Clubs

Have we missed your London clubland highlight of 2007? Let us know

Hannah Holland
The big-haired dame and Trailer Trash resident behind the mental Bastard Batty Bass nights, Miss H has been tickling the rude bits of everyone from Shoreditch to Serbia with her jungle, techno, garage, electro and b-line house concoctions.

On Bastard Batty Bass beats:
‘2007 was all about getting the Bastard Batty Bass sound out to more people. I did a BBB tour in Berlin with MC Chickaboo and Mama Shamone and it was crazy. The scene is quite minimal there and we play the opposite so the crowds were totally hyped up. We’re doing a one-off party at 6ft Unda this Thursday and an all-dayer at The Dolphin in Hackney with Trailer Trash on New Year’s Day, which will be mayhem! I’ve got a blog, too, Batty Bass Bizness; you can download my podcast from battybass.blogspot.com.’
Feature continues

Where’s dance music going in 2008?
‘Next year comes our digital label, Batty Bass Records, which will put out stuff by myself, Mama Shamone and Zombie Disco Squad. Dance music is going to get more outrageous next year in a batty bassy way!’

We first met Hannah Holland in October 2007; here's what she said.

Speakerjunk
Flatmates Trevor Loveys and Joshua ‘Hervé’ Harvey play together as Speakerjunk, rubbing up Jimi Hendrix and Spektrum the cheeky electro hip hop way. They smashed it at Modular’s Xmas bash and they’re back with a stampede of club bangers to make you bounce.

On letting the good times roll:
‘It’s all been a good laugh this year, but there was one gig we flew in to play without knowing that the headliners, Bonde Do Role, had cancelled and everyone had left. We turned up at 1am to find only 30 people jingling around in an 800-capacity club! We played, and it was fun because they were going mad for it and making loads of noise!

What’s your goal for 2008?
We’re going to make more records and get our label going again. We’ve done a lot of separate projects so we’re going to lay down some original stuff together and finish a collaboration album with the Dubsided lot. Hopefully in 2008 boring and bitter people will stop moaning and leave happy clubbers to keep dancing!’

Duke Dumont
Everyone who’s anyone knows this Diesel-U-Music winner is going to take his booty bangin’ glitchy electro rerubs to another level in 2008. His debut ‘Regality’ EP is out now and you can expect a lot more where that came from in 2008.

On less hype, more action:
‘I’ve been working loads behind the scenes this year so hopefully 2008 will be the first big year for me. I’ve financed my own studio so I’m intending to only leave it for shows, and become a workhorse. The Dubsided collective (Switch, Jesse Rose, Solid Groove, Sinden, Trevor Loveys and Hervé) are going to set up a lot in 2008 too, so look out for the forthcoming collaboration album. They don’t want to be the new Ed Banger, but they are a force to be reckoned with. I cringe at London kids trying to replicate the same hype Ed Banger has through the internet by over self-promoting on MySpace. It’s not organic, they’re just trying to force themselves on you and they’ve forgotten to earn their stripes. If you really learn your craft then the hype will follow.’

Zombie Disco Squad
Nat and Lucas have partied with Divine Brown, rubbed their baile funkin’ fidget house all over Europe and are releasing on Hannah Holland’s new record label next year. Hot sauce hot? We think so. They spin at Turnmills on January 5.

On touring with neo-Nazis:
‘Russia was the scariest place we’ve been this year: the pre-party to the night we played was full of neo-Nazis, so we had to put up with their shit. The Little Sex Machine club night at Flex Club in Vienna was incredible too, because the people there were really into our music, and we had a burlesque dancer pouring wine over herself behind us during our set!’

Where’s dance music going in 2008?
‘People are getting a bit bored of this instantly gratifying music that pulls out the cheap poppy shots. The passion is going to come back. We want to reawaken that disco sentiment and positive house feelings. Mowgli, Riva Starr and the Italian new wave deserve the hype. They’re a cross between the fidget house and Claude Von Stroke-y minimal electro sound with big basslines. It’s serious!’

Simian Mobile Disco
It’s James Ford and James Shaw. It’s ‘We Are Your Friends’. It’s world dominating. They’ve had a massive year with the highly anticipated release of their debut long player ‘Attack. Decay. Sustain. Release’ so roll on 2008 and many more juicy rock remixes, please.

On going deeper in the studio:
‘It’s a good time for London music but people seem to be getting tired of the full-on distorted sound, so maybe dance music will go a little deeper.’

What’s your goal for 2008?
‘To get back in the studio, because we’ve been playing so much and haven’t been able to make new music. We’re really excited about making an electronic record without a computer: just wiring machines together and making them talk to each other. We’ve also got other bands lined up to produce next year – Ford’s just finishing mixing his hush-hush project with Alex Turner and Miles Kane.’

Skream and Benga
You can’t mention dubstep without mentioning old mates Skream and Benga, the young guns who are taking the scene global via their tectonic plate-shifting productions. Benga releases an album in February. Keep your ears peeled for more unbelievable mixes from Skream.

On the way forward for dubstep:
Benga: ‘You get certain folks who say if we carry on doing what we’re doing we’re going to kill dubstep, but we’ve seen no signs of that yet. People say we’re going down the wrong route, but there is no route to what we’re doing! I want to find a way to bring in a new crowd – and less moany people – so maybe I’ll start banging out rock ’n’ roll, who knows?’

Skream: ‘The biggest hype has been for Coki and Benga’s track ‘Night’: it’s like the ‘Midnight Request Line’ of this year, but bigger. I want to get another album out and push my record label a lot more. I’ve found two new producers: one’s called Kulture and he’s really fresh (I found his demo at the bottom of my record box with no number or name or anything on it!) and the other is a Finnish guy called Late. He’s got some really well-produced Burial-type sounding stuff. I’m pretty confident that they’ll do really well.’

Nadia Ksaiba
She’s been on tour warming up the crowds for Klaxons and Simian Mobile Disco and is one of the Our Disco crew, plus she’s one of the only ladies around who really knows how to work NYC disco clangers for a cutting-edge crowd.

On dance music to fall in love with:
‘What’s been great this year? I love Disco Bloodbath at Passions. They only play old disco and Italo that I hadn’t heard before, but you can just fall in love with every song. And obviously the new night I’m doing with Rory from Durrr, Say Yes, which plays more obscure stuff like Our Disco used to do – we’re going monthly from February at the Amersham Arms in New Cross. I’m a bit bored of this really noisy electro that sounds like it’s all been produced in the same way on Ableton. I don’t think that indie kids really like dance music, even though it’s good that they are dancing! I think what they like is just electronically-produced rock music. My tip for 2008? Holy Ghost! from New York.’