- Excuse my disagreement with the average East London-based event invitation—"something unique," "not your standard warehouse party"—but most of them are mild variations with a different line up aren't they? Dank warehouse, a "secret" location, a Funktion One sound system and a set of dirty toilets. And so it was with Unwind's recent event invitation...almost. "We will be using a different area of the space to enable us to keep our intimate Unwind vibe. With a large fully stocked bar; proper club toilets; and the addition of a full Funktion One sound system." Intimate and original space? Yep. Fully stocked bar? Sure. Funktion One? Of course. Proper club toilets? Oh? That sounds nice... if they meant one that has an attendant, a supply of hairspray and toilet paper that's still attached to the wall then not quite.
The venue's upstairs area is an art gallery during the day, and, wonderfully, the concept remained the same at night. TV and film-inspired art installations, projected images and graffiti adorned the walls. While Unwind may not have created something totally original in every sense, they certainly attempted to do so by using the upstairs gallery as their main space. After their regular 2010 slot at East Village, moving to an unknown location with no outside promotion, no established venue name or regular passing trade to keep them afloat was a brave territorial move. Considering this was their first, they pulled it off.
The dance floor, which had been scarily sparse when I arrived, began to fill up with a young crowd of party lovers as the Wagon Repair all-star and headliner The Mole, delved into a vinyl-only set. Miles away from his role within The Modern Deep Left Quartet, The Mole's selections were more on par with his encapsulating solo productions. House vibes such as Tensnake's remix of "Jam Hot" were on show alongside the gruffer sound of Alden Tyrell's remix of "It's the Music" from Murphy Jax. From this to disco and even a bit of techno, The Mole spanned his 12-inch collection with an excellent and varied track selection.
That said, there was something missing at Unwind. It wasn't bad. Far from it in fact. But the vibe seemed to be missing, the anticipation and atmosphere just weren't there and no standout moments came to play with my party loving spirit. It was a good party, but it wasn't a great party. Stevie T, The Mole, Mumu resident Lee Rands and Fuse resident Chris Maram all played up to, but not beyond, expectation. Maybe in London we are spoilt, maybe I as an avid party attendee have been witness to too many epic nights to fully appreciate the good but not mindblowing ones. As Unwind make their mark in their new "secret" territory however, I have a feeling they'll stand out from the crowd sooner rather than later.