Best Clubs and Clubnights in the UK right now?

[glasshand]

i can't remember his name for sure now but Lexis rings a bell. i know some of the dudes who live/lived in the TRC as well so maybe we got some mutual frandz. wouldn't want to go into detail about what he was sayin on here (more than the neighbours thing), not that it's scandalous or anythin just he probably wouldn't have shared if he thought i'd go blabbin on the internet. u probably know the gist of it anyway.

yeh i clocked the wriggling. i see more clearly what ur after now, sounds like a singular night with a seriously loyal crowd. the only thing i can say i've experienced like that in london which i thought was great was WU. i do get what ur saying about a 'WU record' too. i've never heard of the others u mentioned but im guessin they're a bit before my time? seein as i was only in ldn 2010-13 before now.

this is gunna make me sound basic but Church at Corsica studios on a thursday was the only other thing i showed up regularly for and felt most of the crowd had loyalty to whilst i was a student. me n mates went cuz it was regular every week so casual, no militant planning in advance. guaranteed to be a mix of girls n guys there. music was always going to be roughly up our street no matter who the specific name they booked was. and it was like £3 or free. it was an art school student vibe tho and no real 'identity' other than that. can't help thinkin that anything at Corsica studios is never going to have its own identity. maybe that's cuz i've rinsed it too hard over the years. im sure canavan's in peckham probably ticks all those boxes n is the new fresh-to-ldn art student place to be and that's why it gets the write-ups. main problem is it's a pool hall and it literally fuckin stinks.

 

[glasshand]

new addition to my list of mediocre ldn clubs since going there last weekend is Basing House. went there on a whim to see Cottam cuz one of my mates was already down there. it was full of strange lost tourists and budget patrick bateman lookalikes. sound was a bit rubbish. would avoid it like the plague in future. shame cuz the actual space & dancefloor was cool

 

[glasshand]

what about non-London UK clubs? Some people on my facebook recommended some interesting sounding places in Manchester and elsewhere but I seem to have lost the post somehow.

i like soup kitchen in MCR and they make some good bookings, obvs not alone worth a trip up there. other than that i've been to warehouse at its newer venue, had a good night but that is def one of those fabric situations.

i went to 2.31 once in rainbow rooms and did have a banging night. couldn't see myself making the journey now, cuz it would most likely be for a house lineup that i could find in ldn.

i heard there is at least one good warehouse venue up in sheffield, don't know anyone up there to confirm or deny lol

all these are clearly not the type of venues/nights ur after. u probably gotta be fairly local to somewhere to know about the hidden gems

 

[Patrick Swayze]

Manchester used to have quite a few good nights and clubs but its gone downhill massively. Soup Kitchen does the occasional good night, as does Joshua Brooks. Kraak Gallery's had some cool lineups but they barely promote them and apparently theyre dead.

 

[IdleRich]

"I can't remember his name for sure now but Lexis rings a bell."

Yeah he's the French guy who runs it. I don't know him well but kinda seen him around for quite a while. He was involved in booking things for the bar called Scenario in Stokey at some point as well although I'm not really in touch with those guys now so I don't know if it's still happening.

"new addition to my list of mediocre ldn clubs since going there last weekend is Basing House"

The one that used to be On The Rocks right? Small place with mirrors and stuff, I was wondering if there was anything good going on there cos as a place it's right up my street. From the line-ups I saw though it looked kinda expensive and anonymous.

There used to be a night there called Cosey which was pretty good. In some sense a similar kind of sound to World Unknown I guess - maybe less acid and more synth. This guy

http://www.factmag.com/2014/11/27/20-best-ebm-industrial/

i've never heard of the others u mentioned but im guessin they're a bit before my time? seein as i was only in ldn 2010-13 before now.

Well, Wang (to me) was a really special night. It used to be in The Premises on Hackney Road - three rooms all small with low ceilings and the decks in a table in the corner. The main room was usually really heavy electro (Control Tower type stuff and the like), the third room was normally dub and the other room was... something else - house, techno, whatever. It was a brilliant party cos in a sense it wasn't at all my favourite type of music but I went there religiously and so did lots of other people. It was wicked in the main room decorated with loads of tv screens filled with static and just such a good vibe. I remember bringing friends who were totally blown away - even a guy who hated dance-music and just collected Suede obscurities.
The third room was so fun as well when you'd suddenly see the guy behind the bar dj-ing and playing stuff like Tainted Love (the Soft Cell) version and all these serious dub heads going mental to that with no attitude. Was just brilliant. The last party at The Premises especially. Though after that it moved to several other places and put on a few good nights but it never really captured that magic somehow. It depended totally on those scuzzy little rooms (wicked to see A Guy Called Gerald there playing Voodoo Ray in a place with a warehouse feel but only big enough for fifty people).
Also - in terms of it being a one-off, there was another heavy- electro night going about the same time which was kind of a rival I suppose but a lot of the same people used to go to both - even the djs and promoters I think although they used to pretend they hated the other one. Can't remember what that other one was called though unfortunately. Maybe the existence of the other night did mean that there was something like a mini-scene of sorts happening.

