Where did the night go?

[Full Lotus]

I have been going to psychedelic parties for quite a long time. Over the last couple of years, I have noticed the distinct lack of night time tuneage at London parties, both legitimate ones and squat ones. When there has been night music played at squat parties, this has been in the morning or in the case of legit parties, only sunshiney morning music all the time. I'm not saying all parties are like this, but it does seem to be a trend. IMHO, you can't have one without the other, as sure as night follows day. As a result of this, I feel that the journey aspect of a party is also missing. The best parties, for me, have night music played from about 1-4am and with a quality morning set afterwards. I also think that the current trend for having loads of live acts and DJ's in the main room doesn't help.
Personally, I would go for 1, maybe 2 lives max and 3 DJ's. 1 hour DJ sets just don't cut it. It doesn't give them long enough to 'tell a story' imo. Balance is the key afterall, and I feel there is a lack of balance in London. You only have a certain amount of time at an indoor party, and to my mind, it makes sense to have a variety of psy at an indoor party, othewise it can get very boring, be it only night music being played or morning style. I hate to say it, but "It's not as good as it used to be"
What are your views?

:tongue1: :unsure: :smokingr: :P :cool:

 

[Full Lotus]

So no one else has an opinion on this or cares???? *Get's coat*

 

[Red five]

i just think that some night stuff is just too mad. i know it is for me. think about it, when fucked, most people prefer their brain to be tickled rather than raped.

i prefer some fluff cos it's got more of an old school "goa" edge...silicon sound et al.

3Dvision and Nexus is about as hard as i can hack anymore.

know what you mean about 1 hour sets as well.

 

[lurk]

no, i have an opinion on this too!

and it's pretty much the same as yours. especially about the length of dj sets... 2 hours minimum please!

a good night for me would be

10-12 warm up dj playing prog to groovy full on
12-2 another dj cranking it up to night time madness
2-3 night live act
3-5 transition dj night - fluffier
5-6 morning live act

this would rely on dj's who know their music well and know how to pick tracks to tell a story (a good dj can take the mood of the music from night to morning in 3 or 4 tracks maximum without anyone thinking it's strange). not ones who just bang out 2 hours of exactly the same shit. like quite a lot of the dj's out there at the moment.
that's for yer average club night; obviously it was an outdoor, or late finishing squat party then i'd give the 2nd and 3rd dj's an extra hour and then have another 2 dj's after the 2nd live act playing fluffy morning tunes to start with then progressively more progressive music. if you see what i mean

 

[Monkey Do]

Who does the blame lie with then? Promotors not booking DJ's who play night time? DJ's playing it safe and following what ever worked for the bloke or bird before?

 

[lurk]

a bit of both, i reckon.

 

[Continuum]

Put that coat down Arv...
Course I do...I was just afraid of getting shouted at by the 'its as good today as it ever was' faction

Totally agree - Most indoor parties have about 8 hours to fill, one chill room and one banging, maybe two. Trouble is promoters seem to have to make their party look amazing by having a huge lineup of famous names. As you say, two or more live acts and loads of DJs means nobody gets to play more than an hour or so.

Any continuity is lost...and combined with the increasingly rigid formula stuff that gets played means that the parties I've been to over the last few years have been quite musically irrelevant.
These days I'll go to socialise and the music is only there to stomp to when I'm rushing and ignore the rest of the time. I seem to spend more time in the chillout than the main room. That can't be right!

 

[lurk]

Put that coat down Arv...
Course I do...I was just afraid of getting shouted at by the 'its as good today as it ever was' faction

i think the music is as good today as it ever was, what isn't is the lack of vision by some promoters, and the proliferation of dj's who make it impossible for the promoters to book the right number.
promoters should have the courage to say no, and only book 1 dj for every 2 hours of music.

 

[Full Lotus]

*Put's coat down*

I hear what you're saying Paul, but I'm not on about the wacked crazy stuff, I wouldn't play that indoors, unless it was expected. There is plenty of night stuff with melodies ala Goa style, I know cuz some of the Ketuh stuff is like that. The music has never been more diverse than it is today, but Uk promoters, I think, are playing it safe. No innovation anymore. Come on, it never used to be like this did it? I'm with AC, I go to parties these days to socialise and not really for the music, cuz alot of it is derivative drivel imho. :partysmi:

 

[josh]

no, i have an opinion on this too!

and it's pretty much the same as yours. especially about the length of dj sets... 2 hours minimum please!

