We Love has started as it means to continue – throwing a rager of a party with a line-up bursting at the seams with talent and a friendly, music loving crowd.
I arrived to a heaving sunset terrace with fresh meat from London Jaymo and Andy George at the helm. The young duo had cultivated some serious bounce in the room and were churning through the best of house, disco, funk and even a bit of two-step garage. It was a choppy, rhythmic set which was impossible not to dance to and when the hollow warps of Getting me Down by Blawan sounded (easily one of the best tunes of 2011) I pretty much lost my head.
After this set I trundled into the Discoteca to catch a bit of Carl Craig, who was performing under his 69 moniker. Perched on a platform above and behind the normal DJ booth, Craig had donned a dramatic beaked mask for the occasion – to great effect! I stayed for a quick stomp to some of the classic 69 releases amidst a mental laser dance, but the Innervisions take-over was imminent and the Terraza was calling my name…
Over the next few hours everyone in the Terraza was taken on a musical journey of the finest quality. Ame, Henrik Schwarz and Dixon played tag-team on the decks all night, swapping around frequently and yet impressively maintaining continuity and fluidity in their set. It was the classic Innervisions sound – deep, dark and melodic, but still maintaining a driving techno kick. There were almost too many memorable moments to mention (try saying that five times fast!), not the least of which was when the eerie sound of a foghorn boomed out into the room, with Ame in control at this point. Throughout the course of the night we were treated to a string of interesting remixes, including a brilliant Henrik Schwarz remix sampling Who Is He – Bill Withers, The Awakening – York, Take it Back – Mano Le Tough and my personal favourite Song of Los – Apparat. Amidst roars of approval, the Innervisions boys finished the night off with a cheeky uptempo classic Be Yourself – Celeda. It was such a brilliant set that I'm going to break Music Reviewers' Code Number One and say - sorry, you just had to be there.
Although the tunes in the Terraza might as well have been chains drawing me into its own musical entity I had to check out the legend that is Derrick May (click the link to listen to his Spotlight podcast) in the Discoteca. As on of the godfathers and pioneers of the Detroit Techno scene I was obviously expecting big things from the uber cool DJ. Even too cool to wear his headphones for a large part of the set, casually pounding the decks in a passionate yet natural manner Derrick had the whole room is the palm of his hand. Strong sounds of the Chicago house scene and Detroit techno could be heard throughout his set with a really rich melodic bassline pumping from track to track. The whole room was buzzing with a kind of sci-fi-esq hysteria which infused with the most jaw dropping laser show I've seen to date sealed the Mayday deal.
Last night's We Love opening was a very solid start. There was a perfect blend of established electronic heroes and emerging talent and it's this blend that will keep We Love sounding so sweet this season. Roll on next Sunday!
