Hey everyone - welcome back at the discotheque!
Today's post is a very special one - as today, I plan to cover everything about Creux La Nuit's second birthday party - which, if you weren't there - it was absolutely awesome all of the way through. Twelve DJs stepped up to provide absolutely killer sets in various different styles and moods - with fantastic visual work from Opierm to boot.
Without further ado, let's get started!
In case you've been living under a rock for the past six months - Creux La Nuit is the French house collective founded by Opierm in September 2023. If you've been a keen reader of this blog, you'll know that over the last few months the collective's releases and artists have been fixtures of the blog - with the collective's work being recognized by many - such as Melonade, Todd Edwards, Mike Sandcastle and various others.
This weekend (September 13th-14th!) on Twitch, a selection of the collective's artists performed various sets over two days to celebrate two years of Creux La Nuit - and man, it truly was special.
Day One - Opening Set: Opierm
Creux La Nuit's second anniversary party kicked off at 6PM UK time - and after some visual demonstrations and a small sneak peek of the next compilation for the collective - head honcho Opierm opened the event with a killer one hour DJ sett, filled with thumping filter house jams from the late 90s and early 2000s, before sprinkling in some newer stuff from Future0s, Guv'nor Funk and Alan Braxe at the end, too. In his crate was a host of French house classics, from artists such as Paul Johnson opening the set with his 1999 classic "It's a Love Thang" released by Moody, before progressing into raw, funky club weapons from Jess and Crabbe, CZR, Sedat and Pete Heller. To me, this feels like a lost Daft Punk set from the late 90s, or a set that DJ Sneak would play in a dingy basement in the heart of Chicago in late 1998. What an epic way to open such a dope event!
Next Up: Luv4Loop
After Opierm, Liverpool based producer and DJ Lee Smith - stage name Luv4Loop - graced the decks, and absolutely delivered. After opening his set with half an hour of classics from legendary Welsh bloghouse duo Vanguard (which was recieved very well by the chat on Twitch!) Lee dug deep into the archives and played some brand new remixes, classics from Surkin and Tomos, and of course, a rather healthy dosage of everyone's favourite garage producer - the god himself, Todd Edwards. A classic Luv4Loop set from start to finish. If you're looking for something with a crap ton of energy, bump this set and play it loud, just as it was intended.
Next Up: CitrikkAcid
Up next to grace the party was New Jersey's finest - CitrikkAcid, who brought an extremely epic, fun and unforgettable 20-minute set filled with tons of groovy tracks, Daft Punk edits and a whole lot of nostalgic, upbeat fun. The crowd reaction to this set was insane (everyone lost their minds when Daft Punk's 2001 classic Superheroes was played to end out this masterful set!) and with Opierm helping Citrikk out by including some extremely colourful visuals that wouldn't seem out of place in a packed club, although short, Citrikk's set was sweet, memorable, joyous and something to truly remember.
Next Up: Guv'nor Funk
Guv'nor Funk came on after CitrikkAcid, and this set, was something truly epic, too. Inspired by the early DJ sets of legendary duo Daft Punk from 1997-1999, the next hour and forty five minutes were filled with deep yet heavy club jams that still destroy dancefloors today. From the opening drums of DJ Kom's Get Down Saturday Night, listeners were treated to an explorative set full of memorable classics and iconic records - some memorable highlights for me include the back to back Thomas Bangalter tracks, the inclusion of Crydamoure classics and Dave Clarke, Armand Van Helden's Psychic Bounty Killaz featuring DJ Sneak dropped mid-set, and of course, the dope Daft Punk edits at the end of the set (I stand by the fact that the All I Do edit is nuts!) - In short, if you're into early Daft Punk, or raw, deep and funky filter house music of the late 90s, this is the set to choose.
