18.8.07

Secretsundaze - best summer club in London. Standard



I finally made it to a Secretsundaze party last Sunday, on the roof terrace of the Prince. The pub next to KFC on Coldharbour Lane. And it was frigging fantastic, on many fronts. Quite how they managed to bring a big dollop of sexy Mediterannean cool to Brixton's grimiest corner, is beyond me.

This was a glam, cosmopolitan, international and mixed crowd. We didn't hear an English voice for the first half hour of arrriving - we did hear plenty of Italian and Spanish. Plenty of people had made an effort with what they were wearing - ladies especially, for example one saucy minx was in a bikini, mind you a guy with a fur stole and a 15 stone guy in kimono and panama hat were pretty peacockish too - and then there was the whole dynamic of dancing outdoors, worshipping the sun. Just as the sun went down, Craig Richards played Sean Escoffery's early noughties soulful house classic Days Like This (chorus I love days like this/here comes the sun), with Lambeth Town Hall's clocktower in the skyline, tore the non existent roof off.

Personally I loved the sounds - deep, funky, warm, fuzzy, soulful house and techno and electro, mirroring how boundaries have really come crashing down between different styles. There was a time you would never hear soulful, funky house at a tech house night, or any sort of house at a techno night. Thankfully that era's over which makes it far more interesting for the raver who isn't off their nut (and there were plenty of people necking pills come 9pm on Sunday)

There's undoubtedly something more social and less inhibited with al fresco daytime raving, perhaps because you make eye contact with more people. I would strongly suggest checking out a Secretsundaze - summer sundays only - party, but I wouldn't set foot in Canvas, it's not worth the hassle, grief and perma-queue crush.

Check Secretsundaze for dates and to sign up to the mailing list. Giles Smith and James Priestley have a compilation due in early October, be sure to keep an ear out for that too.

Big shout to Rav.e for being a dedicated raving wingman last weekend: Secretsundaze followed the dubstep squat/House Party in Hackney Wick on Saturday night and an hour at Get Diverted at Babalou at 4am on Sunday morning.