Shoveling on the black eyeliner, I swapped the usual Sunday night sofa for a more social outing - the hotly awaited event at T Bar London where American Tech DJ Claude VonStroke was headlining. Although somewhat more accustomed to epic Fridays, after a bit of a warm up at home to the sound of Vonstroke's early productions ‘Chimps' and ‘Who's Afraid of Detroit?', plus supporting Nat Self's edit of ‘War', I'd soon forgotten it was a school night and was fast out the door in my dancing shoes.
Despite having heard a lot of good things about T Bar, I hadn't made it down yet and half expecting a jumped up swanky cocktail lounge, more than welcomed the kind of grubby looking warehouse that presented itself, echoing a typical London workman's social club without the cheap drinks, but loaded with Berlin-style cool.
As early as ten, VonStroke had taken up residence at the intimate DJ booth and had already nurtured an impressive crowd. As you stepped down the beat-throbbing stairs and into the rectangular main room, speaker-tearing bass ripped through your body while you searched for the last remaining floor space to get your groove on.
For such a small venue T Bar has wisely packed in an impressive Funktion One sound system, the very same one busting out the beats partly responsible for the clubs relocation from Shoreditch High Street to Houndsditch in 2009.
As the night progressed, shoals of international clubbers with undercuts, acid wash skinny jeans and braces donned their sunglasses and continued to stream in and on to the weirdly ground-heated dance floor (clearly full-to-capacity body heat isn't quite hot enough).
Soon the club was bursting at the seams with a too-cool fashion pack and 90s revival kids who spent the night, and most of the morning, worshipping the beats and rocking the house to the sound of Vonstroke's killer four hour set. His cocktail of well blended tunes included everything from Santos Resiak & Subb-An's ‘Yo Amigee' to kicking off a super-cool drum and bass spin with his own ‘Aundy', brilliantly remixed by DJ Marky and S.P.Y. No sign of his 2006 hit ‘Whistler' though.
As my first experience of VonStroke in the mix, I'd naively expected a more minimal, downplayed sound but was quickly introduced and blown away by a totally uplifting set that oozed a Detroit techno vibe. The result? A captivated crowd, including me, drunkenly throwing their hands, drinks and everything else into the air as the sort of euphoric atmosphere normally reserved for Ibiza and almost unheard of in London, spread from wall to wall. Totally awesome.
At around two am, Nat Self stepped in to further crank the heat up and set about soaring the spirit of those left standing right through the roof. The remainder of the night saw Self and Vonstroke marathon mixing into the smallest hours until the sun and those with office jobs, wishing they'd been partying, had long since risen.
Deciding to skulk off on a high, I left the party just as it was seriously jumping and made my way home at a not too disrespectable time; early enough to make my crack-of-dawn editorial meeting but late enough to have experienced an evening that made me totally re-evaluate my Sundays forever.
Now safe in the knowledge that such hip secluded venues like T Bar are still lurking in London, and are more than happy to embrace the small club big DJ ethos, not to mention a ‘Sunday Fun Day' ambiance - show me the dotted line, if every party's as good as this one, I'm first in the queue to sign up to a life time of throwing shapes on a school night.
****
| FEBRUARY 2010 PROGRAMME | |||
| THURSDAY 4TH T B/SS REDLIGHT BEN WESTBEECH AMO 9PM - 6AM FREE Music Policy: Dubstep & Bass |
FRIDAY 5TH T BAR PRESENTS... FRIENDLY FIRES CASPER C LUCA CAZAL 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Alternative indie and electro |
SATURDAY 6TH DISCO BLOODBATH MARK SEVEN DAN BEAUMONT DAMON MARTIN BEN PISTOR 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION : free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Disco and house / party classics |
SUNDAY 7TH T D/NCE Presents: Saytek "Live From The Other Side" Album Launch (Zoo Project Ibiza Recordings) Line up: Saytek (Live) Pablo Cahn-Speyer Nic & Kaleb Federico Grazzini 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: HOUSE & TECHNO |
| THURSDAY 11TH T B/SS REECHA BOOGALOO CREW RATTUS RATTUS KLOSE ONE RACK N RUIN 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Dubstep & Bass |
