August's Bank Holiday weekend is traditionally one of the most hectic periods in the UK's clubbing calendar, with punters being typically spoiled for choice when it comes to deciding where they're going to end up. The Notting Hill Carnival presents a glut of options in itself, with jocks like Norman Jay, Sancho Panza and countless others soundtracking the mass consumption of red stripe and jerk chicken all day. As for the afterparties, you can catch Rocky from X-Press 2 at the Black Rabbit Carnival Caper, D'Julz from Rex club over at Westbourne Studios or Phil Asher and about a dozen others at Notting Hill Carnival Jam Part 2 at the Fat Badger.
Those of you who fancy a bit of festival action have a couple of options, beginning with L.E.D on Victoria Park over the course of Friday and Saturday. Their first day sees a range of electro-house heavyweights take to the stage—including Tiga, Soulwax and David Guetta—while day two will host the likes of Aphex Twin and Leftfield. SW4 will also make a return to Clapham Common over the weekend, with John Digweed, Fatboy Slim, Josh Wink, Carl Cox and Skream all manning the decks. There are also two SW4 afterparties going on at Ministry Of Sound once the festival finishes, with Pete Tong bringing his Wonderland over on the Saturday, and Layo & Bushwacka!, M.A.N.D.Y. and Matthew Dear all lining up for SW-More the following night.
It goes without saying that there's plenty of normal clubbing action happening in the capital, and although Friday is the quietest night, there's still plenty of choice on offer that evening. Tim Sweeney and Tim Goldsworthy will bring their eclectic four-to-the-floor sound to Plastic People for Warm, Markus Schulz is set to trance things up at Ministry Of Sound, while Fabric's three rooms will be all about drum'n'bass for DJ Hype's Playaz takeover. Those of you looking for house and techno can always check the heavily hyped Art Department make their UK debut together at Egg, while Arnaud Le Texier will headline the Audioeyes bash at the Russian Bar.
Fans of minimal will find plenty to lure them out of the house on the Saturday, as We Fear Silence's Minus showcase with Troy Pierce and Marc Houle at Cable will be going head-to-head with Alex Under and his CMYKmusic night at Egg. If you fancy more of an intimate vibe, Sender's Franklin De Costa will be topping the bill at Old Street's new Nomad club. Lost will be catering to the hardened techno nuts at Plastic People with Tomoki Tamura, while Ben Klock, Ben Sims and Russ Gabriel will attempt to do the same in Fabric's second room, with Carl Craig and Sebo K set to guest in the main arena. DJ Three and Eddie Richards head up Superfreq's swanky shindig at Paramount, James Zabiela will show off his technical trickery at Plan B alongside Reset Robot, while Ivan Smagghe's uncompromising DJing style should ensure that the final bash at Scrutton Street Warehouse goes off like it should.
A selection of top quality guests filling the more low-key venues, with Tom Ellis set to bring a bit of Freerotation to the capital for Elektronishe at the Russian Bar, while Jackmaster will surely satiate the bass music fans during his performance at The Horse & Groom. Lovers of acid house should also take note of I Love Acid's party at Ginglik—which features sets from AGT Rave Cru and Placid amongst others—but if NY disco is more your thing, you can't go wrong with Danny Krivit at East Village.
It wouldn't be an August Bank Holiday in London nowadays without another epic Eastern Electrics bash. Michael Mayer and Claude VonStroke will both be headlining the event, but RA will be looking after the third room, with performances from Scuba, Joy Orbison, and recent podcasters Harri & Domenic. Secretsundaze also have an action-packed line-up for their daytime party at Rich Mix, with Daniel Bell and Tevo Howard showcasing their respective techno and house styles. Lee Curtiss and Session Victim will also play a free daytime event at Shoreditch's Corbet Place, while Discovery & Warm's joint do at The Horse & Groom will go on all day and all night courtesy of Jamie Jones, Pete Herbert and more. Diynamic cohorts Solomun and Stimming will both be in the city; the former at Ketoloco's summer shindig alongside Christian Burkhardt, and the latter at fabric for WetYourSelf's Bank Holiday extravaganza, which also features Oxia and Johannes Heil. Argenis Brito and Cesar Merveille will both appear at Lo*kee's Cadenza showcase, while Cecille have organised their own event, which will be headlined by Nick Curly and take place in an as yet unconfirmed venue. Martin Eyerer will headline Club Aquarium's 12-hour session that will cruise all the way through until 10am on Monday morning, but if you're still hankering for more of a dance, Jaded's bash with Gorge and Burnski at Cable goes on until 1pm.
