Reviews - Events
THIS IS NOT LONDON - Armand Van Helden
(Plus: The Black Ghosts, Pnau, A-Trak, Cagedbaby, Ashley Beedle, Riva Starr, Mowgli, Nathan Detroit and Jam Warm)
Event: THIS IS NOT LONDON
Venue: MATTER, LONDON, UK
What we think: ONE TO REMEMBER…BUT FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS!
Written by Laura Heath
After the long walk up to the new Fabric sister club, i was ready for some quality house music. This one off exclusive date was to promote the second instalment of Armand Van Helden’s "New York: A Mix Odyssey" series, soon for release on Southern Fried records. My expectations were high as it’s not every day that one of the original house pioneers is playing on your doorstep.
The air in Matter was full of moisture, mainly from the sweat of the teen clubbers. There was a certain 'Rave' element to the main floor which was overly full, smokey and what seemed to be ready for the main act. After settling in to the environment, Armand Van Helden came on making his appearance obvious.
He began playing a mixture of what can only be described as obvious ghetto jump-up electro and bootlegs. This came as an utter shock and disappointment. The flow and structure of his set seemed to be absent along with the technical skills too, leaving the crowd uncaputured. A Daftpunk bootleg emerged and it was at this point that I became slightly bored, but i still held some hope that he would drop a classic house track.
Nothing.
Ears ringing and full of disappointment it was finally time to leave. I was left wondering what has happened to the days of house for Armand Van Helden?
Maybe he left his other CD wallet at home that night.
