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Clubbing in London: 2012 preview

The parties and club nights we're most looking forward to in 2012

Read all our 2012 preview features

  • 2011 is so last year! Browse the below lists to look forward to the cultural, culinary, musical and cinematic treats that London's going to serve up over the next 12 months

Most viewed 2012 club nights

  1. Fabric
  2. Guilty Pleasures
  3. FabricLive
  4. Subsoul
  5. White Heat
  6. Shake
  7. Benga
  8. Madd Raff
  9. Club De Fromage: Gawd Save the Queen
  10. Cheap$kates
More most viewed club nights
  • Swedish House Mafia Swedish House Mafia

    Swedish House Mafia

    Recommended
    Sat Jul 14, Milton Keynes National Bowl

    They sold out Madison Square Gardens in New York in 10 minutes and, just six months later, the cheeky house trio is headed to the UK for another record-breaking show in July. Employing lasers, dry ice, machines and multi-screen visuals, One Night Stand will commandeer Milton Keynes Bowl for an audience of 65,000, making it the biggest dance music show in the country to date. Expect their usual progressive house anthems and momentous build-ups but with a new, darker dubstep direction – as on recent collaborations with Pendulum side project Knife Party – and support from Calvin Harris and Gallic electro mash-up producer Madeon, who at just 17 years old and without any albums or singles to his name, has notched up an incredible 18.5 million YouTube hits and counting.

  • The Eskimo Dance

    Recommended
    Sat Jan 14, Proud2

    You won't find throat singing at this eskimo dance. But you will find a heap of the grime scene's best MCs and DJs as kingpin Wiley's legendary and genre-defining night – showcasing a sound he named 'eski-beat' – returns with its aim to 'get all of the scene members under one roof'. Its return has done well to live up to that mantra with Wiley confirmed to appear (though whether he'll show up, no one knows), joined by JME, Jammer, hotly tipped MC P Money, Little Dee, Flirta D and more hustling on the mics to spit the fastest rhymes first, with DJs backing it up including Slimzee, Logan Sama, Cheeky, Hatcha and Spyro. With the focus in 2011 shifting onto faster, more instrumental grime sounds thanks to Rinse FM DJs Elijah and Skilliam, and grime stars like Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder and Dizzee Rascal topping the charts with a poppier, far-from-grime sound, Wiley's night looks set to prove that the real grime MCs have still got it.

  • Stumblin' Slims

    Recommended
    Sat Jan 21 2012, Village Underground

    Camden rock 'n' roll hotspot The Blues Kitchen return with a slicked-back event dedicated to the dirtier side of American 1950s and '60s vintage. Cue a theme that's somewhere between the prom scene in 'Grease' and a late-night drag race meet, with a fabulously dressed crowd (think full skirts, high school baseball jackets and plenty of tight leather) and live bands interspersed with rockabilly DJs. For their third event, back in Shoreditch under these atmospheric arches, there's a live set from Edwyn Collins-produced rockers Little Barrie and more to be announced. Plus scene-setting trimmings like a twist contest, popcorn girls and more interactive fun.

  • Buy tickets

    Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards

    Recommended
    Sun Jan 21, Koko

    He may have just left Radio 1 due to a schedule shake-up at the station, but Peterson is still every bit the tastemaker. A case in point is the next instalment of his annual Worldwide Awards, which unites groundbreaking jazz bassist and Flying Lotus favourite Thundercat, exciting Otis Redding-style soul singer Michael Kiwanuka, a performance from masked dubstepper SBTRKT with Sampha on vocals and Idris Ackamoor's side project The Pyramids. The DJ support is equally tasty and forward-thinking: tech-house innovator Julio Bashmore, set for world domination in 2012, and Pictures Music-signed youngster Koreless.

