Don't Techno Sh!t at Bar 54

Don't Techno Sh!t at Bar 54

04 February, 2009
by: Lowri

I must confess to having slight misgivings about attending a night called Don't Techno Sh!t. Idiotically, it takes me a while to get the joke.  Don't listen to so much techno you end up ingesting it? Don't shit techno? Oh, Don't take no shit. Duh.

I'm expecting a filthy, slamming basement party replete with sweaty gurners and thundering walls of speakers – or a depressingly sparse club with a tinny minimal sound you can hardly dance to. (I'm a glass half-empty kinda girl - it pays to be thus). The event – their first of the year held at 24hour licensed, red-walled den of iniquity Bar 54, is a 12 hour marathon – running from 11pm to 11am. Yikes and cripes.

Now, this time frame suits me and mine far more than the typical 10-6am most clubs adhere to. On a Friday, fitting in drinks with mates, chill/pre-party/dinner time at home, a few rounds of pool and enough time to get ready in a leisurely fashion usually ends in not being able to get into the club because all of a sudden it's 2am. But none of that tonight, at 2am we swan delightedly into Bar 54 after a thorough search by the bouncers – who take their job very seriously, and spend much of the night sparring with punters in a push-pull points gaining exercise. They make forays onto the packed dancefloor, armed with torches (cue a gaggle of ravers secreting whatever illicit products they've managed to squirrel past the jobsworths), they usher you on if you pause on the stairs, they tell you where to stand when queuing for the toilet. They scowl, they throw their considerable weight around.

But no one cares. No one gives a monkeys. And the reason for this is that everyone is having too much fun to let these arses dampen their sprits. The club's rammed and everyone is smiling as we elbow our way downstairs to the front. DTS resident Tred Benedict is knocking out some excellent, tough but melodic techno. The crowd are loving it; building to a healthy groove and all nodding along amidst dancefloor camaraderie. A good techno night posseses a special kind of atmosphere. People are friendly and genuinely there for the tunes – unlike a lot of the blokes you see at house nights trying to pick up. Everyone is happily getting their groove on and settling in to the rhythms – Tred Benedict's tunes are going down well – there is much whooping and congratulatory thumbs up over the booth.

Next up is Criminal Records first lady Rebekah. She amps it up, playing a techier, rolling set which notches the crowd up and is expertly mixed. She really is a good DJ – with a heads-down, underground sound. It's refreshing to go to a club where you don't feel like you're getting ear damage when you dance near the speakers. We are sitting on the bass bins at one point (which are basically on the dancefloor) and it sounds superb – the levels are just right and do the crisp beats the justice they deserve.

Maxime Dangles –  a young Kompakt DJ – is headlining and gets on at 5am. He plays a brilliant live set of tough, bass-driven, loopy techno  – working the crowd and bouncing around behind the decks – although when 7am comes a lot of people have left: one of the downsides of having your main man play so late.

Don't Techno Sh!t is easily one of the best techno nights in the city – for atmosphere, crowd and music. The organisers really know their tunes and the quality really is top-notch all night. Their choice of DJs is off-centre and interesting enough to set them apart from alot of their rivals. So beat junkies: come and see for yourself - and Don't Techno Sh!t.

If this article gave you a yearning for the techno dancefloor, then click here to check out all techno nights for the next month.

Oh, and if you were moved by this article in any way whatsoever - terror, fear, distaste, euphoria - then do become my friend on spoonfed and/or make a comment below.

Lowri