Feeling a lack of serotonin-addled, chestplate-shuddering and euphoria-and-disorientation-inducing darkside dance music in your life this week? In which case look no further than Colony’s Summer Rave, which takes place this Saturday 3rd August at London’s Corsica Studios and features a line-up running all the way from techno (both with a ‘ch’ and a ‘k’) and acid house through to electro, hardcore, jungle, drum & bass and probably pretty much everything else you can think of along the way.
Heading up proceedings are a couple of Quietus favourites: Perc (pictured) whose Wicker & Steel album still attracts plenty of plays over at tQHQ and whose recent Boiler Room podcast crash-landed in second place in our mixes/compilations of 2013 so far list; and Kowton, purveyor of supremely raw, grimey house and one-third of Bristol crew Livity Sound. They’re joined by a weighty and varied list of other names: Radioactive Man, Untold, Equinox, Anodyne, Posthuman, Double O, Kawn, Strepsil, Tengui and Colony residents MB & CB. Oh, and the Quietus’ Luke Turner and Rory Gibb will be opening proceedings in room 2 with a selection of music that hopefully suits the gravity of the occasion.
Tickets are £8 advance/£10 on the door, and can be obtained here. For more information visit the Facebook page, and cast your eyes over the flyer at the bottom of this page.
Colony have put on some excellent parties in the capital over the last few years – and indeed, their triple-header with Plex and Machine last year was one of our favourite nights out in 2012, and we’ve already been informed there’ll be another similar showdown to come later this year.
So in advance of this weekend we asked the Colony crew to gather together a list of suitably heavy and varied summer bangers as a primer for Saturday night. They obliged with an impressive selection which you can listen to below, from "elephantine tekno" and "gurning ’91 bangers" to time-stretched vocals that sound like "David Cameron being sucked into a black hole." These should give your afternoon a fair old jump-start.
X-101 – ‘Sonic Destroyer’
(Underground Resistance, 1991)
"Elephantine tekno behemoth from Detroit. Does exactly what it says on the tin."
Missing Channel – ‘Rave To The Maximum’
(Hardwax, 1991)
"Unlike so many half-arsed bloopers from the same era, this gurning ’91 banger truly lives up to its title, imploring us to tear our tops off and pump our fists in a sweaty crevice deep inside the bowels of Tresor (or, failing that, a puddle of piss in a squat in Doncaster)."
Wax Doctor – ‘A New Direction’
(Basement Records, 1992)
"Classic 1992 hardcore roller on Reading’s legendary Basement Records. A true anthem of the Glory Daze and a sound that’s never been bettered."
Nebula II – ‘Peace Maker’
(Reinforced Records, 1992)
"More vintage ’92 business: bleeps, breaks, acid, pads and superlative chipmunk vocals. Pure gold."
DJ Hype & Ganja Max – ‘Rinse Out’
(Ganja Records, 1995)
"Classic spliff-toting ragga junglism from the original ganja master(s). The sound of 1995."
Ed Rush & Nico – ‘Proton’
(No U-Turn, 1997)
"The best track from possibly the best D&B album ever. Monstrous T2 bass and ice-cold breakbeats sculpted into something weirdly ecstatic but fundamentally terrifying. File under: darkside."
Jega – ‘Intron V’
(Planet Mu, 1998)
"One of the heaviest tracks we’ve ever heard, thanks to a devastating Reese bassline and super-hectic junglist breaks. The time-stretched vocal sample that appears late on sounds like David Cameron being sucked into a black hole (a pleasing mental image if ever there was one)."
DJ Bigga G – ‘Mind, Body And Soul (4×4 Mix)’
(Ruff N Ready Records, 2002)
"Demented speed garage shuffler, sounding like nothing if not Mr Blobby on dodgy 2002-vintage Notts pills, armed with a Glock and a half-swigged bottle of Veuve Clicquot. Dangerous."
Anodyne – ‘Menace 808’
(Earwiggle, 2011)
"We’ve been trying to book Anodyne for years, because he makes music like this. Both deranged and addictive, Menace 808 sounds like the Byker Grove theme rejigged for rigs in fields in 1993. Hardcore troopers, be ready."
Posthuman – ‘Helioshock’
(RSI Recordings, 2013)
"Another plug for Saturday. Classic-sounding acid house from I Love Acid’s Posthuman, bringing things right the way back to where it all began. Watch out for that bassline…"
