Party, party, party!!! Before the weekend I thought this could be a bit more quiet one crowd wise because there’s been so many national holidays lately. Luckily that wasn’t the case as both Pussy 11th Anniversary at DTM and the second Helsinki Techno City night at Redrum were very much happening.
Pussy is one of the oldest club nights in Finland and their parties are always great fun with lots of old school dudes and dudettes around. This time even more so as Pussy Club’s first lady Taru was celebrating her 40th anniversary together with legendary finnish radio DJ Aki Matilainen. Aki used to host the Beat Box program at Radio City in the early nineties which was a major influencer in the early Helsinki techno scene.
Today’s club scene is very vibrant and also very “techno” which you could hear in headliner Smokin’ Jo’s set – filled with current techy sound from the likes of Radio Slave, Dubfire, Nic Fanciulli etc. I did a special birthday set early in the evening 21-23 mainly for guests before the public opening. To celebrate the rather old school birthday theme I played two hours of my balearic favorites from the late 80s and early 90s. Stuff like Andy On The Eve’s ‘Melodies of Passion’, Mandy Smith’s ‘I Can’t Wait’, Chaka Khan’s ‘Ain’t Nobody’, Beloved’s ‘Sweet Harmony’ or Sueno Latino’s ‘Sueno Latino’. Music filled with emotion and some timeless quality. This was also my first visit to DTM after the refurbishment in the spring and I liked the new looks a lot even if the change isn’t that radical.
Saturday was equally rockin’ at Redrum in the Helsinki Techno City night. As Lil’ Tony was ill the first time in January this was first time ever that myself, Eliot Ness, Mr.A and Lil’ Tony played the same night and venue. We started with 30 minute mini sets and ended the night with a proper back-to-back one-track-per-DJ mixing. I was actually positively surprised with how well the night and groove kept together. Sure we are only learning to play together, it wasn’t perfect all the time and everybody was leaning a bit towards other guys’ styles but I felt good vibe throughout the night. My own sets’ included the likes of Martin Buttrich’s ‘Stoned Autopilot (Carl Craig remix), Paul Ritch’s ‘Split’, Sebastien Leger’s bootleg of Yazoo’s ‘Don’t Go’, Reboot’s ‘Assign The Source’, Tim Healey’s ‘Ghettoblaster’ and Pitto’s ‘Feelin’. It’s so nice how many different styles and genres seem to fit under the “Helsinki Techno City” umbrella. That’s the way it we’ve wanted to have as we think “techno” here in sense of it’s old 80s/90s vibe of meaning all the music played in the illegal warehouse parties, not just what sits in Beatport labeled as “techno”. Well… maybe the encore track Kiss’ ‘I Was Made For Loving You Baby’ doesn’t fit in there, but anyone seen the flyer/poster for the night hopefully got that:) Sure some where puzzled also because of our make-up hehe…The next Helsinki Techno City is at Redrum on August 29th. Hope to see you there and meanwhile keep on technoing!
PS. Thanks to all friends also for some wicked afterparty action during the weekend! Priceless moments for sure;)
PPS. Jori Hulkkonen’s Pet Shop Boys’ finnish cover version of ‘West End Girls’ must be THE track of the summer! Timeless and cheeky!
PPPS. Steve Mac’s rework of Rolling Stones’ ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ must be THE party housed track of the summer. World premiered in Pete Tong’s Essential Selection couple weeks ago. Can’t wait to hear him drop it at our LOVE event here in Helsinki on July 5th!