...Andy Stott squelching - you guessed it - Corsica room 2 into submission early on at our 3rd birthday (the epic Plex/Colony/Machine #1), Pev rocking it straight after, Raime bringing in 2012 with a fine selection of original (read: arichinaal) jungle in the Cable bar, Dozz frying brains - nothing new there - with his closing track at Colony/Prologue in June, Rupture's Mantra & Dubz DnBing the face off August's Summer Rave, Miles once again bringing the HEAT for us at Plex/Colony/Machine Pt. 2 (never mind Senking's and Livity Sound's respective, chest-rattling live PAs)... and, well, yeah... I told you there were too many!
A favourite set of yours you've played?
Warming up Corsica room 2 before the aforementioned Kangding Ray live set was a thrill. I finished with “Clipper” by Autechre (an untouchable piece of music, in my book) and he just, well, mixed in and took off. Things rarely blend that smoothly!
Generally speaking, playing b2b with Carl, as MB & CB, has been great fun over the years. Essentially, it's what Colony is/was all about. Just us and some guests dropping everything from Chain Reaction-school deep techno to old-school electro to (post-) UKG to jungle to straight up hardcore (an increasing, perhaps unpopular tendency of ours over recent times) and not giving a fuck about what we're 'supposed' to be playing. In fact, it's been the Summer Rave closing sets - usually fuelled by colossal amounts of rum, coke and warm beer - that have been the most enjoyable moments for us a residents, I'd say. How can mixing Rufige Kru with Drexciya with SL2 with dodgily named garage productions from the early '00s not be fun?
There have, of course, been a fair few disastrous moments, too - but let's skip over them!
One thing I noticed about Colony is that it wasn't just an event for big names - although you did pull some very big line-ups. You guys seemed to really support local and emerging artists from the UK.
Absolutely. I mean, we're lucky: the UK has an incredible tradition of electronic and dance music(s) - mindblowing. I think we've just naturally gravitated towards what it is in/about UK soundsystem music - be it Surgeon-y techno, Aphex-y IDM, Photek-y DnB, or whatever - that makes it special, that we feel an affinity for/towards (which has nothing to do with patriotism or Tory-boy 'Real Britishness' or any kind of servile self-identification). Why go fishing in Germany or America, spending 1500 bucks and clocking up a pile of carbon emissions for an overrated techno DJ whose 'unique' sets are no doubt indistinguishable from his/her peers', when you can get someone down on a train from Sheffield for £30 return who'll play a better, broader set and won't need ferrying around in taxis every time they need a piss, for half the price?
And why run a night if you're not interested in supporting emerging artists from near(ish)by? Fuck the whole big name fixation. It disgusts me. We're seeing the same dynamic played out in supposedly 'underground' dance music as in A-list celebrity culture: the same obsession with image, profile and stature, the same uncritical adoration of mediocrity (how many sets on The Boiler Room are *actually* really good?), the same fetishising of The Master(s), the same warped economics... I'm firmly behind the idea - however naive or, to date, unactualized - that 'rave' and 'raving' is, fundamentally, about a level playing field. And so it just comes naturally to try, wherever possible, to balance the 'top' with the 'bottom'...
OK, so why did Colony come to an end?
As we said at some length in a recent mailer to our crew: for both good and bad reasons. You've probably already gathered what some of the negatives are (!) - primarily, the distorted economics (nationally, in terms of diminishing state/municipal support for/of alternative arts and culture; locally, in terms of the impossible margins inflicted on promoters by venues, bar managers, etc; and 'internally', in terms of the increasingly harsh, agent-mediated 'winner-takes-all' dynamics of the bookings circuit) are making it impossible for us to operate in a way which doesn't overly rely on repeat bookings and tried-and-tested 'safe' methods, or just fold into becoming a sub-standard, fortnightly chinwag in some random bar or other with plenty of walk-up but no vision or direction.
And I, for one, am deeply uncomfortable about the increasing penetration of brands and branding into what, for me, is a firmly counter-cultural, anti-establishmentarian sphere - one which should resist, not embrace, the corporate business/finance ontology of said establishment (something we've always tried, in our own little way/s, to do). Is it okay that, nowadays, 'raves' are hosted by multi-million pound peddlers of shitty energy drinks and held, in turn (and primarily for streaming 'participants'), in energy giant-sponsored tourist attractions? What does that say? And should we be happy with it? What does it say when one of the great alternative electronica staples - a label whose back-catalogue we're constantly mining - cosies up, for an event, with an institution that receives large sums of money from, and proudly display the logo of, BP? Should we be happy we that? I guess, personally, I'm not. And I'm not sure if the terrain we're entering is one in which Colony has a proper place.
As for the positives, there are loads. But I'll spare you another essay and simply say: it's done. We did it. It was what it was and what it was was by and large, what we wanted it to be. We've made some great friends and built a small but genuine family of nice, normal, occasionally slightly misbehaved people who've followed us and, we hope, 'got' us. And we've booked most of the people we wanted to, at the best venues we could get our mits on. That, surely, is a job well done?
The final Colony is this Saturday. Once it's all done, packed down - all over - and you're at home, resting. What's your cuppa? “PG Tips like the rest of us”?
But of course.
And finally, tell us about the mix you have provided as
Tengui.
Originally, I had grand plans to put together a four deck, forty track Traktor mix for this piece, a la the Plex/Colony/BleeD set I mentioned earlier, but in the end it's just two decks and ten records I'm really fond of, played from start to finish. One's by Pev, who's headlining our closing party tomorrow, and nine are from people I wish we'd booked over the years (although in some cases, we were a little too late!). It's dedicated to the open-minded people who made Colony more - a lot more - than just another night. We'll miss you.
TEA
If you are in London this weekend details and tickets for Colony END, featuring Peverelist, Equinox, Sync 24 (live), S_P_A_C_E_S (live), Tengui & CB can be found here. There will also be an all-night record fare held in honour of Dave Twomey, a favourite among the techno community who sadly passed away this year.
Pictures courtesy of Will Darkin
Tracklist:
01. Peverelist - Meets Tshetsha Boys [Honest Jon's,
2011]
02. Monolake - Ping
[Imbalance, 2001]
03. CTI & Monte Cazazza - Future Shock [Play It Again Sam, 1988]
04. Shackleton - Death Is Not Final (T++ Rmx) [Skull Disco,
2008]
05. Photek - Knitevision [Science, 1998]
06. The KVB - Dayzed (Regis Rmx) [Cititrax, 2013]
07. Front 242 - Sample D [Wax Trax, 1983]
08. QNS - QNS 3 [Hidden Hawaii, 2010]
09. Beaumont
Hannant - Ormeau [GPR, 1994]
10. Alaska & Paradox - Shinjuku [Paradox Music, 2003]
END TEN mix by Tengui Duration: 1:02:46