a good night for me would be

10-12 warm up dj playing prog to groovy full on
12-2 another dj cranking it up to night time madness
2-3 night live act
3-5 transition dj night - fluffier
5-6 morning live act

this would rely on dj's who know their music well and know how to pick tracks to tell a story (a good dj can take the mood of the music from night to morning in 3 or 4 tracks maximum without anyone thinking it's strange). not ones who just bang out 2 hours of exactly the same shit. like quite a lot of the dj's out there at the moment.
that's for yer average club night; obviously it was an outdoor, or late finishing squat party then i'd give the 2nd and 3rd dj's an extra hour and then have another 2 dj's after the 2nd live act playing fluffy morning tunes to start with then progressively more progressive music. if you see what i mean

ToF last year (end of Jan i think) had OOOD - 1.5/2hrs near begining of the night, then Scorb live 1.5/2hrs then Astral Mike Dj set from 5-7 - he played after scorb and his first few tracks were similar style and slowly worked it up (pretty seamlessly i might add) to happy morning music - was a fantastic party
- just giving an example of the last one i went to that 'got it right'

 

[jamez_23]

Yes Josh - the music was very good that night I seem to remember ....... the first dj was good too ... cant remember who it was now ...... hmmm geo perhaps >? <not sure>

 

[josh]

not sure but i remember that too - to be honest, all of ToF's residents are pretty darn good

 

[ell]

:goodthre:

I think you need a warm up dJ playing nice build up tunes to introduce a good stomp early on which is not too hectic followed by a dark/fullon Live act or Dj which has a good build up to night time tunes followed by another act with a solid dark/fullon set followed by, then moving to more prog DJ who will move the tunes from freq drops to more stretched out, and more funky deep bass lines then on to some morning, fluffy trance.

Here are 5 tunes to sum up the 5 stags:

1: Sub6 and pixel - teder beseder
2: puzzle - get some visions (or Phi - Everything Never Cant Stop Us Dude)
3: Azax Syndrom - Unclouded Eyes
4: Safi connection - ddance flooor
5: Rumble pack - mad robots

By just doing this list I see it can be very hard to decide, and I guess my list is probably all wrong!

 

[Full Lotus]

:goodthre:

I think you need a warm up dJ playing nice build up tunes to introduce a good stomp early on which is not too hectic followed by a dark/fullon Live act or Dj which has a good build up to night time tunes followed by another act with a solid dark/fullon set followed by, then moving to more prog DJ who will move the tunes from freq drops to more stretched out, and more funky deep bass lines then on to some morning, fluffy trance.

Here are 5 tunes to sum up the 5 stags:

1: Sub6 and pixel - teder beseder
2: puzzle - get some visions (or Phi - Everything Never Cant Stop Us Dude)
3: Azax Syndrom - Unclouded Eyes
4: Safi connection - ddance flooor
5: Rumble pack - mad robots

By just doing this list I see it can be very hard to decide, and I guess my list is probably all wrong!

Seems about right to me

 

[Geoff3]

this would rely on dj's who know their music well and know how to pick tracks to tell a story (a good dj can take the mood of the music from night to morning in 3 or 4 tracks maximum without anyone thinking it's strange). not ones who just bang out 2 hours of exactly the same shit. like quite a lot of the dj's out there at the moment.

words of wisdom I feel, totally agree lurk

 

[morph]

it would have been grham (geo) at that tribe of frog night - he's a proper proggie nut!

 

[ell]

Went to "Mad dreams made actual" recently and I felt the music choice for the morning was not too impressive. Nearly all the people I was with wanted to hear something either very funky or morning trance to lift the atmosphere a bit. The party location and organisation was excellant though.

 

[bez23]

I think too many people fear the bonkers.

Learn to love the bonkers, embrace the bonkers. The bonkers is your friend.

 

[hugoblin]

said like a pro bez

"applause"

 

[V.O.R]

i have to agree about the very few time djs have to play in parties here in london...
sometimes 1h, 1h30... i think the minimum should be 2h... unless its something huge like antiworld, then i think it is ok to make a shorter set cause its more like a showcase kinda party... anyway, I believe that 2 good live acts and 3 good djs are more likely to bring ppl into the real journey then djs filling gaps for live acts... at the end, djs playing 1hbecome more of a competition to see who rocks more the dancefloor on its very short time... and this is not what it should be about... organizers should be more worried about quality and not quantity... I am sure ppl would get back home feeling that something happend that night... i must confess that sometimes i get back home feeling quite empty... and this is bad...