Tropicana end of year finale!

Another bit of post-event reportage here, but better late than never...

Last Sunday, we sent off the year and saw in the Christmas season with an all day knees-up at East End sunday rave joint, Tropicana. And boy, was it BIG!

We've had a cracking time at Tropicana over the past few months (and many sore-headed Mondays) so we were delighted to be hosting the final Sunday session of the year down at the Horse and Groom in Shoreditch.

To be completely honest my memories of it are a little hazy, but I can just about remember the line-up, and I reckon this is about as good as it gets for free on a Sunday afternoon:

Phoreski, who'd just flown in from a gig in Sao Paulo with Chateau Flight, and celebrating his new release on Bare Fist.

Our long-time disco compadre, Ben Pistor of Disco Bloodbath.

Friend, fellow vinyl obsessive, good time Lowlife and Croatian whooping partner, Matthew Burgess.

International jet-setter / Newcastle ket-setter, and one-third of the Bad Passion project, Chris Stoker.

Charlie and Dave (Rik pulled a sicky - lightweight!) from those pesky airwave polluters, To The Bone.

And us too, of course... Phew. I think I'm still recovering.

Instrumental Works

Ok so once again we've been pretty quiet of late.

But that's not to say we've been sat on our arse doing nothing. The opposite in fact. Last Friday we hosted a very special event that brought one of the most exciting, groundbreaking bands together with one of the most revered disco producers and collectors in the game.

On Friday 19th December (I know, I know, it was a while ago now) we battoned down the hatches of the old Hoxton Library in Shoreditch, and made our way down to the basement studio space for the night.

The headline act, The Invisible, fresh from touring with the likes of Hot Chip and Foals, played an incredible set that grooved along with echo-laden riffs and rhythms, creating multi-layered soundscapes that wouldn't seem possible from a three piece. Can and Neu! eat your hearts out... These guys are on another level.

The Richard Sen took to the helm, providing a dose of his trademark psyche disco, that kept the party going into the night.

Unfortunately we weren't able to record any of the sets but you can buy the Invisible's album (produced by Matthew Herbert, and released on Accidental records) very soon, and new single London Girl will be available with a couple of extremely hot remixes!

You can also download a mix by Richard Sen, that he recently did for Cool In The Pool Radio. Riffs and licks aplenty.

Finally, if you want more info, our friends over at Cosmic Disco were kind enough to preview the event in full! Cheers lads!

Winter...

The Cosmic Winter eh? It's upon us... I'd love to say that a blizzard of snow had created a psychedelic field around our internet connection that meant that we weren't able to blog.

Unfortunately, that isn't the case. We just haven't got around to posting anything...

Don't hold it against us though, there are a few bits and pieces to report. Firstly, our Dickie is over in South America, speading the message over in Argentina, and then Brazil for New Year, then somewhere else hot and glamorous... Git.

So Dan and I (Basil) are looking after things here for the time being. Don't worry Dickie, all will be safe and well when you return. We'll have the kettle on for ya.

Last weekend, we were down at fancy light-up dancefloor joint, Cube, giving the good folk of Shoreditch an education in proper dance music! Tune of the night was a slice of classic Chicago house... Sometimes you just have to go back to the beginning!

Then on Sunday it was down to the Horse and Groom for another Tropicana session. This week, we were joined by our old summertime Sunday sparring partner, James Priestly, sporting a very fine beard (no pics). And just in case we were starting to miss Dicky too much, the friendly, bespectacled Geordie, Wandy.

Next up, we have the Bad Passion party on Saturday 6th December at Cosmo Bar, which promises to be absolutely blinding, followed by a brief trip to Newcastle for Bread and Circus on Friday 12th December. After that, it's back to London Instrumental Works on December 19th, and our Christmas all-day knees-up on Sunday 21st December...

More on that to follow. Stay tuned!

LOWLIFE HALLOWEEN

Fresh from appearing in panto in Dorking we hosted Room 3 of the Lowlife Halloween party at top underground South london (but don't hold that against it) venue Corsica Studios. Also on the bill were Chris Duckenfield, Bill Brewster, Frank, our friends Matthew and Jolyon, Michael Cook and others.

From what we remember it was a great night. Here are a couple of snaps.



We wouldn't allow our sets to be recorded* - but if anyone present wants to re-live their aural experiences of the other rooms then click the links below. Some choice listening there. Just don't mention the 'b' word. If you don't know then you won't know...

ROOM 1
Andrew Allsgood
Matthew & Jolyon
Chris Duckenfield
Bill Brewster
Chris Duckenfield's Happy Finish

ROOM 2
Simon Busby
Michael Cook
Dave Barlow
Frank Broughton

* - The promoters didn't have the resources/desire.

Club Tropicana

Leave the Wham! references aside, because who needs George Micheal when you have the electrofunk leg-end Greg Wilson, plus the veritable duo of Danny Late Night Audio Clark, andd Neil Lasermagnetic Thornton.

The fun and laughter (sorry, I couldn't resist) begins this Sunday at 4ish, down at the Horse and Groom in Shoreditch.

Credit it to the sunday roast re-edit.

This Friday..

Dan's romancing in Sweden, leaving Dickie and Baze to fly the flag at the birthday celebrations of one of the Moustache Mamas. See the flyer above. Think we are on at 1am-ish. As well as the Mamas themselves, Damo from Bloodbath is also representing - fresh from giving shout-outs on Diesel radio this week.

After that we will be heading to fellow disco deviant (and birthday boy) Danny "The Menace" Clarke's LateNightAudio/ElectricMinds party down the road at Visions. Him, Toby, Dolan, Nat, Charlie etc will be once again raising the low-ceiling til the wee hours.

Speaking of Danny "Coy" Clarke - some exciting news to announce regarding a new Sunday residency with him. More info to follow...

October gigs

What we're up to this month. More info on 19th October coming soon...

02/10/08: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? @ The Scolts Head, London

10/10/08: The Moustache Mama's Party @ The Moustache Bar, London

19/10/08: TBA, London

25/10/08: Lowlife @ Corsica Studios, London

See you all soon!