LEME 2014 Live Blog

We’re at London Electronic Music Event all weekend for production sessions, industry panels and some artist Q&A sessions.

12:00 – A busy morning here at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. This mornings sessions have included a house masterclass in which Marc Adamo explored a range of classic production techniques. We’re heading to one of the cinema screens to hear Alchemy’s Matt Colton discuss the finer points of mastering.

13:45 – In the ‘Running a club night: how to survive and thrive’ session, George Hull of Bloc, Andy Peyton of XOYO and Dolan Bergin of Electric Minds/Hydra are discussing London’s club scene. Meanwhile, in the main theatre venue, Jamie Russell’s giving us the lowdown on running Hypercolour.

14:15 – “The value of these cultural establishments are not taken into consideration. No one will go out if these are replaced by characterless flats.” As George discusses the fragmented future facing London’s promoters, Dolan explains that “a bit of support from the authorities wouldn’t go amiss”.

14:50 – When quizzed about the impact of the 24-hour tube service, coming into place in 2015, Dolan suggests: “people would start going to different parts of London, using new venues” that exist beyond Hackney and Shoreditch. All three of the promoters agree that this could serve as a challenge, with East London-centric partygoers reluctant to attend a venue that is not on their doorstep.

15:50 – Eagerly awaiting Danny Wolfers a.k.a. Legowelt’s arrival for his “In the studio with…” session. Understandably, the room is packing out for the Hague’s hardware hero.

17:0o – Legowelt delivered what was an amusing yet enthralling insight into his renowned studio and his almost excessive plethora of synthesizers. He likened his synth-buying habits to that of a drug addict getting their fix, explaining that: “it’s kind of like drugs, not as evil, but if you’re into that scene, you will get sucked in and you cannot get out of it.”

18:45 – One half of Coldcut and Ninja Tune founder Matt Black is currently engaging an audience in his musical background and the turning points in his career. “We were asked to do a remix of Eric B and Rakim’s ‘Paid In Full’, and that blew up.”

22:00 – Legowelt provided LEME attendees with a killer live set, including the Ethiopian-inspired Techno that he discussed in yesterday’s interview with Tony Nwachukwu.

Sunday

11:30 – It’s been an action-packed morning so far at LEME. So far, we’ve dipped in and out of a Neville Watson ‘In the studio with…’ session and are currently in the ‘New forms: the future of music journalism’ chat with Terry Farley, Ian Mcquaid, Naomi Williams, Tonka and Miles Simpson.

13:00 – Sitting in a talk focusing on the resurgence of vinyl with Fear of Flying manager Jay Robinson, Rubadub’s Mark Maxwell, Hardwax’s Jay Ahern and If Music’s Jean-Claude. More from this to follow.

13:30 – With regard to the idea of vinyl going forward, Jay Robinson feels “there’s an element of luck with it…if you release a record in a week where there’s not so many big releases, your record could shine and sell loads of copies. If it was a week where there were plenty of big records you could be swamped with 80 or 90 deep house records in that week alone.”

16:30 – Following on from a two hour break to recharge some batteries. LEME guests were treated to a full-blown, all-hardware, improv-jam for the ‘RA Machine Love Live’ show featuring Blawan and Pariah’s Karenn project. Following on from the blistering techno assault, the duo went into detail, discussing the key pieces from their expansive setup and their approach to live shows. Blawan explained: “It’s about improvising, but also having a failsafe…we learn from our mistakes, and mistakes are a good thing…perfection isn’t what we’re looking for.”

18:45 – With what was one of the most anticipated conversations of the weekend, Theo Parrish took to a the stage in a packed out room, captivating and mesmerising the audience, sucking them in with his charm, humour, and all-round deep, philosophical thought and interpretations. Theo previewed some of the tracks from his forthcoming album, and spoke about the recording process and the obstacles he faced, especially with one opus: “‘It went through a lot of titles but here’s the killer… It was 26 minutes long. Is it ok to take people through 26 minutes of your personal shit?” Other topics on Theo’s agenda varied wildly from Pharrell to selfies.