This weekend in Edinburgh sees one night present three very different styles, from New Wave indie rock to big room tech-house and perfectly contemporary disco-house. How many of them can you fit in?
Betamax with Miracle Strip – Studio 24, Sat Apr 25
Billed as a New Wave dance party playing ‘mutant disco, post punk, ‘80s synths and 2-Tone’ through the medium of ‘obsolete technology’, bETAMAX (to give it its preferred format) has been long established on the Edinburgh scene as a particularly retro hipster club night hangout, courtesy of DJ residents James Barnes and Chris FAST. It’s also the kind of venue which regularly features good old-fashioned live music, with Edinburgh/Glasgow’s Miracle Strip putting in a late night onstage appearance. A pair of siblings, one from each city, they’ll be playing elegiac indie-pop from their debut album ‘Magic Milk’, which is released at the end of May.
Karnival with Nic Fanciulli – La Belle Angele, Sat Apr 25
A bona fide big deal for the already well-used environs of the new La Belle, Nic Fanciulli (pictured above) is an artist who has managed to remain relevant for the best part of a couple of decades, starting out as a DJ and promoter at his own ClubClass in his hometown of Maidstone, Kent and then moving into producing his own material even as he worked the decks at Space in Ibiza and Miami and Ministry of Sound in London. A remixer for artists like Kylie Minogue, Underworld, Hot Natured and Tracey Thorn (he was Grammy-nominated for the latter work), he’s also the boss of Saved Records, whose many releases over the years include work by Scots Gary Beck and Harvey McKay.
Nightfilm with Grum – Cabaret Voltaire, Sat Apr 25
A born and bred Edinburgh boy, DJ and producer Graeme Shepherd aka Grum has managed to create a distinctive disco-house persona which sits neatly in between the commercial and the underground. Since his earliest singles in 2009 and the debut album ‘Heartbeats’ the year after (which went to number one in the US iTunes Electronic chart), he’s played alongside Tiesto and Above & Beyond, and been championed by such well-regarded DJs as Annie Mac and Annie Nightingale. Expect a party, and possibly a preview of his upcoming second album ‘Human Touch’.
