Picture it, you find yourself in one of the most revered and pristine indoor venues in all of Europe, the sound system, also one of the best in Europe, is fully tuned and ready to rip at full volume. About 100 people are gathered in the back, standing by the bar, getting their swill on, and a fine young Portuguese DJ is on stage in front of a massive projection screen playing tracks from Freq, Ticon, Loom, and Sensifeel. The capacity of the venue is still about 400 people short of being reached and the fine parquet floor seems to be screaming for feet to hit it. It's 1:45AM and a certain buzz goes through the crowd as the night's special guests arrive in the back and stumble up on stage - admitting as they go by that "they've just woken up and are in need of some coffee." Within a half hour, Iboga Headman Emok is behind the decks; and within an hour more, the entire club is filled with dancing and smiling people. You don't speak a word of Portuguese, so 90% of the communication you have with people all night is through dance. (Which is simply gorgeous, might I add!!!) By the end of the night (which arrives too soon a mere 7 hours later) 500 people flow out the doors peacefully onto one of the best sunrises you'll ever see in Porto, Portugal.
That was pretty much the scenario when Marria and I went to "Hard Club" in Porto, Portugal a couple weekends ago. No matter what I write here, I will not do the night justice. No matter what I say about the night, it will not be captured in this review. As a writer, I am a polaroid camera - and the night at Hard Club was the Grand Canyon. Tonite, I happily (joyously even) embrace my shortcomings!
The venue itself, as we discovered first hand, is indeed one of the finest (and most famous) indoor venues in all of Europe. Built primarly to house rock, metal, and industrial concerts, the hall has seen some of the world's best bands come through its doors. From opera to Goth, it was built first as a place to experience good music in a proper setting. Lately, though (within the last two years), the venue has lost it's "hard edge" and has been housing some of the best indoor trance and drum n bass parties that Portugal has ever had - from LTJ Bukem to the braintrust of Iboga Records. People may say that Portugal is "only about the dark full-on psy" - but my brief experience tells me there's so much more. (Hell, people say Boston is an "all progressive" city; so obvioulsy things get lost in translation over internet gossip and mailing lists like these.)
Aesthetically, Hard Club is perfect. Built in the mid 1700's as a wine cellar and port, the structure itself is little more than four block and mortar walls built (somewhat recklessly from the looks of it) by hand and then maintained through centuries of patchwork. But the integrity of Portuguese masons shows through as the walls are still standing and in good shape. Massive stone steps wrap around the outside of the building, and the original window cut-outs are still there. As a German girl said when she saw the place "is this the party or is it dracula's house?" The whole place just screams "goth!" Portugal - Porto in particular - is where "port wine" was first made and the city now takes pride in being one of the only cities focusing on this beverage. "Hard Club," as mentioned, is an old cellar that was used to age and store wine waiting for it to peak.
Inside, the place is an advanced wonder of modern clubbing mixed perfectly with Portuguese tradition and history. No expense was spared in turning the place into a "night club". The walls are the exposed and original stone. Huge fans hang over the stage, stainless steel and mohogany stairs wrap from the back of the dancefloor and up into two majestic balconies that overlook a huge (40ft x 40 ft) parquet dancefloor. The sound system is state of the art and bars flank it on both sides. It is clearly and easily the best indoor venue I've ever been in - if, for no other reason, the pure aesthetics of it!
When you've got all that going for you - and then you add in DJ sets from Emok, Banel, and a live-set from Antix... it would take the world's greatest curmudgeon NOT to have a good time!! Needless to say, Marria and I are NOT those curmudgeons.
