Empire Hotel - Fri Mar 12
As always, the limitations of print media combined with the embarrassment of riches that constitutes the average Lick It party support roster – this time Youth (on his 21st, no less), Jad & The Ladyboy, ex-Gold Coast- now London-based Whiskey Tears and Wolfgang DJs – means that I can’t review supports beyond saying their sets were rad fun and got everyone in the mood to cut a rug.
The Horse Meat Disco guys – well, two of them anyway – split their duties. Luke Howard takes the first hour and displays his crate-digging chops by playing a tonne of obscure disco cuts (let’s just say that this reviewer, who prides himself on knowing at least the major landmarks of the genre, doesn’t recognise a single one). Lack of familiarity is no obstacle to dancing, though, as the audience is propelled along by Howard’s sheer exuberance in mixing, like the legendary Larry Levan’s DJ sets. Severino’s set starts out in similar territory, but he starts to work in some more recognisable tracks – first Gregg Diamond’s Danger, a highlight from Horse Meat Disco’s Strut compilation, followed swiftly by a killer one-two combination of Arthur Russell’s Is It All Over My Face and Loleatta Holloway’s Love Sensation. From this high point Severino weaves in some contemporary tracks, linking Hot Chip and Soulwax to their roots in the discothèque. Few DJ sets can claim to be simultaneously fun, educational, and historically oriented, but that’s precisely what Horse Meat Disco do and they do it well.
CHAD PARKHILL

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