Monthly newspaper and online publication targeting 18 to 35 year olds. The ultimate guide to the hottest parties, going out and having fun. Music, fashion, film, travel, festivals, technology, comedy, and parties! London, Barcelona, Miami and Ibiza.
Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/542684
7 31 Issue 77 / 2015 HOUSE/ tEcHnO guestlist.net crazy energy; some of the crowd would have been there all day, although you would never know it. The main man Maceo Plex stepped up for the final slot and completely smashed it – we didn't get to catch him at ADE due to an afterparty mix up, so this was a long time coming for us. The man is a master mixer and knows exactly how to work a crowd. It was another hugely popular party for us the following night, the Moda Black vs Avotre showcase. With a line-up including the likes of Ben Pearce, Russ Yallop, Richy Ahmed, Darius Syrossian, Sidney Charles and Santé, it's not hard to see why the queue was snaking down the street from the doors of Warehouse BCN. The set-up was simple, Moda Black on the bottom floor and Avotre up top. It was more melodic house vibe, and crucially cooler temperature-wise, from the Moda Black boys, and though it was next level hot upstairs, it was impossible not to move to the sounds of Santé and Sidney Charles – they are Guestlist faves and beloved by many others, and it's not hard to see why. There was no way we were ready to end the night when the party ended, so we followed it up with a trip to the beach to watch the sun rise. A pretty big way to see off a pretty big night. By Friday Sónar proper was in full swing and there was a mad buzz to the city. We went slightly west of centre to Poble Espanyol, an old fortification, craft village and nightclub. The open air La Terrazza played host to Miss Kittin & Friends, and first up was Hot Creations man Miguel Campbell. He's probably the perfect party starter as he delivered the sunshine-y house vibes that have made the label famous. The legendary Kerri Chandler followed him with a perfectly pitched set – classic, soulful house with a few disco nuggets like Chic's 'Lost In Music' thrown in. Basically he played exactly what you would want to hear on a hot summer night. Closing out the party was the lady herself, Miss Kittin. She had previously said that she wanted to do something a bit different to her usual for Barcelona, and boy did it go down well. She mixed vocal house with techier cuts and all round massive tunes, like Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love' and Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. Not only did she spin but she sang live at the same time, looping vocals on the fly and virtually mixing a track; it was incredible. There's nothing like watching the sun slowly come up as you're dancing away, and when she dropped the Todd Terry remix of 'Missing', the crowd went nuts even though it was 6.30am. Nobody wanted the party to end and she ended up running over time but nobody cared, we were witness to something very special. There was no let up by the weekend, and on Saturday we hit Razzmatazz, a BCN institution. All the small clubs we had been in before were royally put to shame; Razzmatazz is fucking massive. It's so massive that five completely different nights can be held simultaneously in the one building. Downstairs in the main room was Yousef Presents Circus with Nic Fanciulli commanding the crowd. Up in the loft it was Bugged Out with Julio Bashmore on deck, and he was immense. We'd wanted to see him spin for a while now, and he more than lived up to the hype. J. Philip fol- lowed him and kept the room moving till way past closing, people were still going even with the lights on. There were even DJ decks set up in the downstairs bath- room, something we've never seen before, and it kinda worked, you could catch a little hip-hop whilst freshening up. It should also be noted that Razzmatazz was properly air-conditioned – we've made a point of saying never underestimate a good soundsystem, but seriously, never underestimate the power of good ventilation. The final OFF party was big one: secretsundaze 10 Years in Barcelona. People had been hyping it since we arrived, so it's fair to say we were excited. The all day and night affair was held at Poble Espanyol, and this time we got to see the other side of the venue. The day portion of the party was completely outdoors in what can only be described as a small forest – loads of lights in the trees and pulsating tech- no from the legendary Derrick May, it was pretty epic. His set kicked off at 9.30pm, normally too early for that kind of thing but he took us effortlessly into sundown and beyond. James Priestly had the final outdoor slot, moving into a deeper and more minimal vibe, ready for the late night. Once the day portion ended at 1am, everyone migrated across to La Terrazza for the night party. Jeremy Underground was first up and pushed things back into high gear. He's a very interesting DJ to watch because he fully gets into his set, mad energy up in the booth, which is how it should always be really because if you're the DJ and you don't like your own vibe then you're doing something wrong. After his set however, there definitely was a dip in energy – maybe the week had finally caught up with us but certainly around the 4am mark it wasn't feeling particularly exciting, with a lot of people lounging outside the club. Giles Smith didn't have the best of closing sets. He had energy for sure but there were a few obvious technical glitches and mixing issues, and towards the end of the set, he somehow knocked an entire side of the sound out, promptly putting an end to our evening. We'd expected such a strong finish to the party but never quite reached the heights of the outdoor portion, which was mega. And that was OFF Week done. But we couldn't quite bring ourselves to leave without one more blowout, and luckily for us on our last night it was Sant Joan, the Catalan summer solstice celebration, which basically means partying all night on the beach. Perfect. Unbelievably we only experienced a small selection of what was on offer for OFF Week, so there's only one thing for it; Barcelona, we will be back.