Patterns, Brighton is a truly wonderful venue for the underground scene outside of London. From the intimate downstairs basement setting to the sea facing smoking terrace just off of an exotic upstairs bar. Use to be called Audio, the club rebranded itself after being taken over by new management a few years ago. In those few years Patterns has become a well known brand on the scene hosting its own boat party at the infamous Dimensions Festival in Pula Croatia last summer.

I headed to Brighton on friday the 18th May with a plan to party at Patterns for my little sister’s 19th Birthday. The venue has become a second home to her and her funky freshers mates with banging bookings every week from Horse Meat Disco to Ben UFO.

The headliner for the night was Ross from Friends, and no David Schwimmer is not a secret techno DJ this is a different guy. A big name in the lo fi scene I was excited to see his unique performance assisted by his band playing live instruments.

We arrived at the club in enough time to see the warm up set by the Feel My Bicep affiliate, Hammer. The club was surprisingly packed considering how early he was playing but his set did more than just warm up the crowds. With plenty of euphoric builds and funky drops you could say he might have been more suited to closing the night as Ross from Friends lo fi set that followed did slightly change the mood. Bringing out with him a saxophone and electric guitar the crowd were excited to see something a bit different behind the decks. The combination of live sax was interesting to say the least and their one hour set flew by softly and swiftly.

The tempo quickly picked back up as the unique set was followed by Gideön, my personal highlight of the night. The Co-Founder of Block 9, the home of the NYC Downlow and possibly the best area of Glastonbury Festival to visit, played a super funky house set dropping a techno remix of Oliver $ & Jimi Jules – Pushing On at 3 in the morning. Partying right till the end we were all a little in shocked when the lights came on at 4am and his set was over.

During our Friday night at Patterns, I noticed a personal favorite DJ of mine on a poster in smoking area. Laurel Halo was playing the next night for Crack Magazine. I discovered Laurel Halo last year on soundcloud after listening to her Disc Women mix and falling in love with the intense techno switch ups which she made so smooth. As this trip was pretty much a mini break for me we decided a double header could be fun and were back at Patterns the next night for an awesome more female line up.

Starting the set was Willow, another big name that has continued to crop up over the last few years. After hearing great things about her I was excited to see her for myself.

The ladies gave us a darker night of techno, just what I like. Dropping ambient yet breakbeat bangers, Willow played Objekt theme from Q. The crowd was still busy but not as packed as the previous night and had less talking and more dancing. My highlight of the night and the weekend was definitely Laurel Halo’s set. She lived up to expectations and more, playing spoony sounds and heavy beats. Wearing a hoodie with her hair tied back this girl was all music and no nonsense. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the whole set and missed the closing hours of Giant Swan live. From feedback I’ve heard they are awesome so will look out for them next time.

look out for more posts to hear about things I get up to while I’m out and about this summer. Love International festival in Croatia is next up and I’m sure it’s gunna be very special.

Poppy x

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Poppy is new to lo key, but her opinions are our opinions lol. She also plays better Techno than her boyfriend.