dance massive

Rip It Up, Issue 224, 1 April 1996, Page 27

dance massive

PI 11 ■ I ■ i 11 -41 1 1 I may be jumping the gun by going out and saying this, but has anyone else , noticed the slow signs (parties called ESpace, E murals at Vision On, a certain Welli DJ who vomited under the decks while rushing his tits off at Champion Sounds) that say E culture is slowly emerging in New Zealand? From what I can tell, E is fairly readily, available in Auckland and Welli, albeit at a price (typi- . cally SBO-$100!), which certainly puts it out of reach for a lot of the more financially challenged punters out there. Anyways, I reckon the number of people off their tits on a feel-good stimulant has a direct effect on how rocking the party gets, which is, of course, a big part of why everything blew up so large in the UK. But enough of my two bit analysis, Shoot the DJ says indulge by all means, but moderation is a good thing, and don’t forget to support you r local dance scene. . February 24 saw the Vision On crew take over Squid for a night and they rocked it. ;■ The trance room never really took off, but upstairs in the bar, shit was pumping all night, all the house DJs surpassed themselves, especially Gary Garage, Brother Zed and Clarkee — nice work, lads. Next edition will be at Squid, April 13, with Clarke,e, DJB, Chris W, and G-Spot. The first floor will be a dubby affair, with Dubhead and NIC Tuffy with Slowdeck and Guy ... also on the twenty-fourth was Hardwired, strictly a hardcore party. Ya have to admire their attitude, the flyer read: ‘Hardwired will be ridiculously hard, there will be no happy rave, no fucking whistles, absolutely nothing to do with the new age and no apologies.’ Much respect to Aaron, Mechanism etc. for keeping it real in the hardcore scene ... also on April 13, Dark Forces are afoot in the Box, with Aaron, Sam Hill, and residents Greg and Dean ... as we farewell Nathan Haines from the Icebox and. indeed the country (go hard, mate!), DJB joins Chelsea in the Icebox, Friday and Saturday nights ... there’s a new electronic music 'zine out. Called Move, it’s strictly for the technoheadz. You can pick it up free from cooler record shops around town ... March 6 saw the Quaff posse present a show on bFM documenting a little bit of house music’s rich and varied. history ... BPM Records now sponsor Wednesday nights at Celebre (look for some tasty drinks promotions and album releases), which means the finest in classic and classy house cuts (and a smattering of ex-tra smoooth drum ’n’ bass) with DJB, Sam Hill,. Albion and Greg Churchill ... The Box will host Chicago’s finest trakhead, the amazing DJ Sneak, now confirmed for May 18, and lined up for July, house legend Little Louie Vega ... the love 'em or hate ’em Entrain posse rolled though Auckland and did a party on March 2. There was a rumour that Bjork would play a set, however, this was either a • publicity stunt or just wishful thinking. Apparently, though, because of the heavy rain, someone did get electrocuted. The posse also put on a free party at the Staircase, which was again a hippy, goa trance sort of affair ... as for the Bjork gig, I dunno, I was impressed, but I expected some rocking dance beats, the crowd were hungry for it, but instead we got way to much slow ballad-type . behaviour for my liking — okay, if you’re sitting down, but there was a crowd ready for some dance floor action — incredible voice though ... E-Space on March 8 was cool, even if the scheduled licensed bar was closed down that afternoon due to some legal grey areas after a jealous promoter (no names, but I’ve heard some rumours and they’re ugly) dobbed them in. Talk about bad form though, buddy. This kind of negativity is the last thing we need ... D’Angelo promotions presents another monster holiday weekend, Easter Sunday (April 7) sees Wet ’n Wild at the . Waterfront Bar, with those super foam machines and lots of babes in bikinis and hunks in trunks. Squid hosts The Resurrection, another Cheap Sex, with all the usual deviant stage acts (like the truly frightening ■ Madame Kitty), cheap and slutty DJs (Sample Gee, Sam Hill and DJB), and ■ the amazing body piercer, Dr Shylo. Tix , are strictly limited to 300, so be quick. . ■ Down at The Box/Celebre it’s very last ever Retro-a-Go-Go, with an all star line up of previous retro spinners (ya cheesezoidsl). A mystery superstar guest will arrive by limo at about 11PM to perform ■ a few numbers, and Love Sector 6 play live in Celebre. Again, tix are strictly limited to 400, and you know this will sell out. Hey, there’s even a breakdancing compe- ■ tition, so you know I’ll be there ... the always stylin’ Crow Bar is going back to • its underground roots. They have implemented 'a more progressive musical

