Ricardo Villalobos

Ricardo Villalobos’ next day Fabric sessions are something of an institution in London, with the Chilean-German DJ, producer and minimal techno godhead has been gracing the superclub for after-after-hours every few months for some time now. We went down this Sunday past to see him take to the decks at 10am for four hours in the laser-ridden, dark expanse of Room One as the rest of the city basked in the sunday morning sun. Here are some thoughts that occurred:

• Villalobos DJs on instinct. He effortlessly seems to know exactly when and how to work a crowd in a way that reflects years of relentless touring. Having played somewhere else the previous night, the fact that he could still hold things together so well coming on 2pm the next afternoon demands kudos. Bravo.

• Highlights from his set took in a wide range of styles and decades, from the original version of Afrika Bambaataa’s Planet Rock to the Club Use Only remix of Bernard Badie’s I Can Feel It to his own somewhat recent remix of Beck’s Cellphone’s Dead.

• Fabric is decidedly less reminiscent of an MC Escher painting when you’ve come there straight after breakfast. It’s actually pretty straightforward to find your way around. Who knew?

• We were treated to an unexpected half hour of broken beat/breaks which seamlessly fitted into Villalobos’ set, weaving in and out of his house and techno choices.

• That man knows how to juggle beats. We were in cross-fader heaven.

• The crowd was a mix of 48 hour party zombies and fresh-faced breakfast clubbers and the dancefloor was continuously packed throughout. The zombies seemed to shy away from the broken beat and polyrhythmic side of his set … perhaps a bit too much to handle?

• Going to brunch after a morning of raving in Fabric is actually a pretty awesome way to spend Sunday afternoon.