- Partying on an August Bank Holiday Sunday in London can sometimes be something of an anti-climax. The fact that the UK enjoys the least amount of public holidays in Europe, coupled with the good old fashioned British love of inebriation, means that English bank holidays are traditionally overzealous, booze-fuelled affairs with almost the entire population intent on taking full advantage of the following day off work. Add to this the extra numbers that Notting Hill Carnival attracts to the city, and you get one of the busiest, party-saturated weekends on the clubbing calendar.
Parties that occur week in week out on a Sunday are particularly susceptible to the anti-climax effect. Regular Sunday parties are by their very nature slightly illicit and can often have a more adventurous music policy than a Saturday or Friday shindig. A Bank Holiday essentially removes the illicit aspect (the prospect of work in only a few hours) but often also attracts an influx of new faces; many of whom may be checking out the party for the first time and who may not usually party on a school night.
One Sunday party that's been getting a lot of attention of late is 93 Feet East's daytime extravaganza, Fuse. With a formidable roster of regular DJs that includes Cécille hot shots Anthea and Alex Celler, and an even more formidable selection of guests such as Markus Fix, Geddes and Nima Gorji; Fuse's music policy of warm jacking house music has made it one of London's most exciting new names on the block.
Perhaps anticipating a surge in demand over the bank holiday weekend, the organisers decided to operate a guest list system, thus limiting the crowd to those who had at least made the effort to email the promoters before the event, ensuring most of the event's regulars could make it in. On arriving, this seemed like a wise choice: A few rays of sunshine, a bustling local area and the prospect of seeing Matthias Tanzmann in action meant that queues stretched haphazardly down Brick Lane.
With an expansive court yard and smoking area, 93 Feet East is a venue well-suited for a Sunday day party. However, once inside the relatively small clubbing space, there's not much time for relaxing. The atmosphere is hot, sweaty and intense, while the raised dancing areas coupled with the sheer number of people gives the room an illusion of being much larger than it actually is.
The Fuse residents did a solid job of keeping to the party's musical mission statement: Rolling hi-hats, constant ebbs of sub bass and an array of cut-up soul samples are staples of the Manneheim sound. However a tendency to delve into Derrick Carter-esque house and Speed Garage style re-edits kept the music from becoming predictable. As Tanzmann stepped on to the stage, there was a noticeable lull in the crowd's energy as many halted their previously feverish dancing in anticipation of the German DJ's musical entrance.
Perhaps sensing this, Tanzmann started off with a more stripped down, brooding sound than had been displayed at any time in the night before kicking things off with Patrick Specke's "Bitchual Linestepper." By all accounts this brief minimal blip didn't last long, and Tanzmann quickly resumed Fuse's normal groove-laden house service; peaking his set with a load of classic DJ Sneak tracks before unleashing his new Moon Harbour tune "Ohh, I Don't Know" on an already enraptured audience.
By sticking to their guns musically and not cashing in and overfilling the place, Fuse managed to throw a bank holiday party that was largely business as usual. With clued-up promoters and a seriously loyal and energetic following, it's a party that's well placed to continue its already considerable upward ascendancy.