“It’s like being in someone’s living room”
Così nell’Ottobre 1993 Matt Black, membro dei Coldcut e fondatore di Ninja Tune, descriveva l’atmosfera di Telepathic Fish, party itinerante nato due anni prima in quel di South London dalla necessità della neonata scena low tempo / ambient di esprimersi live, in qualsiasi modo possibile ed in qualsiasi posto.
La storia, tanto singolare quanto bizzarra, di Telepathic Fish ce la racconta sul Blog dedicato all’evento uno dei fondatori, Kevin Foakes aka Strictly Kev, unico membro attivo del collettivo DJ Food (sul quale ci sarebbe da aprire una parentesi a parte il cui incipit potrebbe essere QUESTO) ed uno dei primi “Fish”, assieme a David Vallade, Mario Aguera e Chantal Passamonte aka Mira Calix:
Being one of ‘the Fish’ I know a fair few things about this: the first one was at a house numbered 102 Tintagel Crescent in East Dulwich. Technically the entrance was on that road but the flat was right on Goose Green roundabout. It was sold recently for over a million pounds apparently.
Downstairs was a shop, I think a hairdressers, and the upstairs 3 floors were rented by myself and 3 others (David, Mario and Chantal) who became Telepathic Fish after an encounter with a rasta and live fish eating (explained in full in David Toop’s excellent Ocean of Sound book).
The first Fish party took place here, Dec ’92, the flyers were all hand cut fish images with details on the back, vaccuum sealed with a string attached for you to wear round your neck. Entry was £1 and I lost track of how many people came in and out of the house that night. We had two floors for the party and had decorated the living room to be the main dance room (something we did away with after the first one). With a checkered ‘floor’ pasted to the ceiling and a bucket and mop stuck upside down into the corner of the ceiling, people came into the room would think they were walking on the ceiling if they looked up.
Upstairs was the chillout room with a pile of TV’s (some of which worked) stacked in the corner showing things like the Stakker and Orb videos. The kitchen was next door and the decks were on the counter, Mixmaster Morris played as well all the Fish posse and others probably, maybe our neighbours who were ravers as well.
There were black lights everywhere and it went on way after the sun came up. The second two were at the Tunstall Road squat in Brixton (no longer there) and the fourth was at the Cool Tan. There were also others in collaboration with different labels and groups at the Roundhouse, Brixton Academy VIP room, Heaven’s chillout room and the Triple X festival in Amsterdam.
Per saperne di più su questo piccolo spaccato tutto britannico di un passato oggi tornato prepotentemente di attualità soprattutto a livello di sonorità (tralasciando i protagonisti, oggi headliner e trendsetters a livello mondiale) vi basta fare un click QUI o recuperare il libro scritto ed edito nel 1995 da David Toop “Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds”; in testata invece trovate la registrazione (via cassetta) del dj set a quattro mani condotto da Mixmaster Morris & Aphex Twin al secondo appuntamento firmato Telepathic Fish tenutosi in quel di Brixton il 2.05.1993. #enjoythebar!
