As we near the end of 2023, we wanted to give you a quick run down of our in-store parties so far this year. With acts like Actress, Midland, Sally C, Imogen and Voigtmann all still to play in our beloved Soho store before the year is out, we wanted to record for prosperity the special events and DJ sets we have been lucky enough to host at 51 Poland Street
Our first in-store this year was in March when Krystal Klear and Ryan Elliott blew the roof off the shop with a selection of up-beat power house bangers from KK alongside technical selections from Ryan Elliott making a mixed pallet that worked very much to the packed shop floor’s delight.
The following week , the Make A Dance collective and label dropped by to celebrate their latest offering in their M.A.D Edits series. Founding members Ben Lewis & Josh Ludlow were joined by a vast collection of friends from all corners of London to bring the energy to the party.
Next up was Record Store Day in April. You can read all about the madness from that day right HERE
With the smoke having hardly disappeared after Record Store Day, we were back at it again. Leon Vynehall opened up our May events to celebrate the release of his Rosebud EP. London up n coming DJ Amaliah opened things up with a deep percussive selection with Vynehall stepping up with a set of thought provoking drum-heavy UK techno. Rounding off the night was our surprise special guest Midland – no stranger to Phonica, he knew exactly the track to play to rock the shop.
Krystal Klear was back in town and we couldnt help but have him back behind our counter, as this time he brought along Running Back head honcho Gerd Janson as his special guest!! With powerful energetic moments from Krystal and Gerd Janson’s expert eye (we say eye cause he was literally using his eyes to pick records off the wall and play them) this was a match made in heaven and the energy from the crowd could feel it too.
DJ Boring joined us for our June event to celebrate the release of his Beautiful Strangers EP on Running Back with a barrage of bouncy high energy anthems. I don’t think we have ever seen someone so smiley behind the DJ booth. Jasper Tygner jumped on in the middle of the night for an impromptu b2b with the man of the hour! It was full blown house party vibes and everyone was invited.
George Fitzgerald joined us in August to celebrate his Not As I release on Domino. The now highly acclaimed electronic producer took things back to some of his earlier sounds playing some leftfield bassy house cuts opening with an OG Joy Orbison number in his first hour and moving things into some of his more recent sounds in the second. A best-of-both-worlds collision that was much to the delight of a packed shop crowd!
The rest of of August saw us welcome in selector Bill Brewster to celebrate his new Late Night Tales compilation where he brought out an array of eclectic and disco records which was a lovely change of pace for our space. Unknown Untitled brought a hefty mysterious line up that was only announced on the day consisting of Syz and Harry Wills under his Brazen alias bringing nothing but heaters.
We closed out our Summer parties on September 1st with a high octane set from Gideon celebrating his latest EP on his Homo-centric imprint. The long time selector brought a collection of pumping old school house and disco and guest sets from London legends Josh Caffe & Hannah Holland, not to mention a very entertaining live performance from vocal powerhouse Tasty Lopez (who featured on Gideon’s latest EP) who got up close and personal with the very vibrant crowd! What a night!
The following week we had a double helping of Fabric events. In classic London fashion, we had an insane heatwave but that didnt stop people from coming down and getting their sweat on. On the Thursday night we welcomed Irish DJ & Producer Saoirse to celebrate the launch of her Fabric Presents compilation. Jay Duncan stepped up to warm things up with some tripped out techy club sounds with Saoirse taking the helm to bash out some oldschool anthems to close things off!
On the Friday we welcomed Ana Quiroga and Friends to celebrate the release of her album on Fabric subsidiary Houndstooth. Estela Oliva opened things up with some ambient and dark dubby sounds. Flora Yin Wong of Pan and most recently Modern Romance fame took some tripped out trap to our TPI soundsystem. Ana Quiroga followed suit but moved into some wub-heavy electronics and bass with some live vocals to top the night off!
Closing out our September we welcomed SNAD over from the US to celebrate the release of his EP on Phonica AM, the label run by our own Luther Vine. It was all-vinyl affair from start to finish with a selection of tech house and garage cuts from the innovative DJ & producer. Our own Colin Boardway also played a few records too. An all out family affair.
October brought surprising levels of heat to our store. Elkka joined us at the start of the month to honour the release of her latest EP “DJ Friendly” on Ninja Tune. She was joined on the night by some of her closest mates including Chloe Robinson who hammered out some particularly head turning tunes that we were unable to Shazam! Probably one of the busiest instores we had this year.
The end of the month welcomed to Quantic to the building. With a diverse selection of disco, soul, funk and leftfield house and a particularly amazing latin-punk track to close it was one of the outstanding sets of this year. The true definition of a DJ’s DJ from start to finish.
Walking into November we welcomed Never Sleep and Critical Music for the release of their tape of Kasra’s set from Fabric back in the 90’s. This was a particularly special instore with all the proceeds going to Bowel Cancer UK in memory of the late Shaun Roberts from Fabric who passed away earlier this year. Kasra brought on the D&B energy which pumped through our TPI system and gave it a much seeing to!
With a year like that we can’t wait to have you for whats left of our instore roster. This Friday we welcome Actress for a very rare instore appearance to celebrate the release of his new album “LXXXVIII” on Ninja Tune. With Midland and Sally C still to come the week after and Imogen as well as Voigtmann in December I think its very fitting to say that the year may be coming to a close but we are just getting warmed up!