 

[IdleRich]

Oh, and Kosmische was a krautrock night at The Garage in Highbury so something totally different. Just completely insane music and a bunch of freaks in attendance. Since then I've met so many people who used to go all the time - it was obviously something that people who are like me (whatever I'm like) like. And of course a lot of that was down to the dj-ing of Jim Backhouse who posts on here or used to anyhow.

Thanks for responses anyway - it's making me think about what I like in a club and what I'm going to do this coming year.

 

[luka]

My mate said kosmiche is beer drinking men in their 40s and some girls with that Spanish girl fringe. You know, cut well high up the forehead. Not really a club?

 

[datwun]

Datwun for that location for fudge at some point

Follow them on facebook for updates on parties!

On non-London UK clubs, I still think that the Rainbow in Brum is just about the best club in the UK at the moment/the best club I've ever been to really. That said I went for my 3rd NYE in a row there. It was the biggest party I've ever seen there over +4000. The main room was absolutely impossible to manoeuvre in and was a bit stressful for me. But then they had 4 other spaces, including one in gazebo on the street which was perfect for blazing and cooling down.

It might have been actually the worst night I've had there out of 9 trips up. Usually when I go the vast majority of people you chat too are regulars. This time there were a lot more people who said it was their first time. Was the first time I've seen You Want Me dropped at 02:31 where a majority of the crowd /didn't/ sing along

They've lost their direction a bit musically with the implosion of jackin, and they haven't got behind the deep tech thing either - though they did have AndMe down who played all his bangers - the other DJs seem to be specifically anti it, I think it's got a really bad image in Brum cause of that stabbing at Circa Loco a while back...

Aaaand that said, the worst night I've ever had their was still by any standards a wicked night. 4000+ people and none of them are wankers. Safe as fuck bouncers, everyone everyone everyone on MDMA, and bouncey house music all night long. It's the lack of wanker thing really which keeps me coming back, I literally don't think there's a single night in London where you can guarantee that the crowd will be fun and friendly

 

[IdleRich]

"My mate said kosmiche is beer drinking men in their 40s and some girls with that Spanish girl fringe. You know, cut well high up the forehead. Not really a club?"

It was certainly a very different thing to Wang or a house allnighter or whatever. When it was at The Garage every month it was normally a band and then several hours of weird music and a load of people did stick around to dance. Since then, after Leon moved to Oslo, it started happening sporadically in random places. It did become more chin-stroking at that point, more about the bands and less about the dancing and... well, worse basically. I certainly wouldn't argue with that description as to what it became. But even at the start it was at totally the opposite end of the spectrum to Wang - I kinda listed those two to suggest two totally different clubs that succeeded in creating a kind of mini-scene of their own and on their own terms and which were both so good in their way that I felt they demanded my attendance every month.

 

[IdleRich]

"On non-London UK clubs, I still think that the Rainbow in Brum is just about the best club in the UK at the moment/the best club I've ever been to really."

Whereabouts is that then? I used to go out with a girl from Brum and her crew were all into techno and stuff. When I'd go and see her we'd go to Atomic Jam and some other parties whose names I forget. Always messy and pretty good fun but never really my favourite type of music to be honest.
But, considering that I am quite, I dunno, serious about music (like we all are here) I'm still totally able to recognise that having music I like is only a part of a great night and I can have a good time at something where the music isn't my kind of thing at all. This is always a surprise to people I know who are on the surface much less bothered about music than me but who turn out to be less open-minded or more purist in terms of what they will go out to dance to.

 

[datwun]

Whereabouts is that then?

Digbeth! You can get a taxi from Birmingham New Street for like £4 and if you tell the driver 'Rainbow Digbeth' they'll know exactly what you mean.
The Brummys go hard. So like, 02:31 is an after party from 2 30 till 6 in the morning. I went over summer to play and a bunch of my mates/ the regulars were there, and they were all going to the after after party. Digbeth's wicked, it's like Berlin or something, bleak industrial landscape, a million warehouses each of them with a club space inside. The after after party was at some gay club, but because of the timing of it, it was a very very mixed crowd, basically anyone who wanted to carry on going. We got there at a bit after 7 and it was absolutely rammed, small space, wicked trippy lighting, 3-400 people, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing. I left at 9ish and it was still rammed, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing.

Aparently the Sunday after party scene's huge there too but I've never been.

All I know is I never see crowds like that in London..

