Events

Now in it's 4th month The Poke continues it's young but noble tradition of jaw dropping lineups at what we believe to be the finest and friendliest venue in London, with seriously quality underground music but with none of the attitude that so often comes with it. After jack hammering the packed crowd into submission in May, we had to invite Exile back to the poke, his distinct mutant strain of jungle and electronica has seen him the target of several record labels, and when we saw that Planet Mu were releasing his 'Pro Agonist' LP we figured that was just the excuse we needed to get him back for another speaker threatening show.

If Exile represents the new school then B12 are truly masters of the old, one of the original pioneers of the artificial intelligence sound, their seminal 'Electro Soma' LP on Warp was the perfect marriage of icy detroit techno, electro and the emerging British ambient scene. Having disappeared for several years to pursue a life outside music, the duo reformed in 2005 to play a sell out show at the Electrowerkz in north London, a blistering live performance saw the offers of gigs and record deals come flying at them. Now several gigs around the country later, their live set has been refined and honed to perfection and are ready for only their 2nd London show in far too many years.

Another British techno hero who dropped off the radar in recent years
was Steve Pickton aka Stasis, a long time cohort of B12, Steve's
releases throughout the nineties on labels such as B12, Peacefrog and
Mo Wax were a byword for quality electronica and techno. Much missed
on the scene, this is another return that is long overdue.

I don't know, techno legends, bit like busses really, you wait around
for ages for one and suddenly 3 turn up at once, completing our
triptych of pioneers of the warped groove we have Unique 3, after a
shockingly long hiatus we tracked Edzy down last year and had him play
at the Warp Xmas Party and frankly he stole the show, hypnotically
deep bass, bleeps and acid squawks that rocked the party. We had to
get him back sooner rather than later and we couldn't think of a
better lineup to drop him into.

The main room is completed with a live set from Posthuman's bitchpop
alter-egos Snapmouth, some seriously funky techno and minimal house
workouts from dub KULT and the acid horse delights of the Wheels
Instead of Hooves boys.

In room 2 we hand controls over to the London Electrics collective, a
collaboration between Ai Records, Bleep.com, Expanding, Furthur,
Highpoint Lowlife, Seed, Suburb and Uncharted Audio. This month sees
the first fruits of this meeting of minds as L.E. 01 is released, a
twelve track CD featuring exclusive material from the labels rosters.
To celebrate we've roped in Nick Luscombe from XFM whose Flo-Motion
show has been a beacon for good electronic music in the capital, and
coerced several of the collective's finest acts to play live or spin
records (or play mp3s or whatever it is kids do these days). From flat
out soundsystem bangers to more contemplatyive fare, these artists
represent the cream of the crop of emerging talent.

For the budget conscious shopper there will also be an L.E stall at
the party where people can get their grubby mitts on the L.E
compilation as well as nicely priced CDs and vinyl from the various
labels back catalogue and a few exclusive gems produced just for this
party.

For more information regarding this event or London Electrics, or for print quality photos or guestlist enquiries please contact John on 07951 069 228 or johnpower@gmail.com