It was clear that all the February DJ Mag sessions had been crafted to appeal to purveyors of high-quality, classic house, but it was The Egg's Saturday listing that caught my eye. Running until an impressive 10am, the night was headed by the elusive Detroit legend and FXHE Records boss Omar S, alongside label mate Luke Hess. I was particularly excited to see Sven Weisemann's name on the line-up; the Berlin-based deep house DJ has acquired something of a cult following, largely thanks to his sublime free mixes on Soundcloud. He rarely plays the UK, so after having seen him tear apart Rex Club in Paris last year I jumped at the chance to see him in my hometown.
We arrived at the perfect time to catch Sven Weisemann, playing 1am – 3am. An unassuming, bespectacled presence, it was a joy to watch him playing from close-up. A classically trained musician and composer, Sven played the decks like a particularly complex classical instrument – this was certainly no “press play” set. Equally refreshing was his infectious sense of enthusiasm; a million miles away from the unsmiling Berlin deep house stereotype, Sven's “air piano/air violin” dance moves are quite unlike anything I've seen before. An early highlight in the set was Levon Vincent's Woman is an Angel, from his recently leaked self-titled LP. Its floor shaking techno-cello matched the shimmering blue lasers perfectly, garnering a massive reaction from everyone in the room.
Whilst some of his set would have sounded familiar to those more acquainted with his mixes, Sven proved what a great selector he is and threw out the odd curveball, from 1990 rave track I Need Your Love by Jinny to 1994 diva-vocal led banger NightLife by Kim English, before setting the scene for Omar S by playing his feel-good track Set It Out – a move which was clearly appreciated by the more clued-up members of the crowd. Omar S arrived behind the decks for a flawless changeover at 3am, in his trademark bucket hat and FXHE t-shirt. Flying the flag for classic US house, Kerri Chandler & Jerome Sydenham's 36 Degrees was a great start to his set.
We'd been raving on the main dance floor without a break for two hours by this point, so we decided to take a pause to check out what was going on elsewhere in the club. Despite the stiff competition, Jordan Peak had Room 2 on lock, a packed crowd losing themselves in front of a pulsating red LED panel to Roman IV & Roman Fluegel's Cairo.
After our tech-house interlude, we returned to catch Omar S transitioning smoothly from upbeat house grooves to 1993 Berlin techno banger Domina by Maurizio. However, the real climax of the night was when the all-time 1994 classic God Made Me Phunky by MD X Press & Mike Dunn sent the dance floor into a full 6 minutes of all-out mad dancing towards the end of the set. Stepping up at 5am was Luke Hess, who smoothly transitioned things into a suitably more soulful, late-night territory.
This was a fantastic night – its been a long time since I've been so enthralled by a DJ that I truly lost myself in the music, but both Sven Weisemann and Omar S achieved just that. My only criticism would be that their level of talent might have been going underappreciated by some of the clientele at the club (Egg does always attract a somewhat varied crowd), but for me, that just meant more uninterrupted dancing time! Thank you to DJ Mag for putting such a great night together.
WORDS | Miriam Johnson PHOTOGRAPHY | Giacomo Tonoli