After waking up on an hour before (they had all just played in Lisbon a night earlier), the Iboga Crew took center stage - wishing adieu to Tata, the DJ who had just played two hours of FANTASTIC music - keeping the crowd upbeat, stepping about and happy while everyone waited in hope that the headliners were actually going to come. (In hindsight, as good as the Iboga Crew was, Tata was playing enough good music where we could have stayed all night just listening to him. Excellent skills and tracks!!) Emok was the first to play - at around 2:15AM.. And, by the time 3:00 rolled in, the size of the crowd had tripled (praise the cell phone) and the place was going nuts! After a somewhat upsetting performance the night earlier in Lisbon (HORRID sound system and a blatantly over-packed and claustrophobic club), Emok came into Hard Club and brought out his best. Two hours of tracks - many of which I had never heard before! The highlight of the set being the forthcoming Ace Ventura Remix of Beckers' booty shaker "Switch." (The original which has been popping up in sets across this country - from Karmakanik, to Dave Dittmer, to yours truly.) All the same vocals, but with a much more dance-friendly bassline and a much more complex overlay. It was supposedly due out on Ace Ventura's full-length on Iboga late next summer, but has since been moved to Iboga's next compilation, SET 0:6, due out next month. Another highlight was a remix of Logic Bomb's "Unlimited" - which I have no idea where it came from or *even if it is that track* - but that synth hook, in my ears, is unmistakable! Again and again - Emok comes through!!
BY the time 4:30AM rolled around, the dancefloor was full and Hayden Strom took to the stage to play a long-awaited live-set. Now, I've heard Antix live four times in my life - and every time I hear him, some act of God or some bizarre circumstance seems to unfold that prevents me from totally enveloping myself in the music of one of my favorite artists. Tonight, though, it was different. With a 16-channel Mackie Mixer, an Oxygen keyboard/midi controller, and a MAC G4 Laptop, Hayden amazed the crowd with a live set that, unlike his past sets, was one which featured almost 100% live arranging. No more "just DJing his own tracks on his laptop." This set was Antix's tracks - but played in a way that was different from the versions on the new Album. Samples came in 8 measures later than expected. Vocals repeated in places where they don't on the album, and patterns continued well after they were (in my mind) "supposed to stop." Two full hours!! (possibly more) of a live set approaching even those I've heard from Son Kite themselves! The sound system was perfect, the tracks - one after the next - were flawless.. From Le Lescard to Hiding Place to a pair of (as Hayden called them) "brand new numbahs" - this set had everything - and who else to perform it than one of the coolest, most genuine, most down to earth musical genuises you'll ever meet! And now, word from Iboga is that there's a new remix album on the way featuring remixes from the Twin Coast Album. Freq, Phony Orphants - everyone getting in on this masterpiece! It'll be coming out in October and it'll be awesome!!!
After Antix, Marria and I weren't ready for anything but MORE!!! And Banel provided us with music right up until the security staff came out and pulled the plug a little after 8:00AM!! An experienced and skilled DJ, Banel's set showcased the tracks from yet another coming Iboga album that should enjoy the same success that the Antix albums have. Banel, though known best as the other half of Iboga's founding fathers, is also involved in a new production project called "Behind Blue Eyes." He and Rene Neilsein (aka 1/2 of Beat Bizarre) have been working on the album since last summer when their first track came out on Iboga's V/A "PLayground" and was an instant success. The album, which is due out to be released on November 9th, is close to completion and, by the five or six tracks Marria and I heard, it's going to be a killer. That deep funk-driven Beat Bizarre baseline - those weird "zoological" sound bites... all coupled with a mellow, gentle, and deeper overall feeling. You can really hear Banel's influence in these tracks! Best yet, the album will be self-titled and will feature an amazing custom cover design created by none other than Hayden Strom from Antix!!
With the plug pulled and two dread-locked girls engaged in a pretty serious cat-fight, Marria and I chose to make our exit onto the streets of the Porto/Gaia River basin.... Sunrise on that place was like a fairy tale - the photos we took that morning - and subsequently in the botanical garden we wandered through a few miles from the club itself will live with us forever! But none of it would have been possible without that night at HARD CLUB and the music of DJs Tata, Emok, and Banel, and one of the best and most intense live sets from Hayden Strom of Antix..
I doubt they're reading any of this - but a MAJOR THANKS go out to all those guys and to the whole crew involved in making the party at Hard Club such a wonderful night! THANK YOU!!!