Walking up to the entrance of the Warehouse Project, I always find it difficult not to act slightly excited. It’s the atmosphere that always exists outside this now infamous venue. The crowds of clubbers approaching from every direction, chatting enthusiastically to each other over the filtered rumble of the bass which is echoing around the red brick railway tunnel that houses the entrance to this old World War two air raid shelter. Ticket touts, knowing that there was money to be made from one of the biggest events to be held this season at the WHP, were everywhere, asking  in vain for any spare tickets, which had by this point become a valuable possession to own as some tickets were fetching up to as much as £70. All this hype is well earned praise to the organisers of the Warehouse Project, who have firmly established the seasonal event as one of the UK’s most famous clubber destinations.

Tonight saw the return of the Frankfurt established super label, Cocoon, which was back hosting its fourth party here at the WHP. Created by superstar entrepreneur DJ Sven Väth back in 2000 and boasting some of the industry’s biggest producers on their roster, the business has consistently grown from strength to strength each and every year, pushing the techno sound to wider and wider audiences around the globe.
This was to be my fourth visit to cocoon at the WHP. My expectations were high, as the past three events were among my best I’ve experienced at the venue.

This line-up reflected the current fashion of the scene. The big tech-house names of Loco Dice and Minilogue, who’s productions have been dominating dance floors around the UK for the past 12 months were certainly crowd magnets. Also, the legendary house spinner DJ Sneak, along with Onur Ozer and Zip, all indicated that the night was set to be good at the worst. Johnny D, who was originally on the line-up, had to be dropped due to the ever present issue of visa problems, which has caused disappointment at countless nights this year around the UK.

Waiting in the queue to get in, I was heavily focused on the subby kick and muffled percussion vibrating through the walls. I looked about for the set-times, asking people all around me who was on to but no avail. Once I got in I was instantly drawn towards the already packed out dance floor, which is positioned in the middle of this large impressive space. Two sets of arches inside the main room create a wide corridor where the dance floor sits. Slowly pulsing red strobes flash through a mist of smoke that seems to be sitting above the crowd’s heads, creating an impressively raw industrial feel to the venue. The raised DJ booth at one end of the corridor houses a large LED screen that projects an array of graphics, effects and images that dazzle the dancing crowd. Combined with the music, I was quickly carried away. A pumping combination of deep, rolling bass lines, broken up with synthy moments, all pushed along by an array of hypnotic hi-hat and cymbal patterns giving a warm techno flavour that was trance inducing. Half an hour later I snapped out of it, remembering the job in hand. I began to take a walk around, asking everyone in sight “Who is playing?”, only to get the same disappointing response. After a good twenty minutes I finally bumped in to a clued up friend who helped me out here.  “Minilogue.” He answered. My response was a relatively shocked one. The sound pumping out of the main room was in no way what I had expected from the Swedish duo of Sebastian Mullaert and Marcus Henriksson.  After thirteen years together they are well known for their beautifully refined productions, which carry a much deeper, tribal influenced tech-house sound than what was being played in the main room on this night. However, it worked well and the place was buzzing. Minilogue are certainly no one-trick dog and they displayed this by stepping it up flawlessly throughout their live set, setting the bar high for the rest of the follow on acts.

I moved closer to the stage in preparation for the start of Loco Dice’s set. I could see him setting up his laptop from the back of the room, so I seized the opportunity to get in close before the surge hit. But I was too late, the crowd (at least some one) had spotted him too and it didn’t take long before everyone started to go wild. A chorus of cheering, whistling and chanting spread like wild fire through the main room as everyone worked out that Loco Dice was about to start. Hailing from Dusseldorf, he has become somewhat of a superstar in recent years. His infectious high energy performances of warm, grooving house and techno along with a string of constantly good productions on a number of high profile labels (Cocoon, M-nus, Cadenza, Four-Twenty…) have ensured that Loco Dice has made it to be one of the industry’s most respected artists.

Below the cheering of the crowd, comes a stream of percussive loops. Bongos, congas and other organic noises create a warm, natural texture that keeps the crowd in suspense. The place is then suddenly blown apart by the dropping of a sub heavy bass line that turns the crowed into a riot of cheering and jumping clubbers. Smiles, hugs, and all round euphoria engulfed the venue as an infectious sound of a skipping high-end sat on top of a bed of housey vocal and percussion hits, all underpinned by a warm, deep bass instantly sets an irresistible groove.  Loco Dice had evidently moved away from the typical overly Spanish vocal ridden sound that has recently gone so stale since I last encountered him, and he was delivering a selection of fresh, grooving tech-house tunes that were occasionally separated seamlessly by the odd track with a tougher, more chugging  personality…

After much effort, I managed to pull myself away to check out the backroom. As soon as I entered it felt like I had stepped down twenty floors below. It was filled wall to wall with an underground vibe and the slower, deeper tech-house grooves emphasised this.  One look around and the crowd was clearly of the more musically educated type, and it soon became evident why. The decks were being graced none other than Zip, a legend to those in the know. A relatively underground DJ, Zip aka Thomas Franzmann, is the co-founder of the Perlon label with Ricardo Villalobos, who himself referred to Zip as one of the best DJ’s he has ever had the privilege to play alongside. His sound reflected those coming out of the German underground scene, which oozed the style and finesse of truly classy electronic music. None of the complicated bass lines or percussion patterns that were found in the main room, just pure, stripped down, sexy tech-house. This was a treat. Three hours of fantastic tunes, surrounded by fully appreciative unpretentious clubbers, but still with enough space to dance with ease. I would have happily paid the full ticket price for this. I was gutted I had missed another quality artist, Onur Ozer who was on before him, but for the hour I was in there witnessing Zip, my night had already been made. Despite this, I decided I had best check on Loco Dice, as his set was nearing its end by this point.

I returned to find Loco Dice winding the crowd up with a chugging number that gave an all round darker, more driving feel from where I had left it, before he dropped the groove in again to a crowd whose attention he still owned. Quickly forgetting where I had just been, he continued to take the crowd and I on a journey of tribally tech-house grooves that were dashed with sexy hits of vocal, piano and guitar here and there that entangled themselves into a rich texture that pulled you in. For the last twenty minutes he took things down a slightly darker path with some, surprisingly, tougher techno, in good old true Cocoon spirit!
Come 3 a.m. it was time for Chicago’s DJ Sneak to embrace the atmosphere and show the audience why he is one of the most respected house DJs and producers of all time. As an innovator to many, Sneak’s love for music inspired others such as Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx, Armand Van Helden.

He wasted no time by diving straight in to his signature style of disco filtered house grooves, which carried the high energy left by Loco Dice to another level. He dropped big tune after big tune which carried an umbrella of intricate hi-hat and cymbal patterns that were reminiscent of mid-90′s house.  However, the genre as a whole was difficult to pin-point. Over a pumping bass line came horn melodies, electro riffs, and ever some 1940′s jazz during a break. This was a highlight. A female vocal sang a for a minute or so over the jazz which left the crowd in a mixture of minds,  before the cut up sample was dropped on top of a banging techno loop which hit the dazed and confused crowed like a freight train. It worked, incredibly well. Sneak is the master of this. He effortlessly makes a potentially cheesy element cool as ice with his style and skills behind the decks, and thanks to his year of experience, he clearly could read the crowd with great ease and delivered a consistent, high-energy set that ended the party nicely.

Both the Cocoon DJs and the Warehouse Project delivered beyond my expectations. It was an all round excellent night which has set the bar high for the inevitable return of Cocoon next season.

By Jack Barton.

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