astraboy

The second in an innovative and successful partnership with Nekro's "Drop the Bomb" techno promotion, Emigma has seen its parties move around the capital looking for a place to call home. With events at the Imperial gardens, The Rocket and Studio 33 under its belt, this, their latest promotion, saw them touching down at "The Egg" in kings Cross. As before, it was a two room event, with Enigma providing an innovative and varied mix of UK Hardcore jocks in one and Drop the Bomb supplying the filth it is known and loved for with the best the Hardcore Techno scene can offer. The main reason for my going for this party is that it is fairly unique in that not to many promotions care to mix the two genres in the same venue. However there has to be a market for the Hardcore raver who likes Hardcore techno and vice versa and luckily I am in the former catagory. I would happily spend the night rushing to the Hardcore, but with the occasional head down stomping session to the techno when the mood took me. No other night offers this, I was there with bells on.
On this occasion I was, once again a little slack, getting to the venue at an almost illegal 1.40 am! A shocking state of affairs, but having to walk from Tottenham Court road to Kings cross didnt help matters. But at least our way to the venue was aided by the firk off big seachlight pointing skywards and providing a point of reference to us. After walking in with a breif search from the relaxed security, I was greeted by Nikki Enigma and shortly afterwards we were in. I've never been to the Egg before and when I got in I was impressed. An outdoor chillout was the first thing to greet us, with lots of familiar and not so familiar faces having a rest from proceedings inside. After a brief hello session with my friends who had gotten there before me, I went inside. Two rooms were occupied with dancing ravers, with Enigma taking downstairs and Drop the Bomb shaking up the top room. Having arrived shockingly late, I made a beeline for the Hardcore room. Scott Brown was finishing up his set and as if to set the tone of the evening, I walked in and he was tearing the place apart with some feirce Gabba. The full dancefloor was well into it and even though I had plenty of catching up to do I quickly got into it and had a bloody good stomp whilst Scott pumped out the tunes and Whizzkid controlled things on the mic. Only a caught a few tunes of his set, but when they are as good as "Payback" and my personal highlight "Boomstick" then I knew I had missed another top outing from Mr. Evolution.
Having whetted my appitite for something different, the next trip I had to make was upstairs to the Drop The Bomb room. I made it at just the right time as well cos Simon Underground was on the decks and the place was packed with technoheads appreciating his work. I joined them in an instant and was dancing away to the high BPM Techno. While the majority of the the crew showed their appreciation by dancing, I also saw a gaggle of cameraphones pointed in the direction of the decks, all the better for recording the awesome scratching which was taking up a considerable portion of the set. Not that I was complaining of course. I was too busy dancing like a madman to the tunes. I dont get the opportunity to rave to this music often enough and although I can only take it in small portions, what I got was more than enough to satisfy me till the next time. Wicked set, really enjoyed it. Dont ask me to name any of the tunes though
Not to worry though, cos the next DJ was more than capable of dropping some better known tunes, DJ Gammer stepped up shortly after I returned downstairs and in keeping with the status quo he has set when I have seen him in recent weeks, played another set to be proud of. Its fair to say that compared to upstairs a "mere" 160bpm did feel slow by comparison, but the awesome tunage, combined with another creditable performance from MC Doc-E on the mic meant that although it felt slow, it was definitely danceable. Keeping it mainstream, Gammer proved his worth yet again, dropping an upfront set including the modern remixes of "Injected with a poision", "Love me when you love to" and "Feel that Panic" as well as "Heartbeatz", "Crack *****" and best of all, the awesome "3000 cycles". I love that tune In fact, I loved this entire set. Gammer and Doc-E producing the goods yet again and coming dangerously close to set of the night for me.
They would have got it hands down had the night finished there, but the next duo had other ideas. I wanted more Hardcore, but I had to be content with what I had as Mark EG and Chris Liberator were up next for the final set of the night. No more Hardcore, time for the Techno. To say I werent sure about this sort of finish was an understatement, but the ravers clearly had a better idea of what was in store than me cos they grew in numbers till the dancelfoor was the fullest I'd seen it all night and it contained ravers of every description. Dreaded hippies, chin stroking purists and Hardcore ravers mingled as one and got down to the tunes for the final time. It was quickly apparant that my earlier misgivings about the genre hop were unfounded. Dancing was no problem at all with the Techno on offer being more than acceptable to my untrained ears as well as the people with a developed taste in these things. Everybody was giving it everything, especially the DJs who were clearly enjoying what they were doing and were showing it by messing around in the DJ booth inbetween mixes. Eventually the inevitable happened and Mark got on the mic and screamed for the ravers left in the place to make some noise. The report told him exactly how up for it the party crew in the place were. Especially me. I had totally lost it by this point, I couldn't stop dancing for love nor money and I only realised that the DJs had overrun by near on 1/2 an hour when the final tune had come down and finished. I went for a solid 90 minutes dancing to tunes I couldnt name to save my life, but I loved it anyway. Thats what its all about really.

Things I liked:

Nice mix of big name and lesser known artists on the flyer, proving that a good party doesnt need an exculsive top end lineup, just the education to bring in the people you know will rock the place.

Techno room - Like I said before, I dont get many opportunities to go into a HARDcore arena, it was one of the reasons I came to this rave.

Sound - The flyer simply stated "Funktion one system" which is all you need to know really, apart from one of the best systems I have heard in a long time. Very well set up indeed.

Venue - Very nice. not too plush and not too dirty. I liked it and it seemed to be just about perfectly full as well. the only complaint I can possibly level was no locks on the toilet doors, but even that is levelled by them having a dedicated drinking water tap in said toilets. First time there and I would love to go back.

Extension: The place was meant to finish at 6am, Mark EG and Mr. Liberator played till 6.30. Respect as they say, is due.

Things I liked less:

Getting there at 2am. I hate being disorganised.

Storm not doing his DJ set, was looking forward to that.

erm, thats about it really.

Its always nice to do something different and this party was exactly that. Its the reason I go to them and its also the reason why I have attended every rave the promoters have put on. In a scene which seems to be ever more hell bent on pidgeonholing every genre it comes across, its nice to see a rave that is doing the opposite, particularly when it involves blurring the lines between two of my favourite brands of rave music, Hardcore and Techno. I especially liked the way the last set was given over to Techno when in all honesty I thought it was a mistake to do so. An hour and a half later, I was a sweaty mess having danced non stop to the most awesome acid techno I've heard in a long time. More than happy to eat my words after enjoying myself so much when I thought I wouldnt. On this basis alone, I'm going to the next one.
astraboy.

astraboy

Shouts to: Saiira, Matt, Jess, Emma, Padz, Lauren, Matt Wildcard, Stu8, Martin, Rick, Barticle, Moonlight Sparrow, Donna, AB, Jailbait, Bean, Lady Angelic, Abyeance, Mayhem, Skampy, Hektic, Gammer, Doc-E & Hayley, Chitchat, Storm, Whizzkid, Nikki Enigma, Nekro and anyone who I have forgotten!
astraboy.