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Mindbenderz talk ‘Lord of the Rings’ and fishing, as well as the creation of their new album ‘Celestial Gateway’!
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Lyktum expands on his new album ‘Home’ – talking about his love of storytelling, creating new harmonies and the concept behind his musical works.
Pan talks getting caught short crossing the Sahara, acid eyeballs and tells us Trance is the Answer, plus shares his thoughts on his latest release 'Beyond the Horizon' - all from a beach in Spain!
Miss C chats about living with the KLF, DJing in a huge cat’s mouth, training her brain and the upcoming super-duper Superfreq Grande party at LDN East this Saturday, 16th September!
NEM3SI$ - I Live for the Night – talks superficiality, psychopaths, and bittersweet success, ahead of a plethora of evocative, emotional, and passionate upcoming melodic techno releases!
Psy-Sisters Spring Blast Off! We talk to DJ competition winner ROEN along with other super talents on the lineup!
Blasting towards summer festivals with Bahar Canca ahead of Psy-Sisters Spring Blast!
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The Transmission Crew tell all and talk about their first London event on 24th February 2023!
NIXIRO talks body, mind and music production ahead of his release 'Planet Impulse' on Static Movement's label - Sol Music!
Turning the world into a fairy tale with Ivy Orth ahead of Tribal Village’s 10th Birthday Anniversary Presents: The World Lounge Project
The Psy-Sisters chat about music, achievements, aspirations and the 10-Year Anniversary Party - 18/12/22!
A decade of dance music with Daniel Lesden
Earth Needs a Rebirth! Discussions with Psy-Trance Artist Numayma
Taking a Journey Through Time with Domino
New Techno Rising Star DKLUB talks about his debut release White Rock on Onhcet Republik!
PAN expands on many things including his new album 'Hyperbolic Oxymoron' due for release on the 14th April 2022 on PsyWorld Records!
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N-Kore talks Jean-Michel Jarre, unfinished tracks and fatherhood!
Celebrating International Women’s Day and Ten Years of Psy-Sisters with Amaluna

The freaks come out! Riot Spooktacular reviewed

Reported by Less is Bat / Submitted 13-11-05 23:39

WoooOOOOOoooo!! Mwahahahaaa!! And other such scary noises for introductory purposes! Picture a cold October afternoon. We have but 24 hours until All Hallows Eve is upon us and the cursed and damned come out to bewitch us and carry out their fowl deeds. Now is a time to be tucked up in bed with the doors firmly locked.

Instead of the safety of your homes, I’d like to take you on a journey. Away we go, into the cold afternoon air, down a dark dark Oxford street, down a dark dark alley, down some dark dark stairs into a dark dark basement. And we arrive… at the RIOT! Spooktacular!

I've been a fan of RIOT! events for a long while now, and having attended their Halloween bash last year, the standard was set high if they were to top the occasion. The line up boasted some excellent Djs and the headliner in the main room was the stomping Andy Farley. There had been quite a buzz surrounding this event and talk on the many internet forums was dominated by what to wear to celebrate this spooksome event! Knowing the occasion should be marked in costume, I prepared to review the night under my new alias, Jess the Bat!



Many of those who had made the effort in costume were rewarded with give-aways of RIOT! releases on vinyl and later in the night Vinylgroover himself dished out copies of releases Traffic -002 and 004 to lucky crowd members gathered around the DJ booth during his set.

The decoration on the night was superb! Both the main room, with its pumping hard house, and the second room, featuring the bar and some rather hefty breaks and house, were dressed up to the nines. Pumpkin faces adorned the walls and the DJ booths were surrounded by evil spider webs and dangly bats and beasties. The decoration and the costumes really helped with the atmosphere and the crowd was ever reminded that this was not just any old event. As adults we’d all look a bit odd dressing up and trekking off to ‘trick or treat’ yet we all love to opportunity to doll up and celebrate with crazy antics. RIOT! supplied us with the perfect surroundings and soundtrack to let go in Halloween style.



The turnout on the night, whilst not as big as at some RIOT! events earlier in the year, was at a comfortable size. The further arch in the main room was left sealed off until roughly 8.30 by which time there were enough people to keep both main room arches and the second room buzzing. I personally prefer attending RIOT! when it’s not at max capacity and bursting at the seams as the heat at such nights becomes unbearable.

