54 Music Dark Party 002 listings

54 Music Dark #002

Sat 4th July

Bar 54

54 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LT

10.00pm till 6am

£8/£10/£12

www.54london.com

Mark Henning

Max Cooper

+ more TBC

In a modern world where anything decent is ripped off, cheapened and mass produced for the baying mob which feed consumerism, genuine originality sticks out like a sore thumb.  So despite the rise and rise of lifestyle techno into the over ground realm, Bar 54 is wombling free and still sticks its head above the rest.  Why? Well, they've recently launched their own record label, 54 Music. With the Dark side for techno and Light for house the aim is to champion the opposing shades of dance music and release pioneering sounds from the electronic heroes and heroines of tomorrow.  It makes sense, then, to utilise Bar 54's famed rave-den basement as a base from which to build these contrasting sides to the label.

The 4^th July will see the second incarnation of '54 Music Dark' which offers up a taste of what to expect from their label of the same name, this time with Mark Henning, Max Cooper and a TBC special guest at the controls.

London born Henning can count superbad labels like Soma, Trapez and Cynosure Recordings (run by Plus 8 man Mark Shannon) amongst his friends, having released on them in the past.  Being born of a German parent means he’s an inherent lust for electronic music and cites the driving core of early Daniel Bell and the fuzzy energy of Ed Rush as inspirations.  This guy really earned his stripes before getting gigs across Europe, as he has balanced the crippling mundanity of a 9-5 London job with the nocturnal existence that is life as a DJ for many years.  If the futuristic elements of techno fire your synapses, and a dark 4/4 groove leads your soul – this guy’s the man for you.

Residencies at much loved techno night, Firefly in Nottingham, and at Rumour in Belfast, during Max Cooper’s formative musical years have set him in good stead.  Working the turntables as was done de-facto back in the day, Cooper weaves elements of electro and techno to devastating effect: you only need hear his killer ‘Harmonisch’ EP from January of this year (on tip-top label Traum) for proof of that.  Hot Chip loved it so much they licensed a track to use on their forthcoming Bugged Out compilation, in fact.  And with backing like that, there’s no need to spill a dot more ink on the guy.

As digital music releases more and more detract from the enjoyment of building a physical record collection, coupling a record label with a club concept such as this gives something back to the avid fan, adding an extra layer of real-time, real-life enjoyment for the audiophiles of today.

In summary, get behind the 54 crew , get down to tonight’s guests, and get on this new and exciting record label.  You won’t be disappointed.