DJ Hell & Friends @ Fellini`s (Barcelona, Spain)

DJ Hell & Friends Fellini's (Barcelona, Spain)

Completely exhausted, I made my way down La Rambla to Fellini's. The last thing on my mind was partying and the first thing was sleeping - which was what everyone I had partied with all weekend was doing. But this was DJ Hell and I could sleep tomorrow.

The bill was DJ Hell & Friends and Friend 1 was up when I first got there and she was good. She played nice electro house but because there was no one there I bailed. I came back after an espresso to Friend 2. His whole set was Italian house. Can you believe it? I am not familiar enough with the genre to know if they were all old tracks or if there is a resurgence of this style but, dude, I felt like I was in the novel American Psycho. You know, when Patrick is at The Tunnel and everyone's dancing but all he wants to do is coke... remember? Anyways, that's what it felt like. The music was fun to dance to and somewhat nostalgic (how come I don't know since I was about ten when that music was being blared at the discos). Later on his set got kind of Top 40, but Euro top 40. A treat for someone who doesn't listen to mainstream European radio on a regular basis.

Next up was Friend 3 and I almost freaked out. First thing I noticed was his boyish good looks and a Turbo Recordings hat. I totally thought it was Tiga (review on his mind-blowing set that I was so privileged to experience the Thursday before at The Loft on its way). But it wasn't. Soon it became a tag team set with Friend 4. It was pretty great and everyone was loving it. I was too tired to do much else but sip Red Bull and watch people go off.

But then, DJ Hell. DJ HELL! No way I was going to sit through this set. There's something about him that I just love. I saw him at Goa Club thinking I was going to leave with a banging headache but instead I left with very sore feet. The stuff he was throwing down, those way the champagne-sipping, stiletto-wearing Italian VIPettes were going off, the moves the male go-go dancer was executing, his mannerisms, the stuff he was throwing down... it was fucking unreal. The moment of glory was Energy Flash quickly overlapped by Warm Leatherette and then upstaged by I Wanna Be Your Dog in a matter of minutes. Unreal on the verge of surreal.

And his set this time? This time 'round it wasn't as fascinating but that could have been due to the fact that most of my brain was preoccupied with not passing out. He started out with electro - stuff I hadn't heard before and stuff that kept me on my feet then segued stoically into techno for a bit and that got to be a bit too much but everyone on the dance floor( probably also suffering from various degrees of sleep deprivation since it had been the Sonar festival all weekend) were pogoing and shimmying and hollering. Turning things down a notch he ended things of on a housier note. He ended with Juliet's Avalon (one of the great tracks I was introduced to during my trip). It's also on the Gigolo Sonar 2005 CD. When he decided to call it quits people freaked out. It got so loud I was beside myself. There was nothing coming through the speakers but there was a guy on the bongo drums and the clubbers were dancing to that.

I'm super sad that I wasn't able to enjoy his set as I would have if I had stayed at La Paloma on Friday (instead I saw Felix da Housecat pull some shameless [like, so shameless I was embarrassed for him] shenanigans at The Loft review coming up!). If Hell makes it even remotely close to you, pack up and go check him out. Not only a dope DJ he's a monumental individual in the world of electronica. Just check out his site and click on Artists to see that I'm not kidding you. Serious.