- You could, and I will, argue that Mono_Cult is a two-sided promotion. On the one hand you have small and intimate gatherings in Wire's basement that offer up forward-looking bookings and city debuts (think Deniz Kurtel, Jus-Ed, Space Dimension Controller) and on the other you have sprawling 18-hour parties at the larger, more ravey Faversham venue or other assorted warehouse spaces around town. These often occur on Bank Holidays and birthdays, and were arguably the first parties to introduce a more bass-leaning house sound to the formerly house and techno-obsessed city.
To celebrate five years in operation, the birthday bash at The Faversham reflected both sides of the coin. Following on from a considered warm up set by resident Paul Kaminski, Studio Barnhus prankster Axel Boman was the man to take over the boxy main room. Mixing out of a housed-up version of Luther Vandross' "Never Too Much" into Kornel Kovacs' trippy "Baby Step," there was a celebratory and party-starting undercurrent to the night's proceedings right from the off.
Sweeping back his floppy fringe and bounding about non-stop, the Swede then set about working though plenty of unhinged house cuts, some deep, some trippy, often standout and occasionally baffling. Mixing quickly and ably, Ten City sat next to Studio Barnhus fare and acid led into colourful strings as the shoulder-to-shoulder dance floor sweated out its appreciation. Even the fact Henrik Schwarz sent a sick note instead of stepping up for his live set couldn't dampen things. All it meant was that we got an extended set from Joy Orbison, AKA Peter O'Grady.
Photo credit: Ian Ramsey
Immediately toughening up the sounds, firm drum work replaced Boman's depth and melody as O'Grady raced through plenty of his own much lauded cuts, some of the finer garage offerings from Four Tet's recent Fabriclive mix and other such drilling dance floor dynamite. The affluent, student-leaning crowd of boys and girls lapped it up until the after party beckoned around 6 AM.
A shout, too, must go to Hypercolour's Ste Roberts who helmed the plush second room. Beneath grandiose cornice work, surrounded by golden picture frames and from an ad hoc DJ table, he threaded together a streamlined selection of thumping house cuts that never strayed an inch from a well-chiselled groove. It's been an organic and evolutionary five years for Mono_Cult, then, and for that reason a tenth birthday doesn't seem that unlikely.