Clubs
TECHNO ROLANDO Animal Farm resident Chris Lamb explains why they booked DJ Rolando for their Xmas party
Seven years has really flown by. When Animal Farm started out playing records on a Tuesday night in the Halt Bar back in 2004, we really didn’t think we’d still be at it now. It was a small group of friends meeting up to drink beer and play some records. One of those records was The Aztec Mystic’s (aka DJ Rolando) ‘Jaguar’, which was, without fail, played every single week. Since we began booking DJs and producers for our club nights in Glasgow, Rolando has always been in our mind. His work with Gerald Mitchell (amongst others) as Los Hermanos is pretty much as essential as anything that came out of Detroit since 2000, despite its small catalogue of music. He is also a man known for his DJ mix CDs. The Aztec Mystic Mix was one of our favourite mix CDs of the early 00s and released around the same time as Fuse presents Dave Clarke, and Richie Hawtin’s Dex, FX and 909 and DE9: Closer To The Edit DJ mixes – all cornerstones of our after club listening. The last few years have seen a
welcome resurgence in Rolando’s solo productions. 2011 has seen him release on the much-hyped Berlin imprint Ostgut Ton with his 5 to 8 EP, alongside a couple of remixes on the Secretsundaze and Be As One labels – all balancing his melodic Detroit heritage with a more modern style of techno production. Our birthday parties have always
been special nights, particularly the last two years seeing Ben Klock and A Guy Called Gerald join the party, so it seems like as good a time as any to bring the on-form Rolando back to Glasgow’s favourite bassment. ■ Animal Farm at the Sub Club, Glasgow, Wed 28 Dec.
list.co.uk/clubs Deadboy
FINAL FIGURES David Pollock talks US tours, Deadboy and SONAR with Glasgow’s hottest record label and club night, Numbers
I t’s been another good year for Glasgow’s ever- growing clubbing export Numbers. So big, in fact, that they need a whole three cities to contain their send-off to 2011. First they’ll be warming up with a set at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Pete’s the night before New Year, which will feature relative label newcomer Deadboy, then the team will be hosting dates in both Glasgow and London to see in 2012.
‘It’s been a big year for the label and for our parties,’ says Richard Chater, one of the collective who run Numbers. ‘We’ve played regularly in London and across Europe. We’ve released records by Jamie xx [‘Far Nearer/Beat For’], Deadboy [‘Here’], Redinho [‘Edge Off ’], Moska’s record [‘Done Me Wrong’] went really big for us as well. We did our first US tour at SXSW and in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and we played a four-hour label showcase at SONAR in Barcelona.’ Chater is speaking to The List mere hours after arriving back in Glasgow from the ‘first proper Numbers warehouse party’ in London, a co-promotion with Black Atlantic which saw a sell-out crowd of 1800 turn out in a space near London Bridge to hear pretty much the whole Numbers collective play. ‘I’ve got some quite cool video of everyone singing Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’ for the last ten minutes at 6am this morning,’ he says wearily.
The fact that some of the team live in London and the rest are still in Glasgow means that Numbers can remain a home-grown brand while simultaneously building a presence and a following in London. Although they’ll be dividing their attentions on
Hogmanay (the date in London will see them team up with dubstep label Swamp81), the Edinburgh show will be a chance for the crew to get together, says Chater. ‘We’ve got a bi-monthly residency at Sneaky Pete’s,’ he explains. ‘It’s been surprisingly rowdy actually. Everyone dances from the get-go and asks us for Numbers tracks which haven’t been released yet, it’s just like Glasgow.’ Of this month’s guest, Deadboy, aka Londoner Allen Wootton, Chater says ‘he’s a talented producer who thinks very differently to other producers, there are influences ranging from Fleetwood Mac to Scott Walker, with a nice combination of glam R&B and a darker British sense of humour.’
‘EVEYONE ASKS FOR NUMBERS TRACKS THAT HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN RELEASED’
Like London, Glasgow’s Hogmanay date will also be a co- promotion, with young local promoters Vitamins joining in for the date at Stereo. ‘They’ve been putting on some of the best parties in Glasgow in recent times,’ says Chater. ‘They’re really passionate about their tunes and know a lot of good music, but they have a great
attention to detail too.’ The recovery from this huge triple-header won’t last long: already booked for 2012 are dates at the Bugged Out festival and Primavera Sound in Barcelona, as well as releases from London band Kodiak and Deadboy. ‘And a few sneaky wee things we’re not going to mention yet.’
The Numbers Before New Year at Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh, Fri 30 Dec; Numbers X Vitamins NYE is at Stereo, Glasgow, Sat 31 Dec.
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