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Vitalic + Late Of The Pier
@ Fabric, London, 21 September 2007
4 stars / 3 stars
And on the fifth day, the maker looked at his creation and said to himself, "something is missing from this great place." He thought for a moment. With a devilish smile he gave his chosen few a Roland TR-808.

"You are to bring the message to my people," the maker said. He called the fifth day Friday.

Observing the whirlwind of bodies and movement through Fabric on this evening, if one thing was certain, the electro god was smiling down on his people once more.

In the Kill Em All hosted main room, Late Of The Pier are exerting their twisted synth punk. Our last encounter with them at Field Day was met with a glorious wall of sound. Tonight they do their utmost to carpet the place with layers of disjointed sounds. One moment its like Gary Numan humping Marc Bolan (Bathroom Gurgle), then it's laser bleeps and shrieks, topped off with jaunty ravey riffs (Space And Woods).

It certainly left a few more confused than convinced, but they went down well and showed enough in their tank to confirm just why Erol Alkan has been raving about them so much and jumped at the chance to produce their forthcoming first album.

Pascal Arbez has opted to keep the shroud of darkness that normally accompanies the Wall Of Sound hosted room two. The light show which supplemented an indifferent showing at Glastonbury and a much more hedonistic one at Benicassim is almost negligible as the clock strikes 1am and Vitalic pounds the place from the bottom upwards.

The room is jammed and the only solace for dancing is by the rear speakers. Perhaps not so clever, but tinnitus is the least of our concerns, as the likes of Juliet India, Repair Machines and the ever seismic LA Rock 01 lift us almost to the tip of the piping snaking across Fabric's ceilings.

Whilst the tempo and sound never really steers too far away from the linear course of the set, there were moments of uninhibited perfection where you were quite content with everything that had happened in your life up to that point that you could press stop and be done.

But that would have meant missing typically frantic and intense sets from Erol Alkan and the Filthy Dukes, which would see us out into the early hours of Saturday morning, where if you looked up at the dawn sky outside with the right set of eyes, you could see the maker return your smile.

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related articles
ALBUM:
Vitalic - Flashmob

GIG:
Vitalic @ Fabric, London

ALBUM:
Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel

GIG:
Late Of The Pier @ Somerset Hall, London

GIG:
Late Of The Pier @ ULU, London

GIG:
Late Of The Pier @ Fabric, London

TRACK:
Late Of The Pier - Bathroom Gurgle

external
Vitalic

Late Of The Pier



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