 

[IdleRich]

Digbeth! You can get a taxi from Birmingham New Street for like £4 and if you tell the driver 'Rainbow Digbeth' they'll know exactly what you mean.
The Brummys go hard. So like, 02:31 is an after party from 2 30 till 6 in the morning. I went over summer to play and a bunch of my mates/ the regulars were there, and they were all going to the after after party. Digbeth's wicked, it's like Berlin or something, bleak industrial landscape, a million warehouses each of them with a club space inside. The after after party was at some gay club, but because of the timing of it, it was a very very mixed crowd, basically anyone who wanted to carry on going. We got there at a bit after 7 and it was absolutely rammed, small space, wicked trippy lighting, 3-400 people, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing. I left at 9ish and it was still rammed, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing.
Aparently the Sunday after party scene's huge there too but I've never been.
All I know is I never see crowds like that in London..

Well, when the girl I was seeing came up to London with her mates we went to some hardhouse allnighter and then went to a hardhouse alldayer which seemed to be starting at about six am. Interesting that the guys from Birmingham knew more about the after parties in London than I did. I guess we left around lunchtime. That kind of thing is fun to do every now and again. Used to like those things at 414 (I think it's called) in Brixton and there was the Fridge Bar and the like. If there was a night like that playing my favourite music I really liked then I'd be as happy as a pig in shit.

 

[IdleRich]

I want a place like this

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?2311

If you know one let me know!

 

[Leo]

I want a place like this

http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?2311

If you know one let me know!

read that earlier today, sounds interesting.

i wonder if that sort of place is only possible in smaller cities that, perhaps for geographical reasons, aren't overrun by weekenders/tourists? the way word gets around nowadays on social media, it's hard for anything really cool in big cities to remain under the radar for more than six months.

 

[IdleRich]

I have to admit that i only put that up cos we dj-d there in October and we should be going back in a month or two. It is a great place but it feels like something similar should be possible to do in London or anywhere really. But somewhere that size in London always has a joke soundsystem for some reason, I think it's the law.
I'm not sure about the Salon being under the radar as such but it does benefit from being by far the best place in Dusseldorf - basically if a decent dj plays in Dusseldorf s/he will play there. Likewise with good bands (as long as they're not too big to play there I guess). Detlef has fantastic taste and he's a really lovely guy and he's built up a network of like-minded people who really want to go there and rock it. Also, he really doesn't seem to be bound by commercial considerations. When we were playing early on and my girlfriend was worried that the crowd didn't seem too into what she was playing and she said that to Detlef but he replied something like "Fuck them, your music is good, they're ignorant, keep playing good stuff". If you book a bar in London to put on a party in London the chance of the bar-owner saying that is less than fucking nothing.
So - nice room, great sound, brilliant programming and no commercial worries - a simple formula done really well basically. But there are about a thousand bars in Dalston alone, surely one of them could match that.

 

[glasshand]

We got there at a bit after 7 and it was absolutely rammed, small space, wicked trippy lighting, 3-400 people, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing. I left at 9ish and it was still rammed, and everyone was still buzzing and dancing.

All I know is I never see crowds like that in London..

i definitely need to check this at some point tbf. is true that there's nowhere quite like that in ldn. after party scene in vauxhall and south seems like a much smaller affair

 

[IdleRich]

"i definitely need to check this at some point tbf. is true that there's nowhere quite like that in ldn. after party scene in vauxhall and south seems like a much smaller affair"

But is that worse?

 

[pattycakes_]

London: The Russian Bar (not sure if it's still called that) can be quirky and fun. Dance Tunnel is pretty good. WU, very nice but not for everyone. Autumn St. is prob my fave. Half because of the bookings and half because it's out of the way enough to deter the plebs. Nearby Peanut Factory was aight for the odd jungle/ragga raveup, too. Not sure of it's current status though.

Someone mentioned a warehouse in Sheffield. Think it might be Dirty Little Secret. Saw Dj Sprinkles there in 2013. Really good vibes, kind of an ideal spot. Doesn't look like they put much on, though. Unless they avoid advertising on the usual channels.

Manchester: Soup Kitchen, as mentioned. Good bookings/vibes. Closes too early though. If you ever get a chance, go and see Andrew Lyster play. Best parties I went to in MCR though were the Bohemian Grove ones at Islington Mill. They went on 'til 8am and the crowd were cool. Few other way off the radar things go on, but you have to know people. Jamal Moss played a wicked 8 hour set in a remoteish warehouse at random last summer and there were a few other private loft techno things going on. Actually made me think there was a lot more going on, but people were wisely keeping it quiet.

That RA article about the Kraut place makes it sound brilliant. But I can't help but wonder how articles like that affect underground clubs.

 

[paolo]

The Sub Club. Awesome soundsystem, a crowd who are serious about music (not in a chin-stroking way), DJs who really know what they're doing >>>

 

[glasshand]

about the after parties- nah i spose smaller's not worse. anyway i was probably talking shite cuz i've just looked up club no.65's capacity and it's like 600. 3-400 sounded like an awful lotta ppl to be still going early, but it's not really when they're all spread about a club. i've been in a queue at no.65 where everyone was told it was full at about 7am. jaded at corsica studios goes on 5am-3pm every sunday and last time i left that at about 9am it was pretty busy and ppl were still arriving.

half because it's out of the way enough to deter the plebs

hmm