Some potentially interesting lore: all of the issues stemmed from ground contamination. London Pleasure Gardens had to spend loads more money and time than expected on sorting out the site, which is why nothing was finished, and fence off the bits which were still unsafe, which is why Bloc's footprint was halved, which then led to the overcrowding.
A lot of that money came from Newham Council, who had to write off millions when it all went bust. Ever since then, whenever councils have got involved in these massive post-industrial venue projects, it's always been in collaboration with big developers: the lessons they learned from Bloc are a big part of how we ended up with Printworks, Drumsheds etc.
Ahhhhh can you believe that my first time taking an airplane was from NY to London to cover Bloc 2012 😭
Thank you for the throwback convo, brought me back. Another thing to mention also is that this was during the Olympics, so not only were we kind of trapped on site after they canceled, my friend and I couldn’t find new hotel accommodations anywhere. The Rhythm Factory hosted some of the artists for what should have been day 2 and The Weeknd showed up but I couldn’t get in lol it was mad
of course! Beton Brut+Concrete Bar (BBCB) was the more austere techno one (also saw a great local DJ who I really should've mentioned there called Sunghoon), then Hertz was the Nowadays-esque one I really loved. both ace tho.
heheh I was at that fateful first night of BLOC 2012 to do a 'scene report' for Juno Plus but had called it a night shortly before it got shut down as it was all a bit shite. The only thing I remember clearly was seeing Kissy Sellout turn away from the tent Amon Tobin was playing in with a puzzled look on his face.
Love the podcast but Ikonika is out as nonbinary (SAD is a great record, first in 7 years, maybe cover their actual music sometime) and Steve Reich, who you joke couldn’t possibly be controversial, said something far more cancellable (very open anti black racism) than any of the headliners you spent so much time clowning on (for making fun of Hillary Clinton??). Thing with Reich is he’s in the whitest, most politically conservative genre of music, so none of his fans cared. As for Gary Numan I believe he admitted to being a Tory back in Thatcher days.
Bloc 2012: post-dubstep's very own Altamont.
Some potentially interesting lore: all of the issues stemmed from ground contamination. London Pleasure Gardens had to spend loads more money and time than expected on sorting out the site, which is why nothing was finished, and fence off the bits which were still unsafe, which is why Bloc's footprint was halved, which then led to the overcrowding.
A lot of that money came from Newham Council, who had to write off millions when it all went bust. Ever since then, whenever councils have got involved in these massive post-industrial venue projects, it's always been in collaboration with big developers: the lessons they learned from Bloc are a big part of how we ended up with Printworks, Drumsheds etc.
Ahhhhh can you believe that my first time taking an airplane was from NY to London to cover Bloc 2012 😭
Thank you for the throwback convo, brought me back. Another thing to mention also is that this was during the Olympics, so not only were we kind of trapped on site after they canceled, my friend and I couldn’t find new hotel accommodations anywhere. The Rhythm Factory hosted some of the artists for what should have been day 2 and The Weeknd showed up but I couldn’t get in lol it was mad
https://keepalbanyboring.com/2012/bloc-weekend-recap-ablocalypse-2012/
^ a local blog era gem from a then-22 year old writer
ah this is excellent, thanks for sharing
what i forgot to get round to was which party i went to the next day, and i did in fact go to rhythm factory! maddest lineup ever
trekkie trax and seimei!!! I absolutely love that label, and japanese netlabels in general.
Also, I'm staying Seoul for a month in April next year for work, so is it possible to get the names of the Seoul-clubs written down?
of course! Beton Brut+Concrete Bar (BBCB) was the more austere techno one (also saw a great local DJ who I really should've mentioned there called Sunghoon), then Hertz was the Nowadays-esque one I really loved. both ace tho.
Thank you!!
heheh I was at that fateful first night of BLOC 2012 to do a 'scene report' for Juno Plus but had called it a night shortly before it got shut down as it was all a bit shite. The only thing I remember clearly was seeing Kissy Sellout turn away from the tent Amon Tobin was playing in with a puzzled look on his face.
Love the podcast but Ikonika is out as nonbinary (SAD is a great record, first in 7 years, maybe cover their actual music sometime) and Steve Reich, who you joke couldn’t possibly be controversial, said something far more cancellable (very open anti black racism) than any of the headliners you spent so much time clowning on (for making fun of Hillary Clinton??). Thing with Reich is he’s in the whitest, most politically conservative genre of music, so none of his fans cared. As for Gary Numan I believe he admitted to being a Tory back in Thatcher days.
Boddika is also on the post Block 2012 cancellation list?!
ahhhhh of course. huge one!