Vogue. The bible of fashion. The benchmark for style. To be invited to a party hosted by Vogue, you know you're in the circle of the elite. To be playing for a party hosted by Vogue - well, it's an honour. Vogue's bi-annual fashion week party held at the iconic Borchardt restaurant was the setting for yesterday's party. I played along with one half of the Felder + Felder twins - Dani.   After a sound check and quick bite at the nearby Bocca di Bacco (George Clooney's favourite haunt we later find out), it was show time. Dressed in matching FELDER + FELDER prints, our heels were strapped on and ready to rock the DJ booth. One thing I have to credit to the Germans ... no two.
It was hard to concentrate on the mixing. Of course, it was highly probable half of them were gay. I have a tendency to rate gay men.The night went on to the early hours of the morning, champagne flowed and Prada heels were swung off.  Sample track list : " No Eyes (MYNGA remix) " - Claptone " Tainted Love (DANK remix) - Soft Cell "Feel You" - Tapetenweschel "Time to get physical (Botan remix)" - Nice7 "Talkin bout" - Mees Dierdop With thanks to FELDER + FELDER for the dress. Headphones by Urbanears. All round fun by the team at Borchardt and Vogue Germany.
2 Comments
 Landed in sunny hot Buenos Aires! Race number 4 of the FIA Formula E is on Saturday, but before that I've got some promo to do. There's nothing like spreading the word with music. One of the sponsors of driver Luca de Grassi organised a dinner and short set for me to play at VITA, one of the hottest new bars in Palermo Soho. This area is exploding with hip and trendy restaurants and bars, where people spill out onto the cobble stone streets under the amber streetlights. VITA Buenos Aires has a rooftop bar with DJ booth and small tables scattered around. Since I'm in South America I thought it appropriate to play some Latin infused beats, tribal house mixed with the new deep house tracks. I have to admit that walking around Buenos Aires, even their corner stores play decent and recent house tracks. Vita track list : "Do you feel the same" (Oliver Dollar remix) - Hercules & Love Affair "Prayer in C" (Robin Schulz remix) - Lilly Wood & The Prick & Robin Schulz "Trumpets Victory" - David August "Box Clever" - Huxley "Magic" - Lars Moston, Teenage Mutants  Thanks to all those who came down. If you are coming to the Formula E race then catch me all day at the Emotion Club!  I went to Berlin to celebrate New Years. It was an option that won only to Ibiza. But having done that last year, it was preferable to do something more out of the ordinary. What else was cooler than Berlin? With history seeping from every building, wall and street; music that filled every crevice and art on every corner, it would be the best destination to practice the infamous eat-sleep-rave-repeat experience. On the last day - morning rather, we decided it was blasphemy to come to the city of music and not pay respects to it's heart. Berghain. Coming to Berlin and not ( attempting ) going to Berghain was like going to Jerusalem and not making a pilgrimage to the Western Wall. Excitement almost exploded in our faces when we couldn't find a taxi, braving the Berlin cold on the deserted street of Torstrasse. But alas, out from the foggy distance, the cream chariot with a fuzzy yellow light atop its chassis came reigniting the excitement of our adventure.
Yet that was only the easiest part of the mission. With heavy rumours that only the chosen few pass through the concrete gates of the bellowing post-Stalin structure, we could very well have been back down the frozen gravel pathway as quickly as we'd marched up it. Thankfully no four hour demonic queue waited us upon arrival. In fact we happily almost skipped to the front at the glee that the railings were hauntingly free. Maybe a little too happily. The four doormen glanced us up and down, a snigger or two were launched unashamedly in our faces. I quickly wiped the smile off my face. I tried to look as nonplussed as I could, searching for the famous Sven Marquardt who was - quite obviously, not present.  And so, another race has ended, another after party to fire up. Punta del Este has hands down been the most exciting race so far! From the people, to the atmosphere, the setting, the weather, the view ... I could go on! Everyone at the FE team was high on good vibes and not a lot was needed to get everyone in a party mood. The after party was a real treat. Set in a beautiful house on the rocks of La Barra, an area just north of Punta's city centre. The dance floor was almost on the water, set upon the villa's terrace, waves crashing up against the walls of the DJ booth. After spinning all day at the Emotion Club that was trackside (and with a glorious but teasing view of the beach), I had just enough time to change, polish my set list and burn a few CDs with backup tracks that I may feel like busting out in that spontaneous moment of gotta-play-that-song NOW! No matter how small or big the gig is - I always get nervous. I don't mind, in fact I thrive on it as it keeps me on my feet, alert and in touch with the crowd and music. Nerves were set even higher this time as I was warming up for Erick Morillo. I'd played with Erick before a few years ago at a few after parties for Future Festival in Sydney and that infamous spot in Ibiza some are lucky to know of, The Kave. Excitement, nerves, stress - someone get me a drink! There were a few guidelines that I had given myself for this set - beachy tribal tunes, Morillo-esque towards the end and a few classic vocals. Oh and absolutely no Subliminal records - standard when warming up to any producer/dj. Don't play their tracks. Sample track list
