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Techy and titillating beats a-plenty
The Horse and Groom, on Curtain Road in Shoreditch, is, like the party it is hosting tonight, small but most perfectly formed. This Victorian boozer, tucked away like a little gem at one end of the road, has bags of charm and tonight – techy and titillating beats a-plenty, courtesy of the Transient opening party.

Now, you may already have your reservations from reading that opening sentence. Perhaps the words ‘Shoreditch’ and ‘techno’ are too often used in the same sentence; Transient have a lot to fight for, you could say. They’re pitching themselves smack in the middle of a heap of well practiced and well respected stock of promoters – Secretsundaze and Kubicle dripping from the tongue as two obvious names to mention. Add to that an ever growing and changing clan of scarily loyal party-professional followers willing to decorate dancefloors week in and week out, hipster shoes clicking and back pocket overflowing with illicit purchases, fuelling East London’s reputation as the city’s quarter of mayhem. If they pull it off, fledgling promoters will find pickings rich for the taking here; if not, their brainchild will sink like a stone in a vast sea of under-appreciated ventures.

These facts firmly in mind tonight, this humble reviewer set out to judge the night on its own merits and can tell you - Transient stands up on its own. Their formula is simple. It’s not a secret, it’s not a warehouse-type shindig – it’s not glam and it’s not silly, it doesn’t peddle any specific costume theme and it’s easy on the back pocket (£5). They’re stripping the party down to its essentials, you could say, just like the house and techno blasting from the speakers upstairs.

Kicking off the party is Dan Kinasz, one half of The Disassociates. It’s deep, panoramic and tinged with melody, taking in the likes of Jeff Samuel and Motor City Soul. Someone comments: “It’s not busy but the music is wicked”; this isn’t a problem. The place is filling up quickly. The room is modest, dark and almost covert, if not for the fluorescent strip lights illuminating the artwork of London based street artist Pure Evil installed especially for the event – these include projected images and selected wall pieces, rooting the Transient ethos firmly within a grittily raw cityscape.

Tom Budden, formerly of The Key’s Familia and fresh from warming up for Sven Vath at The End, provides the second set of the evening and does not disappoint. Hiccups with a CDJ do not hamper his performance; a now elbow-to-elbow full room are treated to tracks from Marc Romboy and Tom himself.

Final set of the evening comes from Birmingham’s bright young upstart Ad Jones, raising the tempo slightly with a more driving sound. Cadenza’s new hotshot producer Reboot, Israel’s Shlmoi Aber and Gabriel Ananda whip up the crowd to a frenetic mass, appreciation is so vast that the quaking floor of such an ancient pub seems in danger of falling through.

The party wraps up at 2am and revellers move on, after clamouring for ‘one more’, to their next destination. Keep an eye on this party – January’s offering is from Deadset, aka Cass and Mangan, in town to promote their recently released album ‘Keys Open Doors’ on Jesse Rose’s Front Room Recordings, featured in iDJ’s top 25 albums of 2007, and word is that Andre Crom and Craig Torrance have also signed up to join the Transient family. If they can pull off more parties that match this first introductory taster, theirs will be a concept of change and evolution rather than a mere passing fancy.
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Posted Sat 12 Jan 2008

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