approach, moving away from anything commercial towards deep house, triphop, and the odd excursion into drum ’n’ bass with the (should be cool) seperate Lounge Bar set to open above the Crow in about six weeks. It will be a plush, intimate, chill-out bar to complement the Crow’s late night, late party activities ... there’s also lots happening at Hotel De Brett. The Spin Bar opens April 4, with Andy Vann and guest MC’s Bobbyion and Johnny D, April 12 is the opening of the Redzone Bar, with G-Spot and DJB, and from April 18 every Thursday in the Redzone bar genuine ex-pat UK DJs playing UK house ... The Brain is back in action hosting the Nightraver and DJ Trevor of Dye Witness (Holland). Check ’em at The Box, April 11, and at The Brain itself, where they will play a two hour DJ/MC set, The Powerstation, April 12, pre-sales from BPM, Paris Texas, Route 66 ... Armageddon Dance (music for the acid generation) at The Foundry was a good rave. Pots, 48 Sonic, DJB, Slimmatt, Pauly and Gideon played to an enthusiastic crowd and lots of kids doing amyl ... look out for The X Files on Wednesday April 24, at The Box/Celebre, with trip-hop/drum ’n’ bass in Celebre, with iDLT,. Stinky Jim and DJB, and trance/acid/techno in The Box, with Sam Hill, Albion and Sample Gee (more DJs to be confirmed) ... Jungle Sound Clash in the Voodoo lounge was a ripper. For the first time at a drum ’n’ bass party some ragga jungle DJs were on the bill, but the mix worked well. The usual jungle massive showed up for some jump up dancefloor action. More drum ’n’ basswise antics in the Voodoo Lounge are set for May 4, and possibly sometime in April a drum ’n’ bass evening with a certain UK female DJ who warms up for Metalheadz stars - Hidden Agenda. Now that would be cool. •- Wet Wired, the latest Goodbuzz production happens April 6 in a location that will be fully decked out in Blade Runner-style. Your cyber-jockeys for the evening include Anatomic, Crokka, Fritz, Little Bastard, Aspen, Torty, Seismic Anamoiy and Corruption. Look for flyers around town, and check out the Bass Chamber every Wednesday in the back bar of OTlahrety's. IJHHHIIHI.TTTI Without a suitable or regular dance venue the Palmy scene consists of one-off parties. The upside to this is that one-off events tend to go off. This was most definitely the case on February 3 when the' Madhouse Crew rocked an old church with a rave called Sabotage. DJs Crokka, Anatomic and Slimmatt kept the 400 strong crowd moving until the early hours ... March 16 saw Mechanism play to a smallish crowd as part of the Morningstar tour... the Madhouse Crew get busy once again on March 30 with The Boiler Room, featuring Obi Wan (Christchurch), Clinton and Andee (Welli) and a live set from LRS. Dog TV. will provide live visual mixing on twin video screens. Congratulations to. Omni, Bassment 45 and the Cybernetic Industries crew who pulled off the wicked Sonic Mass party on March 9. An outdoor dancefloor, indoor chill floor, lots of jungalism and a certain DJ Sweet who had the crowd eating out of his hand with an absolutely spectacular trance set. Can’t wait for the next one ... rumour has it the Bassment 45 space will be turned into a club, and a new record shop (Pulse) may open across the road in that old deserted building that’s been done up. Watch this space ... the Tatou basement opens (about a year behind schedule!) on April 5 with Home, Clinton Smiley's,regular Friday night of bangin’ house and trance with regular guests. Eden Productions will be running the Cybertron Lounge in .Tatou’s basement every Thursday. Bringing a more ‘intelligent’ (ya snobs!) music poli-. cy and promising some big name guests, good shit .though, at last Welli gets a decent underground club ... Tasty, the popular gay-friendly night, returns to Tatou for April 6 with Burgess, Chelsea and Simon Oakly from the AK, and Tatou residents Clinton, Stevie B and Andee ... Shore Ting Productions, headed by the mad talented DJ Sweet, take over ESC on April 27 with Sweet, Low Key, Trent, Andrew B, Mu and Ruffstep. It will be wicked ... oh, and Vortex, Saturdays at the Lounge Bar, Petone. Hmmm, uh, guys, are you sure, like, Petone is the way to go? ... April 4 is the first autumn , full moon, and Wellington will be celebrating at ESC with the Roots Foundation Sound System, who present Vibration Version with Mu. Lemon, Goosebump,

Maverick and Dr Midge. Expect everything from Studio One bass lines to Moving Shadow breaks, ’cause it’s like the man Lemon says: “We are under no pressure to oil the cartwheel of mediocrity." Uprising, ‘the second coming of the big beat’, the biggest party in the Nelson area since Entrain, happens on Easter Sunday, April 7. It’s an all ages affair with Obi Wan (the Slip Matt alter-ego), Pylon, Lariken, Gill, Mel (a trip-hop DJ from Dunedin), Tin Tin and Flux navigating the decks in the main dance room and chill space. Look for posters for more details. . MJlUlUlllirTM The infamous Obi Wan is moving to the urban tekno spacescape that is Japan! Woah, bro! That’s a big move, but naturally enough Matt isn’t gonna just disappear without instigating a few more nights of hardcore celebration. Indeed, he’s organising a 'back to the underground’ party called Digital Ritual with Mechanism, Obi Wan, Shannon, Stealth and Silencer, which happens Good Friday, April 5. On April 19 Matt will be in Dunedin to play with DJ Kinesis at new bar Swim, on a subversive mission to take hard trance and break beat to the good folk of Dunedin, home of the rugby ball, the guitar, the student and the keg ... and there will be a party on May 3, with Winge (a live techno duo from Auckland), and possibly DJ Spellbound from Sydney. Look for flyers for more details. , In other news... you still have until the end of this month to enter the Shoot the DJ Mix Tape Challenge (look out for the very orange flyers at record shops in all the main centres). Entries have been slow-ish so far, but I know I’m going to be flooded with tapes in the last week. You’d also be (un)surprised how many DJs request that I, er, get spliffed up before listening to their tape. All I can say is, what you enclose with your tape is your own business ... Festival Records are starting a DJ mailing list. Only problem is, most product will be on CD, but if that sounds like you, then apply in writing to DJ Promotions, Festival Records, PO Box 1170, Auckland 1. Polygram are also updating their DJ lists, again, apply in' writing to DJ Promotions, Polygram Records, PO Box 617, Auckland ... Lenny D is set to visit these shores once again, and will play Auckland (May 31, unconfirmed) and Wellington (June 1, confirmed). More details closer to the time ... alright, that’s it, hope you made it to one of the Alex Paterson nights, and don’t forget to get those tapes to me. If you’ve got something you want in the column, call me at the magazine, okay. Take care now... ' ANDY (DJB)