Review: Novel presents Derrick May, Ben Klock, Eats Everythig & Mario Basanov

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Review: Novel presents Derrick May, Ben Klock, Eats Everythig & Mario Basanov

Day raves are always a lot of fun but the novelty becomes lost on a venue like Brown Alley; unless you’re lucky enough to wedge yourself into the packed smokers room which offers but a glimpse of sunlight. Novel however promised a lineup that made time irrelevant and sunshine a thing to put off to the next day. Preparing for a day rave raises a lot of confusion too;  what time is best to turn up to the club, pre drinks, if any and the most important decision, to go for a day or a night look – it’s all a bit daunting when you’ve spent years building rapport with the early hours of the morning.

We arrived excitedly with the promise of a night of amazing music ahead of us. Unfortunately, my friend got knocked back for being too drunk, which was a shame because if she was guilty of being anything it was a klutz as she spilled her prized possessions everywhere while tripping on a maxi dress. As if that wasn’t already a big enough bummer, there were no passouts until 2am which was merely an hour before the night came to an end. So as our friend sat outside stranded with only IGA and her iphone to keep her company we decided to check out the tunes.

The venue was slammed, the queue to the bathrooms long and everyone wanted a cigarette at the same time. I missed Mario Basanov  as I decided to have a cigarette or 5 and regretted it immediately. I heard he played a good, chilled set and that made me both happy and sad. Either way, I wasn’t going to miss Eats Everything. While I’m not his biggest fan, he did a superb job of injecting the crowd with his enthusiasm and everyone around me looked like they were having the time of their lives. Eats Everything dropped his edit of ">Jack by Breach which was met with a uproar from the crowd followed by him dabbling in breaks and I vaguely recollect ">Riva Starr’s remix of Percolator getting everyone grooving.

Personally I was itching for Derrick May although the crowd didn’t seem to mind EE running overtime. May didn’t disappoint me in the slightest. Even though I was dripping in sweat, partly due to wearing any clothes at Brown Alley (nb: this place is hotter than the Tropic of Capricorn itself) I managed to dance my heart out. Lowlight of his set was leaving to go to the bar as he dropped ">Donna Summer’s ">I Feel Love although I would have been even more disappointed if her vocals were there to seduce my ears. As though he didn’t have the crowd swooning already he followed it up with ">Strings Of Life and ">Lil Louis’ ">French KissDerrick May easily had the best set of the night.

Like I said earlier, the ‘no passouts until 2am’ rule was a massive bummer and I’m not usually one to dwell but this was probably the main reason I wasn’t able to last for much of Ben Klock’s set. I was tired of being stuck in the same venue and would have welcomed a nice McChicken break to lift my spirits but that wasn’t mean to be. With energy levels low I wasn’t able to lose myself during Ben Klock’s set and was envious of how much fun everyone around me was having. Klock delivered a powerful and engaging blend of techno to rival many techno sets I’ve heard before. He dropped ">Len Faki’s edit of Blackasteroid’s ">Pressure and ">Robert Hood’s ">Drive. With Nina Kraviz’s arrival in Australia looming the sound of her voice was enough to make everyone weak at the knees when Klock dropped their interpretation of ">Octave One’s ">Terraforming

With another great event down, Novel have us all salivating for more. And what better way to do this with no other than Nina Kraviz a mere 8 days later. 

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