Defected’s Greg Sawyer meets three legendary figures of electronic music, dances solo at Dynamic vs. Rejected and gets very little sleep. All in a days work at ADE 2011…
Just to get it out the way… today, I am extremely tired. And while I would hardly expect sympathy – I am after all in the very place that most lovers of electronic music would doubtless like to spend the next few days – a little understanding would be greatly appreciated. Dancing for five straight hours while sober(ish) and abandoned by all of your friends who apparently have all the staying power of fat, asthmatic hamsters is no mean feat, although frankly it would have been almost impossible to have left any earlier, given the exceptional quality of Solomun and Maya Jane Coles last night.
But before we get to all that, there was the small matter of interviewing one of the greatest dance acts of all time.
Inner City – Kevin Saunderson, Paris Grey and Ann Saunderson – are rightly considered to be one of the most influential acts in electronic music, responsible for some of the best-loved records of the last 20 years; records that first introduced me to house and techno before I knew what either of those words meant.
Meeting and interviewing them was a privilege, and I can happily report that nearly 25 years after they started making music together, their passion and enthusiasm for what they do doesn’t seem to have dwindled in the slightest. Listening to them enthuse about their new projects as well as tirelessly discussing some of the many highlights from their illustrious career was inspiring, and I highly recommend checking out the full interview when it becomes available later this year.
Before hitting the Mixmag party at Studio 80 we decided to head out to the DJMag Awards show, on the firm promise of a spectacular visual and audio feast and a few free drinks, the latter of these having by far the most magnetic tug. Sadly, I can report on neither the spectacle of the feast nor the freeness of the drinks, as we didn’t get in – or in fact anywhere near - the door. As with so many industry-based events, the ‘VIP’ queue was infinitely longer than for those people who were paying for the privilege of entry, so after 20 minutes, several cigarettes and about 7 yards of progress, we gave up, leaving Guetta and co. with four less heads to worry about entertaining. I have no doubt that we were greatly missed.
A shot taxi ride later we were inside the gradually warming embrace of Studio 80 and the Mixmag-hosted Diynamic vs. Rejected party. After a brief stint by Edwin Oosterwal who soon wandered off to open the Rejected room, Solomun took control of the main room, embarking on a superb ‘party house’ set which took the gradually filling room from mildly engaged to frenzied shape-throwing over the space of two hours.
Starting very, very slow with the likes of Daniel Bortz ‘Other Guys’, his track selection was utterly faultless, even if his segues at times felt a little rushed and unpolished. The fact that these sometimes little more than cursory mixes didn’t affect my enjoyment in the slightest was a testament to just how deep his record bag goes; his track selection was simply perfect.
After dropping a brilliantly wobbly edit of Moloko’s ‘Sing it Back, his set peaked with the his own ubiquitous mix of Noir & Haze ‘Around’; surely one of the most impressive remixes of the year, taking as he has a fairly average record and transforming into a tension-filled behemoth that lays waste to all it encounters (see below for absolute proof of this rather grand statement).
The diminutive form of Maya Jane Coles appeared behind the booth shortly after 2am, and for the next two hours, her set flowed like molten glass through smooth, rolling techno grooves to throbbing house and back again. Her segues varied from brutal mid-track cuts to long, drawn out mixes but were never short of faultless.
I am mildly embarrassed to say that I don’t recall a single track she played, but Maya’s musical knowledge is second to very few, so I don’t think I’ll be too hard on myself. I’m frequently amazed by her meteoric rise to fame (little more than a year ago she was all but unknown on the scene), but on the basis of her performance here it isn’t all that tricky to see why.
Oh yes, and the Rejected room? I’m told it was there, and that music was played, but as to what exactly went down it would be mere speculation for me to report. Solomun/Maya…you held me tight.
Well played, Mixmag.
The Defected In The House ADE party takes place at AIR on Friday 21st October - tickets are very close to selling out, but there are still a few available from the AIR website.