" Boy Boy Boy " - Andhim " Underground ( Dennis Ferrer remix ) " - Nick Curly " Don't stop " - Yamil, Escribano " Hey Now ( Arty remix ) "- London Grammar " I can't understand " - Chocolate Puma & Firebeatz " The return of Wolfy " - Mark Knight Full set will be available to download on Soundcloud and Mixcloud . With thanks to FELDER + FELDER for glamming me up yet again.  The silly season is upon us. So get your Christmas shopping done now and enjoy all those Christmas parties that you will eventually crash ! It's the last week of the Thursday set at Blakes, but we'll be back next year with a big surprise. Thanks to all those who have come down in the past and supported. Playing deep, disco and groovy house from 9pm till late. For those that want to continue on, Raffles is down the street and ready to host your mischief. The successful introduction of their Underground Thursdays titled "Le Jeudi Soir" will entertain all your deep house vibes. BLAKES LONDON
33 Roland Gardens SW7 3PF LONDON 
It's the fifth week running now of Music in the Library - held in the The Club area of Cafe Royal Hotel. A weekly event that brings together The Club members along with their guests, allowing a chance to catch up and cause some mid-week mischief. Groove along to the latest in deep house and indie music over a classy cocktail in this cosy corner, hidden from bustling Central London yet convenient to stay till the end. It's on every Wednesday, 8:30pm till late upstairs in the Library of The Club at Cafe Royal Hotel. Chic and keen to join? Not a member? Reach out at [email protected] w 
 after-party noun a party held after another event, especially a concert or another party. * * * Yup, it was that time again. The after party of the race! Held in the stunning Luna Sky Bar overlooking Kuala Lumpur, the rain made things a little slow at the start but soon everyone was in the pool and rocking. I didn't get to see much of Kuala Lumpur thanks to the fever but the view from up the top was certainly a tour guide in one. Champagne flowed, tequila was shot and a domino of exhausted yet excited Formula E workers fell into the pool. Unfortunately, the indecisive rain meant I couldn't DJ in the E-booth that was brought out. But nevertheless we carried on with the festivities. Sample track list: "Blame" - Calvin Harris "My head is a jungle (MK remix)" - Wanklemut "Everything (Mark Fanciulli remix)" - Rampa "Need you" - Duke Dumont "Heartbreaker (Diskjokke remix)" - Metronomy Special thanks to my girls at FELDER FELDER for glamming me up again for the event.Check their threads here : FELDER FELDER
 * * * After a short but sweet stop over in Hong Kong, it was time to head to Putraya, Malaysia for Race #2 of the FIA Formula E Championship, of which I am resident DJ. Despite a free upgrade to Business <insert happy dance>, I managed to catch a cold aboard the meat fridge - sorry, plane. So my first 24 hours in Malaysia were less than glamorous. Bed ridden, clogged up sinuses and up to my ears in the duvet, my only consolation was that I finally had that sexy husky voice every female wishes she had. Ahh but alas, with no one to show it to. With a 5:30am call time on Saturday's race day, I felt like I was back in my modelling days. Only with no make-up artist to fuss over me. The Emotion Club opened to the guests at 7:30am, so I was in for a good eight hours of music making. The Putraya track WAS quite overwhelming. The main lane was in line with the Presidential Palace, a towering majestic building that looked like something from Aladdin. The race was just as thrilling at the Beijing race. With crashes and over takings of skill, the crowd cheered on as De Grassi of Audi - who started in 18th place, went on to craftily work his way up to a second place finish during the 31 laps. AFter the race there was a small after party in the Emotion Club, but soon everyone dwindled away to rest up for the big event tonight at Kuala Lumpur's Luna Sky Bar.
Emotion Club sample track list: "Slow Down ( Pixelated Remix )" - Poolside "What's That" - Juliet Sikora, Chemical Surf "Oooh" - Superflu "Slip Away" - Bambook feat. Cari Golden "Help me to remember" - Sugar Hill   *** Last night was the first installment of Music in the Library - a weekly event held in The Library of Club Cafe Royal. Situated right in the heart of boisterous Piccadilly, yet nestled in the quite cove of the Hotel, Wednesday nights will bring together the clubs members and their guests for a chance to network, mingle and groove to the latest house music. *** Playing in a smaller more intimate space means limiting tracks that are heavy on bass and are more melodic so that you get the crowd tapping or swaying away. I had gone on another downloading rampage last week and found a whole stack of tracks that fit just this criteria ...
Track list: "Magic" - Teenage Mutants & Lars Moston "Oooh" - Super Flu "Fading Nights" - Parra for Cuva, Anna Naklab "Recognize" - SoKool feat. Mr Schug "Lost" - Simion feat. Roland Clark "Long Days, Hot Nights ( Claptone Remix )" - Sirens of Lesbos  On the weekend I traveled to Frankfurt for Sven Vath's 50th birthday. I first met Sven properly about four years ago when he was playing at the Future Festival in Sydney, Australia. I had briefly met the Cocoon family during the Kave parties in Ibiza before that, but here I was Sven's back-up dancer. Literally. I had been in the crowd with one of my best friends, dancing like we were back in high school. Electronic music still didn't demand a large stage at Australian music festivals back then, so Sam and I had almost a whole dance floor to craze around on. We were both plucked up and put on stage where we continued to dance for the remainder of the set. As the world continued to prove smaller, when I moved to London the following year I was sharing the same apartment with Sarah Qaiser - head dancer at Cocoon, who is now sister and partner in crime. Later on, living in Ibiza Mondays were spent in Amnesia for Sven's Cocoon residency, then I would go on to work for Cocoon and thus a relationship with not just Sven but the whole Cocoon group would make them family. So there was no question that the trip to Mannehim would not happen. It was also an opportunity to write a feature for Pulse Radio, detailing the night. Check it out below >> http://pulseradio.net/articles/2014/10/time-warp-papa-sven-turns-50-in-review 
|
Tales & Turntables
Catch up with all my news, adventures and random music rants here! Archives
May 2019
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
Web Hosting by FatCow