Kill ‘em All at Fabric with the legendary Erol Alkan

Last Friday saw the promotors Kill em All hijack the club’s hallowed halls and the music policy was strictly four to floor, ranging the whole spectrum from disco and electro to pounding techno. Filthy Dukes set the tone of the night, a rendition of Green Velvet’s classic ‘It’s Time for the Percolator’ indicated that it was going to be a long one indeed. At midnight, the electro-rock outfit Django Django took to the stage in room 1. Their soaring guitars accompanied with glitchy synths and resonating bass sounded perfect as the club began to fill up.

By the time Erol Alkan was handed control of the decks the room had swelled to an eager mass of convulsing and grinding bodies. After a month touring the festivals in Australia the London legend looked perfectly at home mixing classics with contemporary tunes. It had been a while since I had seen Erol do a full club set and I was not disappointed; nineties rave was harmoniously mashed with New Order and Caribou, the rises and drops perfectly anticipated and the denouement being a re-edited version of his Boys Noize collaboration ‘Avalanche’.

Dutchman Paul Chambers presented the novel idea of a live set incorporating synthesizers and drum machines however the succession of discordant synth waves followed by drum rolls and bass soon became repetitive.

Fortunately, over in room 2, rising stars Hey Today! kept the crowd moving and the energy levels soaring, not a single soul in the club could prevent their bodies from dancing as bass heavy fidget house and furious electo instructed their legs to move. This resurgence of rave-inspired dance music is becoming huge in Europe and the German duo gave us a taste of what we might be missing. While tired faces became more common and the dancefloor emptied, Londoner Stopmakingme kept the stragglers entertained with a well crafted techno set until the early morning.

Fabric is still not showing its age. The sound is meticulously controlled, with crystal clear treble and deep bellowing bass, never once hurting your ears. The recently updated lasers were fantastic making one random raver I met declare they had triggered an ‘acid flashback’ (although his heavily diluted pupils told a different story). The laid-back feel of the club and ‘everyone is equal’ vibe made for a very pleasant atmosphere. It’s no wonder people choose to return to Fabric again and again.