  • Mulletover January Sale

    Recommended
    Sat Jan 28, at a secret London location

    Following the farrago over their Halloween bash this year, where tickets sold out only for the party to announce their ‘secret’ venue as being the rather uncool and un-underground Proud2 in North Greenwich, Mulletover-lovers will be pleased with their annual January Sale party in 2012, which clearly states the venue to be a ‘secret warehouse’. All breathe a sigh of relief and then titter with excitement at a dancefloor-pleasing line-up featuring DJ sets from Cologne-based technoist Michael Mayer, Mulletover linchpin Geddes and, in an exciting Eastern Electrics-informed twist, a set from future house/garage type Joy Orbison. Perfect for payday!

  • Hotflush Records at Fabric

    Recommended
    Sat Feb 4, Fabric

    While Nina Kraviz and Radioslave join Fabric resident Craig Richards in room one, eyes and ears turn to room two as Scuba's Hotflush Records takes over for a label showcase. Promising New York-based duo Sepalcure – whose album launch was at the teeny Stoke Newington basement Question Mark Bar in 2011 – are live with their incredible blend of ’90s house and UK bass, joined by techno producer Sigha and London-based beatmangler George Fitzgerald, who blurs the lines between house, garage, dubstep and techno with a deep, warm sensibility. Hotflush released some great material from the likes of Joy O(rbison), Mount Kimbie and Sepalcure in 2011; it's time for the label to step out from the shadow of similarly H-titled imprints like Hessle Audio and Hyperdub in 2012.

  • TriAngle Records Showcase

    Recommended
    Sat Feb 4, a secret warehouse location

    One of the most exciting leftfield record labels of 2011 gets a secret warehouse showcase outing thanks to cutting edge promotions team Black Atlantic and Bleed. Any discerning electronic or indie music fan worth their beard won’t miss this – their last label showcase, at Sonar in Barcelona last summer, was near-impossible to get into. Underground breakthrough producer Balam Acab makes his live UK debut, as does the impossibly titled and extra-mysterious OoOOo, whose music, Dummy magazine says, ‘sounds like dubstep heard through some distant, primordial swamp.’ Then there’s a performance from the delicate and Prince-like Holy Other, all backed up by DJs Karenn (Pariah and Blawan), The Haxan Cloak and Romy from The xx. You can let that jaw drop now.

  • Buy tickets

    Scandalism & Mylo Present

    Recommended
    Sat Feb 25, Scala

    His club nights have been a highlight of 2011 with their basement takeovers at Dalston Superstore and bigger bashes at XOYO, but now electro-house linchpin Mylo is stepping it up a notch with a much larger party at the Scala. Testament to his new nu-disco direction, he has a guest live set from Lindstrom, plus Belgian re-edit wizard Aeroplane and French bad boy Brodinksi on the decks, evening it out with quirky techno-house and sounds snatched from around the world.

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    David Guetta

    Recommended
    Fri Jun 1, Alexandra Palace

    The electro-house hit machine plays his biggest show to date in the capital, way up under the majestic arches of Alexandra Palace in north London on June 1. Expect mass sing-alongs to his auto-tune anthems, maniacal screaming, heart signs in the air from the glossy-haired one and, to his credit, an impressive stage show with intergalactic dancers and an explosion of LED lights across his four decks ’n’ FX set-up. Here’s hoping for some new material and the next step on from his chart-smashing hip-pop schlock, which has been doing the cheese club round for the past two years. With support from Aussie DJ/producer twins Nervo and Nicky Romero.

  • Bloc

    Recommended
    Jul 6-7, Venue to be announced

    Details of this fantastic electronic festival are not announced officially until January 2012, but what we can tell you for now is that for next year, the weekender will be leaving the holiday camp environment and throwing a stunning showcase in a never-before-used location on July 6-7. Photos on their website of a festival tent could be a hint at what to expect, but for a taster of the musical menu, check out their room at Eastern Electric's New Year's Eve party at The Coronet on Jan 31 2011. Sign up to their mailing list online for more details as they come.

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