The music in the second room steadily supplied us all with the funkiest breaks and house beats. The crowd was almost perfectly split between both rooms. In all honesty, I have to say I spent almost the whole night in the harder main room. This is in contrast to my normal room choice at RIOT! however I simply could not get enough of the harder stuff supplied by Vinylgroover, Ed Real and Andy Farley.

LINE UP

Main room

Type1
JP from Holland
Vinylgroover
Ed Real
Andy Farley


Room 2

Alex Parsons
Richard Launch
Tom Real
Oliver Lang
Ben Dela-Pen


Some of this review must now be dedicated to the birthday boy, Captain RIOT! himself, the realer than real, Ed Real! This Riot! was the week the man himself turned 30 — thus double cause to party hard! Ed, as always, made the effort to make his way around the crowds chatting and greeting everyone there. This kind of hands on, friendly approach makes you feel so welcome and special at events. Ed’s happy, confident chat spreads like wildfire and it always strikes me that even if you arrive at RIOT without knowing anyone, you leave with a selection of friends. It has to be one of the friendliest clubbing crowds in London.



The party vibe really was one of letting go and making new friends. All around you were people exchanging bits of costume and complimenting each other on their freakish attire! By eight o’clock the crowd was extremely inebriated and the atmosphere picked up a gear. More people had made the switch to the dark side (meaning the main room) and both mini-stages had already tempted dancers upon them. Special mentions must go to Harderfaster’s very own number plate girl Kelly aka Tkg000903940 who was more than a little worse for wears and harderfather Matt for his collection of costume oddments including a spiderweb beard and a giant Afro.

As I have already mentioned, Vinylgroover kept me completely absorbed as he played a set rammed full of anthems. Some have commented that it was too many remix anthems back to back, however for me it was just what I fancied on a dark Halloween eve! After this stomper of a set, Mr Ed Real himself stepped up to the decks — his huge red devil’s wings casting shadows on the crowd! His set was a great reflection of RIOT! as a whole as it moved from classic to anthem to more underground sounds. It was, if you’ll excuse the pun, devilishly good! (I feel dirty).



The Korruption crew did a great job in the second room and on one of my jaunts to the bar and for a quick boogie and sound out of the tunes, I was presented with a Kurruption goody bag with business cards, chocolate crispy cake and a couple of sweets! Zoelee knows how to bribe a crowd that’s for sure and I thoroughly enjoyed my crispy cake while waiting for my bus home... I mean flying on my broomstick home.

When I arrived home, I sat on my bed, full of Magners cider and joy. I had that warm and content feeling, a ringing of banging hard house in my ears and memories of so many friendly faces chatting away to me. Thus I knew I’d passed another Sunday in the warm bosom of RIOT! Their parties are totally unique and I can’t imagine a better way to pass a wintery Sunday afternoon and a spooksome Halloween.



Massive shouts to the wonderful photography of the one they call Psycho.
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Other Features By Less is Bat:
Celebrating the launch of Party Proactive at its new Turnmills home — an interview with D.A.V.E. the Drummer
The HeatUK and HarderFaster Xmas Payback Party — reviewed!
Party Proactive is coming: interview with Soto of Botchit and Scarper
Squelcher VS Guilt — The Beach Party review
Review: Sunday morning hymns with ‘F’
The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable.
Comments:

From: Ed Real on 14th Nov 2005 09:56.47
Top marks Jessah! Riot! is hosting the foyer at Brixton Academy on New Years Eve - PM me for tix! :-)

From: onthebass on 14th Nov 2005 11:19.17
Happy B'day Ted! Riot! has provided many thousands with top memories and this one sounds like it has maintained the high standards Wink

From: AndyB on 14th Nov 2005 19:17.32
Always a quality night out (even if it is hard work by the time Sunday rolls around) and as the article says, always a really friendly atmosphere too.

From: dani d on 15th Nov 2005 00:20.23
Happy B'day Ed ,keep it Riot Thumbs up

From: mkj on 15th Nov 2005 23:51.17
Top review Jess, great pics Big grin Laughs out loud a good account of an excellent night, no pics of Kelly though???

From: Stevi D on 18th Nov 2005 10:52.30
Your a REAL freak!!! hahahahaha Thumbs up

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