Lindstrøm Live: The Little Drummer Boy feat. The Vålerenga Man Choir and Martin Horntveth
We officially celebrated our 30 years at the coal face of rave with a double header, along with our excellent friend and paid up Paper family member Chris Massey, whose Sprechen also hit 10 years.
APTA kicked things off with 40 minutes of modular wonderment before handing over The Thief of Time, whose first song was cut short by the fire alarm and a full building evacuation. Fortunately, everyone was let back in; The Thief of Time restarted to rock it with their synth space-pop, and the Paper crew’s sighs of relief were reportedly heard over a mile away.
Excitement was running high as the mighty Lindstrøm performed his cosmic take on the Christmas classic for the first time in the UK. Starting off with Jaga Jazzist’s Martin Horntveth on a marching drum beating the bolero rhythm and the synths started to weave their magic. About 10 minutes in, the choir made their slow entrance through the audience, each holding a candle and the real magic started. Gorgeous pop pop pop poms weaved with the music and continued to build. They exited as Martin sat down at the drum kit and without making too fine a point, knocked the shit out of it to cheers and hollering from the crowd. He was unbelievable. The choir came back as the drums continued to pound away and the climax was reached after 45 minutes of the most amazing what-the-hell-was-that musical journey. An encore of I Feel Space was the icing on the concert cake and the feeling like you had witnessed something special.
Lindstrøm live, Sticky Heat feat. Marco and Muddy Feet + Massey and Flash Atkins - The Golden Lion, Todmorden
This was only going to go one way with the event sold weeks in advance at the North’s best venue and sound system. Even the minging weather couldn’t dampen the atmosphere as Lindstrøm went on at 10 with the crowd packed in in a state of high excitement. His hour of space disco showed once again why he is hands down one of the best producers in the world, able to blend bangers, disco and underground house into a unique Nordic dancefloor stew. Needles to say, he did his thing and everyone went bonkers. A hard act to follow but the Sticky Heat crew did just that.
Upstairs, Flash and Massey went B2B in the 80 capacity room that was full to the brim and stayed that way until the final record, Lovebird’s Want You In My Soul sent everyone into the Yorkshire night with a smile on their face.
The only question was, how do we top that for our 40th? Well, we’ve got ten years to think about it.
Head over to @paperecordings for more pics and video.