulations on the pics you see.
all of them display the real situation in the club
without any filters or "photoshop"-possibilities. so all
the light-effects are caused of the installations of the
club.]
second
station of our small vacation was london. with an
population of 7 million people, its one of the biggest
cities in europe. so, when you think berlin is getting a
little bit "confusing" with its size of 3 million people,
what would you say of london?
not
only of that, we have been forced to use the metro- and
bus-system very often.
in our
relation, london is a expensive place. all the prices for
standards like food, drinks and - of course -
entrance-fees are a little bit higher. fortunately, the
exchange rate helps us a with that at time. for
example: you get one pound for 1,30 euro. years ago
it was 1,50 euro.
for the
fabric the entrance fee today is 16 pound (about 20
euros).
anyway,
after dublin, we already have some experience with these
prices...
so,
what do you get for that money? in the fabric
you get somekind of superclub in an old fabric buildung
(what else??). there have been 3 dancefloors, many bars,
lounge-places and a well sized entrance area for the
garderobe and merchandizing-area (where you could get all
those cool mix-cds).
the
sound & light-system were on a real high level -
world-standard.
after
arriving very early (23 o´clock) we had time to get
an good view over the whole area and of course making
some good fotos. so please don´t wonder, if there
aren´t so many people on some pictues (these are
them, made before midnight). after twelve o´clock
the club was really packed.
the
fabric-lineups are world-standard, too. but with an good
hand for taste, quality and upcoming trends. for example
some dates for the next weeks:
10.5.
marco carola, prins thomas, 2000 and one, chateau flight
(live), junior boys...
17.5. ellen allien, heartthrob (live)...
24.5. michael mayer, dave clarke, steve rachmad,
superpitcher...
25.5. pole (live), sleeparchive, kode 9, dillinja, caspa
& rusko...
30.5. ltj bukem, hype, ez rollers, fabio...
21.5. luciano, model 500 (live), dj 3000,
shinedoe...
... and
in that way in goes on and on. friday is usually
"fabriclive",
that offers drum´n bass, hiphop, dubstep and all
kinds of related styles. saturdays you can mostly hear
"fabric",
which presents all kinds of
techno/house/electro.
so
after all, the size and philosophie of the fabric gives
you the chance, to hear all kinds of electronic (and
related) music from big (but always qualitive) names and
upcoming djs/acts as well - from all around the world.
and as
we gladly notice, there are often even german names on
the linups. for example the wighnomy
brothers
last week on saturday.
unfortunately
we missed that, cause of the combination of our three
flights (to/from frankfurt/dublin/london). but we were
also glad to enjoy todays "the nothing
special".
it
features for example on of fabrics from the start
resident-dj: craig
richards.
he is also the man, that opened up the famous
fabric-mix-series.
those
cds (in a cool metal case) are released monthly - two of
a kind. the "fabric" cd and the "fabriclive" cd. as
written up above, one for the techno/house/electro-styles
and one for the more broken beat (dnb, hiphop...). since
the start, about 80 cds have been released till today.
there is also the possibility, to join a monthly club and
getting the cds constantly. if that works for german too,
i don´t know. just check it out on fabrics
website.
as
expected, the cds are a little bit cheaper here in great
britain, than in germany, where you only can buy them in
official big recordstores. here in fabric, you can buy
them, too. each one for 10 pound. and if you have time to
visit one of londons big recordstores (for example on
piccadelly circus), you will have the chance, to get the
older releases for 7 pound.
ok,
back to the club. the series "the nothing special" is the
personal craig richards night. that means, that he plays
most of the time on floor one. only interrupted by one or
two liveacts.
that
gives him the chance, to play an very deep set with
different styles in techno and house and build a musical
journey through the night.
so he
started this night with very nice warm techno-tracks,
that perfectly prepared the people for "stronger" and
"rougher" beats from himself and the following liveacts
as well.
on the
second floor we had dj jb starting the evening and
terry
francis
beginning on the midnight hour.
terry
francis is the second "from-the-start"-resident, who -
common sense - also mixed the second fabric-mix-cd.
his
sets are a little bit more into housemusic, but also very
open-minded to other kinds.
at this
time - 1 o´clock - the two big floors were already
really full.
on the
third - and smaller - floor simon young was
playing...
... and
for the rest of the night from midnight on
jus
ed
& qu.
that
dj-team makes me think of masters at work :) and yeah,
their sound really had a taste of that american kind of
housemusic.
in the
following hours we also heard an liveact from
par
grindvik,
which offered strong techno.
after
checking his biography and some talking its no wonder,
cause he releases records on labels like drumcode (adam
beyers label...), c.l.r. (chris liebing´s...),
spectral sounds and so on.
the man
from sweden was detached by 2 dutch men: joris
voorn
and edwin
oosterwal
from rotterdam, which played a ping pong set. and
don´t be scared, they didn´t played gabba and
happy hardcore like rotterdam was well known in the early
90´s... it was more an good, but of course straight,
technosound.
last
but of course not least we heard deepchord
feat.
echospace,
one of our personal favorites from detroit.
they
maybe look "normal", but there sound was extra-ordinary.
they are known for a dub-techno based sound with an very
special mood, often based an a warm and long
string-chord, which makes the tough beats a little bit
more "peaceful".
in our
opinion thats the core of detroit techno. connecting the
hard and precise maschine-beat from motor city, that sad
and hopeless mood with an little light of hope and human
soul. thats techno soul!
and
thats how our fabric-experience ended. so, what do we
remember?
its an
high-professional club and when you go to london and want
to have some "electronic fun", than fabric is an
obligation. but be conscious, that it is rather big like
other big world-clubs like cocoon in frankfurt, amnesia
in ibiza and so on.
if that
is alright with you, than you can have a really good time
there with all the contemporary interesting types of
electronic music.
for us,
we had our fun and say thanks for the good support by the
fabric-people! we surely come back!