- Legendary Children have been putting on acid house-inspired nights for nigh on two years now, inviting guests like Neville Watson, Andy Blake and Joe Hart to play alongside residents Prince Pac, Neil Best and Elles. Through their parties and recently revived blog, they have established themselves as one of the key players in London's burgeoning acid house revival. For their latest party at Vogue Fabrics, they chose to improvise on the acid theme, inviting auteur and cult acid artist DMX Krew, who represents a different, more extreme take on the acid sound, to guest.
Vogue Fabrics is located in London’s "fashionable" Dalston, an area home to hipsters and thrill-seekers almost exclusively. As with many mixed / gay venues, the club attracts a loyal crowd who are as much a part of the decor as the faux-Persian rugs that line the floors. The archetypal and small sweaty room with its large-ish sound system and muted lighting makes house music fanatics feel immediately at home. Taking turns on the decks in that room, Legendary Children residents warmed up the atmosphere with numbers from the Dance Mania stable, a label that somehow seems to be more and more relevant with every year it ages, and the airing of a new Neville Watson release on the World Unknown label.
When it came time for him to take to the booth, DMX Krew initially opted for a selection of Chicago tracks while he unfurled the suitcase containing his drum machines and MPC sampler. He then proceeded to bombard the room with live versions of a number of well-known acid tracks before laying down some familiar disco classics, eventually ending his set with an improvised acid version of Donna Summer’s "I Feel Love." By this stage, a number of the venue's more flamboyant regulars, some of whom had arrived fresh from the Lovebox festivities in Victoria Park, were vogueing on the bar while punters attempted to navigate their flailing limbs in search of a drink.
For those of us who grew up in middle England as acid house—and disco before it—were already in a state of disrepair, it is rare to feel as though you have had a brief taste of the kind of eccentricity that might have accompanied those scenes. The combination of Legendary Children, their now familiar crowd, their new-found home and the acid acrobatics of DMX Krew underlines yet again that there is so much more to a party than just a name, a place and a date.