Bonafide Magazine @ MSN: Live Review: The Hydra with Marcel Dettmann, Ryan Elliott and Anthony Parasole

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Live Review: The Hydra with Marcel Dettmann, Ryan Elliott and Anthony Parasole Posted: 16 Dec 2014 02:12 AM PST When The Hydra, one of the UK’s leading club series, announced its winter program, there was one date that particularly stood out. It’s not often that we get to see Marcel Dettmann play in London, and aside from the odd showpiece b2b set with Ben Klock during the festival season, in the UK as a whole. So it was with great anticipation that we were counting down the days to his appearance at The Hydra’s new found home at Wapping’s Studio Spaces, alongside fellow Berghain resident Ryan Elliott and Ostgut Ton affiliate Anthony Parasole. Packaged in true German style, from the austere minimalism of the flyer artwork down to the running times (the closing slot would run til 7am), it truly felt like a touch of Berghain woas being presented to London’s techno warriors. The night itself from a musical perspective was, unsurprisingly, of the highest order. It’s no easy task warming up for someone like Marcel Dettmann, but Parasole stuck to his task manfully, steadily building his set from 11 towards peak time at 2am as the kick drums slowly became more and more ferocious. And with the throbbing bass ringing round Studio Spaces’ four walls, on stepped the main attraction. As with any master of their art, there was a certain aura that surrounded Dettmann, and he was greeted with whoops and cheers from the baying crowd as he stepped on stage. And so commenced a three hour powerhouse set that narratively had everything; peaks, troughs, all presented with the kind of finesse and authority that was to be expected. With a wry grin etched across his face, it was clear that Dettmann was enjoying the moment as much as his fans, playing on a new soundsystem in different, more intimate surroundings to his more accustomed slots in either Room 1 or 2 of fabric. As his set drew to its dramatic conclusion, the first voice sample presented itself, and it was one that had been banging out of the techno clubs all year round. Floorplan’s Never Grow Old (Re-Plant) was a fitting end to what was a monumental set and re-asserted the fact that, in the right hands, techno has the power to move and entrance the body and mind more so that any other genre. We left the club to the sound of Ryan Elliot continuing from where Dettmann left off, knowing that we’d just seen something very special.