FRIDAY 12TH THIS IS MUSIC PERC (KOMPAKT) MAX COOPER DAVE P & JDH THIS IS MUSIC DJs 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: HOUSE & TECHNO |
SATURDAY 13TH PHONICA SASCHA DIVE ANTHEA THE VANGELIS 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Forward-thinking techno & house |
SUNDAY 14TH KUBICLE GUESTS TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Reedits, disco, house and old favourites. |
| THURSDAY 18TH T B/SS ACTRESS ALEXANDER NUT FLOATING POINTS 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Dubstep & Bass |
FRIDAY 19TH T BAR PRESENTS... CHLOE (KILL THE DJ) MATT WALSH (TURBO) MONSIEUR MONSIEUR Upstairs GIRLCORE 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £8 after Music Policy: Electro meets techno |
SATURDAY 20TH HYPERCOLOUR PRESENTS.. CATZ N DOGZ (GET PHYSICAL) 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £8 after Music Policy: Forward thinking house & techno |
SUNDAY 21ST SHOPLIFTER CRAIG RICHARDS & DERREN SMART PLUS GUEST TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Reedits, disco, house and old favourites |
| THURSDAY 25TH T B/SS ZED BIAS BLAKEY (DJ HERO) D CODE DICK TURPIN 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Dubstep and BASS |
FRIDAY 26TH T BAR PRESENTS... DERRICK CARTER (CHICAGO) SEVERINO (HORSE MEAT DISCO) NATHAN GREGORY WILKINS (ESP/PRIVATE PARTY) DAVE CONGREVE (REPEAT REPEAT/SOMA) Upstairs STEVE PROCTOR (ACIDISCOTEC) 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £8 after Music Policy: Boompty bomp house meets CLASSICS & VINTAGE disco |
SATURDAY 27th LICK MY DECK PRESENTS... BABYFORD BRUNO PRONSATO LIVE SHAUN SOOMRO 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £8 after Music Policy: Forward thinking house & techno |
SUNDAY 28TH KUBICLE PRESENTS.... GUESTS TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Reedits, disco, house and old favourites |
| MARCH 2010 PROGRAMME | |||
| THURSDAY 4TH REDBULL MUSIC ACADEMY PRESENTS... GUEST TBC ADMISSION: FREE 9PM - 6AM MUSIC POLICY: DUBSTEP & BASS |
FRIDAY 5TH T BAR PRESENTS... KIKI (BPITCH CONTROL) MATT WALSH (TURBO) CLEMENT MEYER 9PM-6AM ADMISSION: free before11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Going deep with the finest techno & house music |
SUNDAY 6TH FURTHER PROJECTS... GUESTS TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: HOUSE & TECHNO |
THURSDAY 11TH T B/SS Rattus rattus and klose one present... Flux Pavillion Jayou Noisses Klose One Rattus Rattus 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: DUBSTEP & BASS |
| FRIDAY 12TH T BAR PRESENTS... SKULL JUICE Upstairs DAMON MARTIN (DISCO BLOODBATH) 9PM-6AM ADMISSION: free before11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: DISCO, house and electro |
SATURDAY 13TH PHONICA RECORDS TILL VON SEIN 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Forward thinking house & techno |
SUNDAY 14TH KUBICLE GUESTS TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Reedits, disco, house and old favourites. THE WEEK OF THE PARTY - DRESS TO IMPRESS. |
THURSDAY 18TH T B/SS We're Not Cool Presents... we're Not cool and atticus harris 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Dubstep & bass |
| FRIDAY 19TH SNAP CRACKLE & POP.. MARTINEZ BROTHERS DANIEL STEINBERG CHRIS CLARK & JP (WAX ON) HARRY JAMES & CARLOSI (SNAP CRACKLE & POP) 9PM-6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after MUSIC POLICY: House, techno and gripping beats |
SATURDAY 20TH REGULARIRREGULAR DAVID LABIEJ (Remote Area, Intacto) Spencer Parker (Remote Area, Rekids, Buzzin FLY) NIKOS (RRR, NON) 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: HOUSE & TECHNO |
THURSDAY 25TH T B/SS shiva soundsystem presents.... Soldgie, V.I.V.E.K (Deep Medi) Subterra & Dekko (Frequency) Nerm and D-Code 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: DUBSTEP & BASS |
FRIDAY 26TH T BEAR... KERRI CHANDLER 2 BEARS 9PM-6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after MUSIC POLICY: SOULFUL CLASSIC HOUSE MUSIC MEETS UPFRONT CURRENT DISCO & POP. |
| SATURDAY 27TH APERITIVO & FRIENDS 9PM - 6AM ADMISSION: free before 11pm / £ 8 after Music Policy: Forward thinking house & techno |
SUNDAY 28TH KUBICLE GUESTS TBC 8PM - 3AM ADMISSION: FREE Music Policy: Reedits, disco, house and old favourites |
T BAR 22 HOUNDSDITCH EC3A 7DB www.tbarlondon.com T: 02032061091 |
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