It seems that Eden's extensive refurbishment and the enthusiasm of its new owners has done much to transform the fortunes of the San Antonio matriarch. Under the watch of Dutch entrepreneur Michael van de Kuit the club has traded its previously semi-segregated structure for a single open room that - with the assistance of a world-leading VOID rig - is aimed at cultivating a firm music first policy. For years Eden has been charged with styling the initial education of new clubbing generations - it's position on the infamous sunset strip ensures it is the first Ibicenco superclub that many a wide-eye lays itself upon and as such holds a coveted place in the hearts of both fresh faces and old guards.
Previously held on a Sunday, the red, threatening glow of Radio 1 alumni Judge Jules' event has for this season been moved to a Friday slot producing the party's marginally altered title: Judgement Fridays. Largely committed to an auditory policy which grates between the harder realms of trance and Dutch styled house, Judgement facilitates a test of your cochlear metal.
Brighton-ite DJ Tristan D began to engage the barely shackled horsepower of the clubs gunmetal, totalitarian-styled sound system. Flitting between duskier, sinister strains of trance - reminiscent of van Doorn's Purple Haze work - and peaks of harmonic melodica saw the fast-swelling crowd bathed in the cherry red tones of Jules' chosen aesthetic, the proximity of relatively harshly abrasive sects with the bright euphoria of classic vocal driven trance was to be a recurrent theme of the parties musical fare. Whirring, physical synths similar to a twisted form of machine-gun arcadia signaled the appearance of sibling duo Showtek whose dense unrelenting power gave the supporting pillars a tangible vibratory tickle. As their tough, layered sound drowned what was a full and elated house the pair's industrial concretion halted briefly in the wake of The Prodigy's No Good before a vicious electro arrangement of Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400 heralded the arrival of the party's enthusing creator.
Since ending his Radio 1 residency in the autumn of last year Jules has - in the vein of other jockeys - shifted into a more curatorial role. Whilst the previous acts utilised a microphone Jules chose to brusquely cut the volume, lean high over the crowd and hoarsely shout unassisted to the attendees, a strangely intimate experience. Wading into immediate anthemic territory Jules utilised pre-prepared vocal edits and emboldening soundbites to guide the highly receptive crowd into even darker figurative corners. Rog Mogale, founder and chief designer at VOID said "...I have always wanted to create an aural experience where the human body was the limiting factor." As heady electro and dance history classics collided under the domed space, Mogale's words and the enthusiasm of Eden's new party orchestrators were palpable: here was a night, a club and a DJ intent on the most immersive of musical experiences.
Words by Michael Huntington, Photography by James Chapman.
