Golden Pudel fundraiser in London

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  • After a year of widely publicised uncertainty involving legal battles and fires, would 2017 be more positive for Hamburg's Golden Pudel? There was certainly a lot of love shown for the club in Hackney Wick on Saturday night, with more than £2000 raised at the first of two UK fundraisers that weekend. The party, organised by a ragtag of individuals who have fallen for the Pudel's grotty charms over the years, saw regulars Nina, RVDS and F#X joined at The Yard by Beneath and Elgato. I arrived sometime after 11 PM to find I had already missed Nina's London debut. Elgato, one of Hessle Audio's lesser-known associates, was on the decks, easing in the Fourth World percussive delights of PG Sounds' SUED 10 highlight "B2." His unfussy mixing offered a welcoming backdrop to a slowly expanding crowd. Close by, F#X stood fiddling with a Roland Aira System 1-M on a table stacked with gear, in preparation for his live set. The Yard filled out around midnight, just as No Symbols boss Beneath stepped up. He treated a delighted crowd to a tightly-mixed hour of grime, dancehall and skittering techno drum tracks. I didn't recognise much of what he played beyond a SUNKLO number from Joy O and Boddika, but it was great to see so many gun fingers rising up across the dance floor. Kahn & Neek's Hotline burner "Backchat" made for a thrilling finish. Richard Von Der Schulenburg proved why he's been a Pudel resident for more than a decade, steering a willing crowd through a varied 90 minutes of deep house, thumping techno and cosmic electro. The highlight was a crazy didgeridoo track I swear I've heard Lena Willikens play. When this pair of Pudel fundraisers was announced, there was talk of a special guest making an appearance at The Yard, though no one showed up. But it didn't seem to matter, and in the end RVDS and F#X played for longer than planned. Starting around 2:30 AM, F#X teased out choppy percussive beats that somehow didn't capture the soundsystem as cleanly as the DJs before him. The crowd thinned over the next hour, leaving a dedicated crew locked into his groove until close.
RA