Next Up: Inky - TS
After the inclusion of an Adult Style bumper with "We're Just Getting Started" - everyone knew who was coming on - it was Inky - who delivered something completely epic, different, unique and quite frankly crazy - a forty minute French house, dubstep and electro set complete with his own visuals - which, although trippy and very different to the usual swing of things here at CLN - it was, quite frankly, awesome. Fast paced, crazy, jittery and at times, cinematic - this set was stuffed with some of his best tracks, the odd Skrillex reference, tracks from Knife Party and a whole lot more. If you want to get PUMPED - this is the one to listen, and watch!
Next Up: RobClemz
And so, the first special guest of the event arrived, in the form of RobClemz - the legendary DJ and producer, who perhaps is best known for running the fantastic independent label Savona. He came unannounced after Inky's set with a LIVE, improvised set of quirky bits, nu disco and French house jams, but rather than using traditional DJ equipment, he stepped up with a laptop, a mixer and two Novation Launchpads and delivered a clean, festival worthy set. With the inclusion of new FIBRE edits, Mr Hoosteen, Daft Punk and many other iconic tracks, this was an absolutely awesome surprise for the event, and I urge you to go and listen to it - as it encapsulates the bright, vibrant tonality of these scenes right now in the best way possible!
Next Up: Artemis Morte
The guy behind the dark side of Mr Hoosteen's legendary label OMEAC Records - Artemis Morte was up next, and man, this set was crazy - even if he apparently recorded it blackout drunk and passed out at one point!
Stuffed to the brim with bloghouse bangers, gnarly, epic bangers, surprising pop mashups, electro house, dubstep and tons of idiosyncratic, quirky bits - this set, is ttue bloghouse for the ages. My personal highlights include some of the new unreleased material he dropped in the set, the crazy edit he included of The Dare's Girls - which I remember headbanging very aggressively to - and when he dropped Maths by deadmau5 mid set. What a tune!
Final Set: Mr. Hoosteen
Day one of Creux La Nuit's epic second birthday party ended with a dazzling nu disco and French house set from New York's future disco king Mr. Hoosteen. Those who kept their eyes and ears peeled likely know that this is the debut of his Metropolis live show in full - as it initially was produced in two parts for Beats For a Broken World and Skyline '25 - two online festivals which I covered previously on the blog. Nonetheless, this set is an absolute spectacle for your eyes and ears - filled with extremely impressive (and at times, awe-inspiring) visuals from Mr. Hoosteen and a selection of absolutely killer tracks to boot - this, was an absolute joy to see.
The online crowd went insane for this set - and it's easy to see why - this set melded together acid, disco and French house perfectly, along with some big beat influences sprinkled in - and with the inclusion of many classic tracks from his discography such as Illusions, Dream of Music, U Know How, Venus and the dazzling dance pop classic I Want 2 Be Your Tomorrow featuring Becca Jon - this is Mr. Hoosteen at his absolute prime, giving the viewers and listeners an audiovisual experience so good, you won't find it anywhere else. In short, this set truly was epic, and a perfect way to end day one!
Day Two: Opening Set - DJ Double Dutch
Day two of Creux La Nuit's second anniversary party kicked off once again at 6PM UK time, and the first person to grace the decks that night was 20-year-old DJ Double Dutch, who got the night off to a great start by delivering an incredibly unique, fun and at times playful set which featured an extremely eclectic mix of genres - ranging from classic French house, to techno, to acid, to bloghouse, to tribal beats and electronica - showcasing his talent for DJing across many genres. My personal favourite parts of the set were the opening, when he dropped Shoes by Tiga, and when he dropped the minimalist banger that is Cactus by Cassius, If you like your DJ sets like a good smoothie - give this a spin - it's such a unique, strangely fun and diverse hour in the mind of a rising star in the scene!
Next Up: August Duke
After Double Dutch came and delivered, up next was August Duke - the underground French producer best known for crafting some of the most killer late 90s / early 2000s sounding French house tracks in the game. Although short, this set was packed with tons of extremely funky filter jams (I found myself dancing to this set extremely often, even while chatting with friends!) - and some awesome appearances musically from artists such as Daft Punk and Ian Carey. At the same time, he also played tons of birthday messages from a range of people in the scene - which was a wholesome, and awesome surprise - I gotta admit though, it was kind of strange hearing my voice pitched down a crap ton for mine, haha!
