Clubland Jan/Feb

The mnml explosion wasn't particularly kind to hard techno. As the cleaner, reduced ethos of the music proved more popular the harder geared sound fell out of favour for a while, prompting certain labels to go into hibernation or dissolve completely. The pendulum has certainly swung back the other way of late and one of the stalwart labels of hard techno, Blueprint re-emerged this year after a good five years of dormancy. Paul Mac, a vanguard of techno for nearly fifteen years didn't suffer the same fate as some of the record labels, but for the past couple of years his releases have almost exclusively been limited to digital format. His latest excursion under the new moniker of Valmay on Blueprint strikes another win for the label this year and finds Paul Mac in top form.

Clubland 2008 in Review

So another year's diary heads towards obsolescence, presents are bought for nearest and dearest and we here at Real Groove mark off the time by summing up the year that was in music. 2008 has been an interesting year as far as techno and house are concerned. As an inevitable backlash to the rise of minimal that was suddenly branded as big and cool in 2007, house music made a proper comeback this year. It's not a necessarily fair comment to say that house music was foundering before that, because further inspection of some of the keys players this year (label Drumpoet Community, producer Sascha Dive for example) reveals a success achieved in 2008 but groundwork that stretches back many years.

Clubland column - Copenhagen

Tales from the worldwide dancefloors, this time reporting from Copenhagen. Click the image to read the story.

Clubland - Aux 88

Clubland chats to the inimitable Aux 88 from Detroit. Click the image to read the story.

Clubland - Henrik Schwarz

This month we take a look at the new DJ Kicks mixed by German house maestro Henrik Schwarz.

Clubland - Dabrye/James T. Cotton

Part of the new breed of Detroit producers, Tadd Mullinix producers under the names Dabrye, James T. Cotton and SK-1. Click the image to read the interview with him.

Clubland - Dominik Eulberg

Rifling through some new releases this month we check out fresh gears from Dominik Eulberg, Steve Barnes, Gui Borrato, Duoteque and more.

Clubland - Global Communications

This month we look at the new Fabric mix by Global Communications, a Joe Claussell mix, and a remix album of Antix's Twin Coast Discovery LP.

Clubland - Rhythm & Sound

A label profile on one of my favourites: Rhythm & Sound.

Clubland - Superpitcher

A brief bit about a recent Superpitcher gig before somewhat of a diatribe about big electro-rock house tunes. Click the image and read on...

Clubland - Erol Alkan

Clubland chats to Erol Alkan about his new Bugged Out mix, his infamous Trash night and why progressive house DJ's should just stick to their guns and still play fucking progressive house.

Clubland - Danny Howells

This month we review Danny Howells new Global Underground mix, which is surprisingly good.

Clubland - Dave Clarke

Clubland reviews the latest World Service mix from Dave Clarke.

Clubland - Carl Craig

Luke Slater and Carl Craig feature in this edition of Clubland.

Clubland - New Year's

A saunter through some new releases for the new year, amongst them a new Swayzak mix CD, Villalobos' new album, and singles from Future Beat Alliance, Eon and Ewan Pearson.

Clubland - London and Copenhagen

It's international adventure time as Clubland is brought to you from sunny Croatia, London and Copenhagen. Read all the adventures by clicking on the image.

Clubland - Swayzak and Trevor Jackson

Clubland this month is all about Swayzak's Loops from the Bergerie and Trevor Jackson's Output Recordings.

Clubland - Fabriclive 16 & Fabric 17

This month's clubland is a review of the two latest Fabric mixes by Adam Freeland and Akufen.

Clubland - Theo Parrish

Theo Parrish and Raiders of the Loast Arp feature in this month's Clubland column. Click it and check it out.

Clubland column - Villalobos

Clubland reviews Ricardo Villalobos' Taka Taka mix CD