NEWS
EVENTS
Dalston Roof Park - London's Best Kept Secret
Indie | Tuesday 18th September 2012 | Osh
In Dalston, music is the lifeblood of the young and creative residents. Like all nocturnal creatures, they rise from their crypts after dark and start to roam Kingsland Road, brooding like Robert Pattinson in Twilight, searching for kicks, massive tunes and kebab meat.
In this corner of Hackney borough, not too far from the bright lights of Brick Lane, the music scene is mad, loud and proud, and every taste is catered to - from hardcore European techno to Rockabilly. And if you love to party to the wee hours of the mornin’, you can stumble out of some of the most obscure and interesting venues London has to offer, right on your doorstep.
One venue in particular is creating waves in the dark recesses of the underground live music scene here, namely the Dalston Roof Park. Situated on top of The Print House on Ashwin Street, this buzzing and vibrant cultural hub is plonked squarely in the eye-line of the financial district, in the shadow of those ugly capitalist towers in Canary Wharf.
You can’t see it from street level, so it is relatively unknown if you don’t live in the area. But this well-kept secret of E8 is no secret any more. The Guestlist Network is on its case and blowing the lid clean off!
Walking onto the terrace of the Dalston Roof Park for the first time is like walking into another world. There is shrubbery and flowering vegetation in abundance, organic flower beds and troughs full of herbs. The roof itself is blanketed in a healthy-looking layer of artificial grass and speckled with deck chairs. It’s all very quaint.
It is a utopia of green, a secret garden on top of a Victorian tenement building, with panoramic views out over East London. And this is what the owners wanted to create, catharsis from the urban sprawl, an unconventional green space in an area where there are traditionally very few. It’s a healthy, fertile breeding ground for pure escapism, and gives people an opportunity to breath in something other than the farts of buses and saloon cars.
Recently, this roof-top oasis played host to some massive up and coming talent, as part of Roundhouse Rising and Frozen Thumb showcase. The Brighton-based trio Regal Safari delivered an eye-watering set of Indie anthems and chillwave to a small and intimate crowd last week. Check out their beautiful debut EP ‘R G L S F R’ if you haven’t already.
Support came in the form of Pandr Eyez and King Krule, who recently featured heavily on Zane Lowe’s Radio 1 podcast and is definitely set for super-stardom with hits like ‘Out Getting Ribs’ and ‘Rock Bottom’.
But the party isn’t stopping there, with a glittering roster of artists waiting in the wings for their chance to serenade the masses up on the roof. Coming up fast is I Am Harlequin, the alias of German-born-London-based artist Anne Freiera, whose haunting piano sonatas and soulful voice will have you hooked immediately. This songbird had a track feature on the hit series Skins recently, which is usually a sign that an artist is about to hit the big time. She is being heralded as the new Jessie Ware just as her star is rising in the public eye.
‘THE BIG END OF SUMMER PARTY’ kicks off Friday 21st of Sept, 7:30pm. The rooftop soiree will include stellar live music, a fully stocked bar, a village fete, tombola and if you want to dress up, that is highly recommended. Expect surprises in abundance, including a recreation of 90s hit TV show Blind Date, hosted by I Am Harlequin herself.
Tickets available here
Words by Martin Higgins. www.mhfreelance.co.uk
