1988 TV documentary on London raves
Click to watch
a World in Action 30 minute program about raving in London in 1988……
David Guetta’s Song Remains the Same
Top British music critic Alexis Petridis accused David Guetta of provoking him to have a mid-life crisis this week, after he tuned in to the Radio 1 chart show ‘and ‘discovered to my mounting horror that everything sounded exactly the same.’
“Oh God, this is it, I thought: I’ve turned into my dad,” he admitted, “But on closer investigation, it became apparent that the chart did sound weirdly homogenous.
“Almost everything had a four-to-the-floor house beat,” he noted, citing Guetta as the man responsible, “Almost everything was decorated with synth noises somewhere between rave and trance, and had a hint of dubstep.”
Ordinary People Acid House Documentary Seeks Funds (interview)
click on the picture to donate
Producers of High On Hope are seeking personal donations to clear music rights for the award winning rave movie, to allow the gritty documentary to be released on DVD and shown in independent cinemas.
Contributors who donate £3 receive a secret link to watch the film in advance, while those giving £100 receive a name-check in the final credits, a DVD and 2 tickets to a private screening and after-party. Producers need to raise £30.000. (Click HERE to donate: http://www.highonhope.com/donate/ )
The fascinating film charts the inside story behind the rise and fall of the illegal late 80s acid house scene in Blackburn, via interviews with the core party organisers and footage from some of the legendary raves, which attracted tens of thousands each weekend in 1990 and 1991.
Spurning the ‘suited superstar DJs’ and the ‘people who carved careers, adulation and financial muscle out of the acid house revolution’ the film instead focuses on the largely anonymous individuals who helped create the scene, most of whom ended up prison for their efforts.
Amsterdam’s Awakenings; 15 Years of Total Techno (interview)
Awakenings- click for more
“We’ve been around for so long that people know that they get value for their money with us. For our latest outdoor festival this year we sold out four months in advance. That was a new record for us and it for this summer it was the fastest selling out dance festival in Holland.”
Almost 15 years after throwing their first party at Amsterdam’s Gasworks, Awakenings has become one of the world’s most popular techno festivals, most recently attracting 35,000 to their latest outdoor bash, one of numerous events they present throughout Holland each year.
Tickets (including for 2 day events and their upcoming New Year’s Eve party) cost less than 50EUR, and as a cursory glance at any of the last 9 years of line-ups listed on their website shows, commercial compromise has never been on the agenda.
“How much of a temptation is it for us to book a David Guetta or Afrojack? No temptation at all,” event founder and Awakenings figurehead Rocco chuckles, “Awakenings is strictly techno!”
Berlin Party Crews Challenge ‘Ruling Corporations’
Click for full party details
Leading Berlin techno collectives including Seth Troxler’s Visionquest and Salon Zur Wilden Renate are lending their support to an anti-capitalist event in Kreuzberg’s Gorlitzer Park this Friday (11/11) at which a sound system will entertain the assembled protestors.
‘We call our governments to stand by us and shift the world’s priorities from the ruling corporations to us, the people’, Freedom in the Park organizers Toi Toi declared in a statement issued this week, “We gather in Berlin, others are gathering in many other parts of Europe and the United States. Bit by bit we can change the world! Believe and act!” they urged.
Protestors are inviting to bring ‘signs, musical instruments, friends, lots of goodwill and confidence’ to the gathering which takes place this Friday morning at 11am.
“We need to prove to our governments and ourselves that we have the power to reject social injustice and reclaim our rights to be free human beings on this planet,” Freedom in the Park added.
“If we do not make a stand now, we will keep having huge corporate bodies controlling us with even more rules and regulations. If we do not make a stand now, our planet resources will soon be fully exploited by the greedy corporations and even our right to make a stand will soon disappear together with our right for prosperity & happiness,” they warned. (Facebook event details: http://on.fb.me/w58fSD )
Opus 3 : Fine Day
Orbital co-conspirator Kirsty Hawkshaw
Orbital (Officially) Return
Click for more on Orbital
Acid house pioneers Orbital have confirmed they are to headline a six date UK tour next April, at which they’ll be promoting their long awaited as yet unnamed artist album some 7 years after they officially split up.
Pioneering performing electronic music live at mega raves such as Glastonbury and Tribal Gathering in the 90s, the Hartnoll brothers became global superstar though quit in 2004 to pursue solo careers.
Five years on, however, they temporarily reformed to play a 20 year memorial gig at the Big Chill, prompting Paul to admit to having second thoughts about the wisdom of their decision to quit.
“I didn’t (miss being in Orbital) for the first couple of years but then it started building up,” he told the Times, “Seeing contemporaries you always used to be on bills with — the Chemical Brothers, Underworld, the Prodigy — still doing it, we started to say: ‘I used to enjoy that; that used to be a laugh.”
Speaking to the Sunday Times in the same year, he was even more direct, admitting his plans to hook up with Hollywood agents commissioning film scores was trickier than expected.
“Their attitude was, ‘I’m not getting Orbital. What am I getting?’ What do you do on your own?” he said.
Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff
The Orb; Live @ Glastonbury (1992)
Click on the picture to listen
Fantazia; Raving, We’re (Still) Raving- 20 Years On (interview)
“Loads of old ravers come come to our Fantazia parties still, I would estimate that this year’s events so far have been 50/50 old ravers to new ones. It’s amazing to shake so many hands of those that were there at the first events.”
Chatting to Skrufff this week as he finalized preparations for next weekend’s 20th birthday celebration (in Trafford Park, Manchester) event promoter Charlie Fantazia remains infectiously evangelical.
“Fantazia past and present events mean a lot to so many people. It truly was the 2nd summer of love,” he smiles, “People met their present wives and husbands at the events and made lifelong friends at the 90′s raves.”
Click for details of Fantazia The Greatest Show on Earth’; takes place on October 8 at Bowlers, Trafford Park, Manchester
The power of the parties and the enthusiasm he recalls is immediately apparent from a quick Google search of Fantazia Youtube, revealing scores of Youtube clips of tens of thousands dancing, ironically like no-ones watching (http://bit.ly/BFDGH , http://bit.ly/tgHJ0 (http://bit.ly/oKm2kY ). What’s also more than clear is the diversity of the original crowds, with black, white, young and old ravers jammed in side by side yet clearly all comfortable. (Fantazia Donnington: http://bit.ly/nM9AvO )
“The 50% that are new to Fantazia or raves are privileged,” Charlie continues. “They are getting to see the friendly atmosphere off the raves of old. No aggression, just friendly happy people. Fantazia ravers really keep to that PLUR ethos, not the hoody attitude at other raves we have been to where the menace is palpable.
We encourage our ravers to go wild with their outfits and just wear want they want, you don’t get the negative snobby vibe that is associated with the superclubs.”
