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It's the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the UK. With that, comes the longest night. Why not make it the greatest night of the year as well? Why not make it Despacio?
The hype that surrounds Despacio's three night residency at London's Hammersmith Town Hall has been bothering the internet and music-lovers for months, and with good cause. The brainchild of DFA co-founder and former LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy and Soulwax's Dwwaele brothers, every aspect of the evening has been laboured over, so the sum of every part is no less than sheer perfection.
"We just said why can't we build a soundsystem so we can play the kind of music that we wouldn't normally play in normal DJ gigs," Stephen Dewaele told us earlier this year. "You know - a bit more of the rarer stuff and crazy vinyl that we have. I think that once James had finished with LCD, we bumped into him in London and he said 'I don't think you realise this, but I'm going to be in your neighbourhood a lot more so let's actually finish the things that we've been talking about for the last 10 years'."
The decade was worth the wait. The speakers are fine-tuned to elevate obscurer vinyl and disco classics to ultimate eargasm clarity, and the 'sweet spot' in the centre of the hall has never been sweeter. But there's much more than that at play in Despacio. The bar is being run by The Clove Club, who bring a touch of class to proceedings without any pretense or snobbery - which is exactly what Despacio is all about: expecting the best, without ever seeming elitist. A unique and inimitable experience, but with a heartwarmingly inclusive atmosphere.
The sense of brotherhood and togetherness is enhanced by the Clove Club's Despacio Punch. It's hard to tell exactly what's in it, but it tastes like Christmas, and makes for pretty lethal dance-fuel. What else? Oh, Kiera Knightley was downstairs (we think) and for some reason there's a bloke wandering about giving people clementines - which is a nice, if a little confusing, touch. And then, the icing on the cake - FREE PASTIES. What more could you ask for?
Now, to the speakers. The crystal clear sounds have clearly forced these three friends to give heavy consideration to the source material. Rather than leaning on bangers or cliche choices, Murphy and the Dewaeles draw on their vast and encyclopaedic collections that reveal the traces of what made them the artists they are today. From Bowie and 10CC to The Commodores and mind-bending acid-jazz, it's a lesson in disco perfection that flows with unrelenting precision and unadulterated pleasure. Everything that drops has a sweet and slippery groove, making the evening feel like the best school disco you could ever dream of.
At no point does it feel preachy, it only soundtracks the swelling mass of gleeful dancers sliding across the floor with mindless but loving abandon.
Veterans of Soulwaxmas may have mourned the loss of their annual sweat-soaked rave down at Brixton, and rightly so. But what has come in its place is an altogether different beast. This is three friends - three dancefloor giants, carrying out a labour of love and opening their arms to anyone who just wants to celebrate good music. This is partying hard, with precision. The longest night of the year simply wasn't long enough.
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