Live Review: Gesaffelstein, Guillaume Berg, U-Go-B, Jensen Interceptor

Earlier this year Jeff Mills and Derrick May predictably drew an old school techno crowd in a way that made the '90s feel as though it all happened a very long time ago. While they sought to renew the classics with orchestral arrangements, it was the true techno fans that turned out in droves for a wild, nightclub all-nighter. Gesaffelstein (aka Mike Levy) refreshingly pulls a younger crowd who look like they missed out on the '90s but are still extremely keen to 'get their ya-ya's out' and rave on. It is, however, great to see those repetitive four on the floor beats connecting the generations.

The evening is filled with producers spinning their tunes. We descend down the stairs of 170 Russell to be greeted by the solid thump of Jensen Interceptor's beats and bass. It's a classic techno sound that instantly clears the cobwebs of the week, paving the way for what promises to be a really good night. Everyone seems to be using the same equipment tonight so that the music never actually stops and the change of DJs is seamless. U-Go-B continues the thunderous techno grind and the few who bothered to turn up early are taking advantage of the space on the dancefloor. Next up, French DJ Guillaume Berg, A&R manager at Brodinski's Bromance Records, takes to the decks and takes the mix in more of a tech-house direction.

It's 1am and the room has completely packed out with suitably hyped punters ready to dance the night away. The rather suave Gesaffelstein hits the stage with a certain indifference to the visibly excited fans. He makes a break from the mix that has unfolded over the course of the evening with Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was used to dramatic effect in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Gesaffelstein deals a set of his vicious, dark, techno cuts that have been influenced by EBM, electro, acid and industrial music among other things. But he always remains true to the essential aesthetics of techno. Of all the acts on the bill tonight he is the only one who seems to have broken the obvious techno templates with the intention of pushing the idiom forward. At times it even sounds as though he may be proposing a revision of rave with chord-memory synth stabs. It's an incendiary set that has the dancefloor, and indeed most of the room, blazing away. Amazingly, Gesaffelstein manages to do this while barely breaking a sweat. Hypnotised by blinding strobes, most walked from this one a sweaty mess with a dazed grin on their face.