London Paper 21

londonpaper21
Originally uploaded by chantelle.

Chantelle Fiddy: On The Scene

Now, Herbal in Shoreditch isn’t exactly one of London’s secret hot spots, nor is it a guilty pleasure. Located on Kingsland Road, outside of the hustle and bustle of Hoxton Square, it’s been attracting passing trade and regulars for a number of years. But the growing number of neighbouring bars and clubs such as Dream Bars Jaguar Shoes and Catch, have, however, led this section of Kingsland Road to become it’s own mini party zone and given Herbal a second wind. The
casual dress code, warehouse atmosphere and line-ups that you’d often expect to find in a superclub still make it worth the 10 minute walk from Old Street or Liverpool Street tube station. And this weekend is no exception.

Drum and bass legend Goldie makes an appearance on Friday at the monthly institution that is Metalheadz. With a new album due out at the end of April, expect to hear a banging selection of fresh cuts. Making it even more memorable, Goldie will play alongside one of his main studio mentors, Doc Scott and Heist, who worked with him on the last LP.

Also causing a buzz is Nodisko who will take over Herbal on Saturday for the second time. Nodisko (named after an early Depeche Mode track), which first appeared as a minor blip on clublands radar in November 2003, is the brain child of DJ/promoters Zak Frost and Magic Jase. The duo have gone on to establish Nodisko as one of the capitals most forward-thinking and downright daring discos. What started as a debauched, low-key way to end the weekend, championing Italo-disco, electro-house, quirky German techno and modern Balearic long before the pack caught up, quickly became an institution. “Our following is pretty varied, actually, which reflects the music policy.” Says Magic Jase. “We get a lot of Europeans-in-London, more clued-up party people who are into their underground music and spend as much of their weekends as possible throwing shapes in strobe-lit basements and more recently we've been getting a lot of the young club kids who've been making going out in the East End so dangerous and exciting again.”

Pulling out all the stops, Nodisko have managed to secure Claudio Coccoluto for a rare set - his first visit to the UK in a year and the first time he’s played a club the size of Herbal in a decade. “He's a bit of a hero of ours actually - he started championing this new, heavily electronic house music sound about 6 years ago, when like us he started getting bored of all that dull Latin, tribal and prog-house that was making clubbing such a big yawn. He's been DJing for almost 20 years and is technically amazing - and although he's not written about very often he's up there with the likes of Laurent Garnier and Richie Hawtin as one of the biggest and most talented international names. And he's a really nice guy, which makes a change." If you too like nice guys then check out www.myspace.com/nodisko for more.

A version of this article appeared in The London Paper