Digging through March with Freddie
Freddie Hudson selected the events that got his attention in March and penned few paragraphs to guide us through. The music journalist and DJ, who travelled to Prague to cover a festival in 2020 and decided to stay, has quickly become well-versed in the local music, and his writings have helped in putting the local scene on the bigger map. If you’re on a constant hunt for the new stuff and like occasional insights and perspectives on electronic music, we definitely recommend Freddie’s new newsletter – Reach.
I don’t know how anyone else is holding up with the ENDLESS ONSLAUGHT OF LIFE that is apparently the continuing trend of this decade, but frankly I’m a bit boggled that March has crept up already. After a hazy and sleep-deprived CTM festival, already a full month ago, I’ve just about charged up my nightlife batteries (and wallet, RIP) and I’m ready for the floor once again.
Thankfully, Ankali has a bumper pack of nights to go to this month. Local teams are apparently the centrepiece of March, with lots of new arrangements of familiar faces in our city’s scene, but — as is the way — there’s a good few must-catch names dropping by Prague’s best soap factory for some bubble fun with the best.
For a person fairly occupied with (attempting) neutrality and objectivity with music stuff, it was a tough coin toss between picking out the mega Tetris party on the 3rd and this intimate affair, but intimate affairs are my bag, baby. The first time I heard Vân Anh play was at London’s Pickle Factory, way back in 2019, for an ambient thing by Astral Industries and Vân Anh’s Isotoop crew. Since then, Vân Anh’s gone on to hit some pretty massive milestones, all of which seemed to lead up to being asked to step in last minute for Peter Van Hoesen at Parallel ‘22, as well as get her latest venture as a Feng Shui instructor underway.
If there’s anyone out there that doesn’t believe in cross-over artistry, swing by Ankali on the 4th to see how she practises alignment, arrangement, and emphasis in her sets. Harmony honcho Yan is the perfect counterpart to her irrepressible energy, and their long history as friends is gonna make this an extended b2b not to be missed if you like your dance trippy and pacey.
Call me a sinner for never having made it to Prague’s most credited trance specialist party, I won’t blame you. Birthdays can also be an opportunity to heal past wrongs, so I’m suing for redemption on the 10th as the San Tran boyos celebrate hitting the grand old age of four by inviting Danish trance royalty Courtesy — who really shouldn’t need much of an intro after being so highly commended for all these years — for a dance-off.
Besides the trance instigators, Mike.H and Trance Kafka, sharing a b2b (birthday 2 birthday), local support comes from A+++ from the Amphibian crew (who’d be on fire right now, if they weren’t all so aquatic), and Frujty, who’s turned in a whole stack of mixes over on her SoundCloud that demonstrate her trance credentials — since she’ll also be playing in Brno in March, for Ankali brethren Vitamin’s sex-rave, Bent, I’ve picked out the first of her Harvest podcasts for Brno’s Infame Radio to get you tuned to key for the supersaw fest heading towards Prague on the 10th.
As I write I’m currently scooching my chair about to the last hour of Avsluta’s previous appearance in A’s main floor, where she warmed the floor so sublimely for Alfred Czital’s liveset and techno royalty Donato Dozzy. I could write an essay (and one day I will) on the reasons to be watching Avsluta, both as a DJ/ producer and a sound artist, but suffice to say “honing the craft” is one phrase very familiar to her: if you’re not familiar already with her Introspective Electronics radio show and mix series, shame on you!
Last time was for Dozzy, but this time she’s making the trip to support the trance-state inducer, Japan’s DJ Nobu. I’ve caught him once before, atop the fell at the inaugural Solstice festival in Finland, and his technique behind the decks is just flawless. A set of three, then: with Prague’s own techno maestro fleika joining the fray, we’re safe in stone-cast hands at Ankali for this night.
As if this wasn’t enough, probably my favourite Ankali/Planeta Za series, No Borders, makes an appearance in the sweatbox around back, with local biggies Raphael Kosmos and Møreti making an appearance alongside nascent talent Hekaté, and totally new-to-me name Dzuma, who seemingly joins from neighbouring Poland to add an extra dash of not-so-local talent to the borderless party. Gonna be another long one, strap in.
24–3–2023 Jedno Ucho & Crush
After a week of rest you’ll be ready to come back down to Vršovice again after a week, so swing by early to hear local music journo cornerstones Miloš & Karel talk about Dizzee’s groundbreaking ‘Boy In Da Corner’ album at the Jedno Ucho event! I’m all about the whole “club as alternative cultural space” thing, so I think it’s really great that Ankali has these kinda cosy, focussed-listening events, as well as all the party fun we’re so familiar with. More importantly, I’d probably lose any remaining British national credibility if I didn’t pull this event out, since they’re talking about the album that put grime on the national radio and paved the way for the genre’s international status. Let’s have a little nostalgic moment to this banger, and remember what Dizzee gave music before the horseshit that was ‘Holiday’:
“But I wanna party, not sit and listen in a comfy environment!” — sound like you? Hold your tongue for five minutes: there’s a stacked lineup of locals in Ankali right after for the inaugural CRUSH, from local lovelies Sanjin & hadri, making it worth coming down early. I tapped Sanjin’s shoulder asking what the event was all about and got a whole manifesto that outlines precisely what I think partying should be all about, really, but it’s a bit too long for here in full, so enjoy this redux and get those tastebuds working for what looks like a delicious new addition to Ankali’s regular events:
“CRUSH is an underground, RSVP-only party that you can attend with the right mindset: romantic souls, hardcore ravers, true anarchists, horny creatures, flickering fairies of the night, fuzzy twinks, curious souls, lifelong explorers and all other unidentified flying objects of the universe… CRUSH is strongly driven by anarchist ideas such as: non-hierarchy, feminism, equality, freedom and community… [and] is dedicated to queer people by queer people but always open for their friends and allies.”
Dunno ‘bout you, but I’m sold.
The clock’s running pretty tight if you wanna grab your full 8 hours before the party continues, but for those lucky souls with flexible (or ignorable) circadian rhythms, the fun don’t stop, and who better to keep the fun going than Schaumstoff and Austin Powers? The pair have been blazing a smile-filled trail about Prague lately and from the shape of things, this looks like a new party from the duo.
Joining them is Ester & whydie?, already certified sonic troublemakers and a great pairing, as well as Berlin-based Olta Karawane, yet another meeting of two minds. Olta is a new name to my ears, but judging from this recent Mutant Radio venture they’ll fit right in with wacky cosmic-psych(o)-jazz-wave shenanigans to roll throughout the night.
Check the full programme of March here.
Artwork for March 2023 was made in collaboration with 20YY Designers.