Loved by ravers for among other things his residency at the infamous Fabric, Avery is renowned for his stand out, instantly recognisable sound; a heady mix of swirling psychedelia underpinned by driving trance inducing beats, which will set the tone for tonight’s WHP.
Avery selected his very own line-up featuring; Marcel Dettmann, Daphni, Avalon Emerson, HAAI and many more. Head over to CRACK which features Avery’s preview of each of his hand-picked artist;
First up on the Main Stage is HAAI – fresh from finishing her residency at London’s Phonox this year HAAI has been touring around Europe.
She delivers a trademark heavily percussive set to kick things off in Store Street. It didn’t take long for the room to fill and the 9.30pm last entry suddenly didn’t seem like too bad of an idea.
Following HAAI is Berlin based Avalon Emerson who is a regular at Berlin’s Berghain and recently produced a nine-hour set in the legendary venue. The place was hotting up and the anticipation for Daphni was starting to fill the arches. Any suggestion that Avalon is here as a warm up is soon squashed, Avalon produces a mesmerising set, it would be easy to pick a spot and camp in the main room for the entire evening.
However, we took a walk through the maze of hoardings to find Skee Mask in Room 2, after his well-reviewed second album release ‘Compro’ earlier in the year he’s gathered a decent crowd considering the competition in tonight’s line up.
The strength of the line-up is kudos to Daniel Avery’s music taste and the friends he surrounds himself with. He has described Skee Mask’s music as “machine music with a human heart” a term that makes a lot of sense when you’re actually immersed in one of his sets.
The clock strikes midnight and it’s time for Daphni aka Dan Snaith, aka head honcho of Canadian electro rock band Caribou. Daniel Avery tells CRACK “No one needs me to tell them what an innovative and important musician he is.” It’s probably the DJ act on tonight’s bill that everyone is excited for, energy levels are high and the dancefloor is rammed. He opens up with track ‘Aardvark, Taraval’
Daphni’s set is a wonderful random track list, he effortlessly mixes irrepressible machine funk, sweaty afro disco beats, and rolling percussion loops and funk samples that is effortlessly infectious. To name a few; ‘De I Comahlee ah, Jackie McLean’, ‘Vapour, Slam’. During his set he delivers several moments of jaw dropping, hands in the air, it’s nothing but good vibes in Room 1.
Daphni’s tracks have populated the DJ sets of many of dance music’s most forward thinking DJ’s, unfortunately he didn’t play any on tonight’s set, slightly disappointing but his set was epic all the same. Daphni appearances are rare – balancing solo recording time and time with Caribou – meaning that Daphni DJ sets are always that little bit extra special.
Now it’s time for the man himself to step up, not an easy position he’s put himself in following on from Daphni. The pressure was on for him to deliver a huge set. Opening up with track ‘Diminuendo’, the next two hours proceeded to be a true masterclass in psychedelic techno.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH CRACK