To sum it up - if you're into those clean, funky summer jams built for lighting up beaches and summer parties, August Duke's set absolutely nails the vibe from start to finish. Go and check it out!
Next Up: Dreamer '87
After August Duke's killer set, I was up next on the decks. I was pretty nervous to see how this set would be recieved - as to be honest, everyone had done absolutely slamming sets so far, and I was wondering how mine would hold up. In my set, I played some classic French house cuts (including tons of Daft Punk, and the fresh new edit of Cassius 1999 by FRASER!) - some odd bits (such as Mr. Hoosteen's acid disco jam U Know How and Homework's Drivin') - before ending out with some classics from The Phantom's Revenge and Duck Sauce. I'm super proud of this set, and I'm super happy everyone enjoyed it. Many thanks to Opierm for asking me to play at the party, and thanks to everyone who tuned in!
Next Up: Sboulouf Le Detective
Next up, the Swiss superhero Sboulouf Le Detective joined in, and played almost two hours of French house from a multitude of eras. Ranging from filter-y. at times woozy bangers from the early 2000s, to garage excursions (courtesy of Luv4Loop!) - various appearances from many members of Creux La Nuit, deep, chilled out bangers and a crap ton of tempo changes - this was an extremely interesting, varied and exciting set from one of the finest up and coming producers in the game. It was, truly, a masterclass in French house right until the very end - and I'd highly recommend spinning this DJ set if you want to get into the genre - go and give it a spin, it's so much fun.
Next Up: Le Sorv
Although the celebration was now almost over - Le Sorv - one of Brazil's finest French house producers at the moment - came on next and delivered an absolutely killer set to keep everyone celebrating well into the late hours of the night. Stuffed to the brim with epic, upbeat club weapons demonstrating his excellent selections and skills behind the decks - he dropped some absolute classics that had everyone going wild - such as The Phantom's Revenge's iconic remixes of Lies by Fenech-Soler and Offshore by Division Kent, Coral Twist by Le Knight Club and Waves by Tysaun Alexandric. Although those were my personal highlights, the whole set was a smooth, funky and frankly brilliant experience - all I gotta say is - Brazil, get this man in your clubs. Trust me.
Final Set: RobClemz (Special Guest)
To close out this epic celebration, RobClemz returned - this time, to the decks - to grace us with forty five minutes of jams. His set truly was something awesome - and it was filled with a crap ton of awesome stuff - blog house era stuff that was gnarly and exciting - filter house classics from the late 90s such as Together's iconic self titled track and Stardust's Music Sounds Better With You (an eternal classic!) - some modern sounding, funky, dope bangers, the odd reference to SAINT PEPSI, and even some late 2000s / early 2010s French house sprinkled in, with the inclusion of Vanguard's summer 2011 classic Loving Someone Else. In short, this was an incredibly sweet way to close out this truly epic event!
There was one more thing however...
And that came in the form of a joke set from Inky - TS.
Although first time listeners and viewers of Creux La Nuit's work may have been confused, this final one hour set was a hilarious and at points, frankly ridiculous extra to fully close the event. Nonetheless, it's pretty funny. If you want to look at some funny memes after many hours of dancing and having fun - check out Inky's very strange, meme worthy set! (Although, I will warn you, only some of the CLN members themselves may get the humor!)
Well, there you have it everyone!
I want to say a massive thank you to Opierm for organizing this event - it was incredible two days and I am so, so blessed to be a part of this legendary collective. Here's to many more amazing years of Creux La Nuit. Furthermore, I also want to say a huge well done to all of the DJs - you all did amazingly - and a huge thanks to everyone who tuned into my set and supported it - your support means the world!
As always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque.
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