Anthony Rother

CLUBLAND

Having felt thoroughly ashamed at not having been out for a good London clubbing experience since I had relocated to the city I had promised myself to forget the crisp chill of the impending winter and head out to find a good gig.
It wasn’t too hard to come up with something and after browsing the various gig guides found that the best bet was the steadfast Fabric. With a lineup that made me fidget about like a small boy with a bladder problem I was counting down the days ‘til I could go see Supermayer, Geiger, Anthony Rother and Mike ‘Agent X’ Clark all on the same bill.

I roped in the companionship of ex-Real Groove editor Brock Oliver to accompany me on this nocturnal excursion and soon enough the night rolled around and it was time for us to go.
Considering the last I was at Fabric was some three years ago to see Aril Brikha and I had suffered from severe temporary amnesia on the night I was made to familiarise myself with the club again upon entry. Instantly overwhelming, the huge rabbit warren of brick corridors, industrial piping and open bar spaces eventually lead to the dance floors, and after a quick recon we decided to head to the almost cosy Room 3 to ease ourselves into the night via a few beers and a spot of lounging. Room 3 was playing host to the delegation of Detroit DJ’s so our sudsy brews were washed down to the deep, warm Motor City grooves of Mike Clark, Norm Talley and Delano Smith. Further entertainment was provided by a small group of guys who were displaying ludicrous amounts of energy and excitement for the relatively sober hour of the evening. It wasn’t just that they were jumping around like Tigger hepped up on roids; it was the succinctly sexual nature of their dancing that concerned - nay, baffled me. One guy had his eyes closed, head thrown back and was actually caressing himself as he gyrated and gurned happily. Then those hands stopped running all over his own body and before you could say “Madonna” he was vogueing. Yes it was the New York dance craze from the late eighties right there in front of me, brought to life by my own private dancer. The truly shocking part of this little show is that when I looked around the other members of the troupe, they were in similar states of limbic distortion. Before we knew it one such sprite had leapt on to a ledge and was gyrating against a pole. We ridiculed appropriately and head off to catch the start of Anthony Rother’s live set.
I had heard about the cool mechanical gleam of Rother’s sets and despite being pressed up against the slightly clammy, sweaty flesh of every other person near me I was determined not to miss a second of this. It was predictable brilliance; Rother starting out playing a 4/4 clubby techno set with sounds sharp and synthetic, precisely executed and making me wish I had some personal space to do more than just shuffle my body against other people. Then when he’d wound the crowd up nice and tight he dropped into the electro and there was complete madness. As one of the only purveyors of true electro these days Rother knows exactly which buttons to push, and he did so. Although proving that German doesn’t always translate in English very well Rother started a new track, using a microphone to repeat this utterly baffling phrase over and over:
“If you can tell me how you feel, then I must say, you can never have freedom.”
I spent the best part of the rest of the night just trying to figure out what that meant, let alone telling him how I felt.
It was time to check out the inimitable efforts of Michael Mayer and Superpitcher who were joining forces as Supermayer for the night. The behemoth DJ booth marks the entrance to Room 1 where the boys from Cologne were putting together a seamless mix of warm poppy techno. Brock and I spent the rest of the night there dancing half hunkered over ourselves, soaking up the early morning with a steady crowd of other appreciative dancers.


Silverbeat’s Top 5

Redshape – Unfinished Symmetry
Kollektiv Turmstrasse – Milieu
Lawrence – Rabbit Tube (DJ Koze Mix)
Echospace – Sonorous
Martini Bros – From Buleaux (Konrad Black Mix)

Classic Listening

The Cure - Faith