As you'll be aware from my rather previous, excited posting, The weekend just passed i was travelling down to London for what promised to be a special party, held in a secret Location in Shoreditch. Electric Minds, Mark E, Move D and Dolan Bergin made sure that myself and 250 other happy, party people left with smiles on our faces together with that warm, luscious feeling you can only get when you've danced all night to music that you love.I met up with the friends that were partying with me that night, one being Sinister Delicious' amigo Tommy Armstrong. After Being treated to favourite records such as past featured 'Rukus' (Jamie Jones) and Ilija Rudmans soul tingling 'Nite People (Garage Mix)' I was left with no doubts that Electric Minds have got it going on.
I'll let a surpisingly fresh-minded Tommy Armstrong fill in the gaps of what was a truly magnificent night... I dont think the 'normal' people on platform 4, London Paddington, really appreciated my general appearance as i waited for the 12.30 pm train Sunday afternoon... But then again, that sort of makes me glad.
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On this balmy July evening, the Liverpool street end of Shoreditch could have been any suburban town on a Saturday night. It seems swarms of hen parties and lads on the pull now get the train in from Romford and various other estuary towns and flood the area from The Light Bar to Kingsland Road with Ralph Lauren shirts, loafers, and fluffy cowboy hats. Standing outside The Barley Mow, Curtain Road was awash with lost pseudo-trendies navigating the unfamiliar streets, “It’s so much easier when all the bars are just on one street or in a big square” commented one fish out of water. Traffik, which 6 or 7 years ago was brimming with achingly trendy Shoreditch creative types, now heaves with suburbanites in chequered Topman shirts and bleach blonde Essex birds mingling to a soundtrack of Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. Camden now has its Wetherspoons, and it doesn’t seem to be long until Shoreditch does the unthinkable and gets its own plastic pub-by-numbers.In spite of the zone 6 invasion, Shoreditch still has a magnetic ability to pull a great crowd back from Bethnal Green and Hackney to host some of the best nights on the London circuit.
The reason for my being there on Saturday was to attend the latest of the increasingly popular Electric Minds secret parties. Borrowing the idea from David Mancuso’s innovative New York loft parties of the 70s, Electric Minds hold intimate small scale parties in locations as diverse as restaurant basements, disused warehouses, and on Saturday, a small loft above a bar.
An unmarked black door under the railway bridge on Old St was our gateway into an intense electric gathering of what was probably the best crowd in East London that night. The place was heaving; the lofts helm roof painted white giving us the feeling of being in church with the DJ’s giving a sermon in deep house and electro beats to their devoted flock. A crowd of bodies move in time to Mark E and Dolan Bergin’s sets, the groove running through each person individually and controlling the room collectively, and you couldn’t wish to meet a nicer group of people. In spite of Shoreditch’s reputation of trendiness to the point of snobbery especially at exclusive ‘secret’ parties like this, the ego level was below zero and everybody had 5 minutes to chat with someone new, the intimate location really added to the friendly house party vibe.
The DJ’s were first-rate, working the crowd expertly, there wasn’t a static body in the whole place. My one small complaint was they never took us to 5th gear - the floor was ready for a banger, something huge that would have taken the roof off but it never came.Their next party is already on my calendar, I urge everyone to make the effort to get a taste of that magic that made the loft parties of the 70s such an amazing place to be. It’s a unique feeling that has to be experienced to be fully understood. The mainstream might have their feelers out in Shoreditch but Electric Minds proved that good music, an original location and the cream of the East London crowd will keep the creative light burning brightly for a long time to come.Tommy Armstrong.
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