POLO & PAN, Darkside, Giorgio Poi, BIRTHH, John Glacier, Overmono, okgiorgio, Max Cooper, Eva Bloo, and Sofia Kourtesis

Oh, their previous concerts were better. Can't be 100% sure, but it looked like most people coming to see them are not looking for a House disco. I certainly wasn't. Nevertheles, the fact that the crowd was singing along all the songs, was amazing!!
Sound ingeneers sometimes could go and check the sound volume at the front as well... it was quite impossible.

Darkside’s debut (studio) album Psychic was very probably my favourite record released last year. I loved it. I love it. The experimental electronic-rock duo consists of Nicolas Jaar, one of the greatest modern producers and electronic artists, and guitarist Dave Harrington, who has played with Nico (as he is affectionately known) for years.
I’ve seen Jaar’s live show a couple of times; in fact, the last time was at the Barbican in London, where he bought out Harrington for a Darkside segment. But the first time I saw Darkside proper was at Fabric for their album launch party. The claustrophobic and dark club was an oddly perfect setting for this show, especially with the (over)use of a smoke machine. Their unique fusion of psychedelic rock and ambient minimal techno has proved sort of divisive to fans of Jaar, at least their recorded output, but live they are a totally different machine.
They mainly side-step conventional song structures to create a soundscape of growing intensity – each ‘piece of music’ starts with sporadic sound effects and echo-laden guitar noises, before Jaar slowly add layers of synth and drum patterns. Eventually, a guitar hook by Harrington or a brief snippet of live vocals from Jaar will resonate as the audience recognises a song, but then it disappears amongst a wave of layered noises more akin to a post-rock band. Darkside’s strengths as a live project lay in building tension and then stretching out ideas far beyond what is usually considered ‘music’. It’s challenging but heady stuff. When they do play their own music, such as the funky take on ‘Paper Trails’ or the extended version of ‘Heart’, they are electric, but the best moments come when they rock out and jam, such as during a mutated cover of Black Sabbath’s ‘Planet Caravan’. That Fabric show was absolutely incredible…I can’t wait to see them at Dimensions Festival in Croatia this summer.

Electronic techno is a genre I really enjoy, and Max Cooper’s ambient techno sets are something that I love experiencing live. The way that he uses the samples on his iPad and skims through hundreds of different sounds recording them live and creating a clever mix out of them in incredible to watch. So many DJs these days simply prerecord their set and do hardly anything live, but Max is the total opposite, playing I’d say about 80% of his work live. Although he’s incredibly focused on getting him music right, he’s also great at interacting with his audience, and performs his music with emotion, and dedication.

His mixing desk was huge, and when he opened with his remix of Sasha, everyone was cheering and dancing for him. A lot of his music bridges the gap between very chilled out music, and more intense techno, but the balance and transitions are perfect to keep everyone dancing and on their toes not knowing what to expect. The great thing about Cooper, is that he is full of energy, and throughout the set it didn’t drop at all, whether it was the mellow tracks with his self directed videos projected behind him, or the dance beats. Everyone loved the show, and he’s a great live performer.