The dust has only just settled on yet another top OFF Week in Barcelona and one of the success stories comes in the form of Les Enfants Brillants. Where some venues in Barcelona only play host to underground music occasionally and especially during OFF Week LEB is not one of these venues. From the same team that brought to life INPUT they have delivered the same audiophile ethos to a much more intimate locale. Having already welcomed Animal Crossing, Yoyaku, Cinthie’s 803 Crystal Grooves, as well as the recent Watermelon event that saw Triad and Djebali perform three hours each. It is the latter event that has sparked today’s conversation with the Frenchman.
Catching up with Djebali recently he explained that he has been rather busy on the touring front, “Finally back on the road and I couldn’t be happier about it. This 2 last years have been so stressful for everybody and it’s amazing to be able to travel again and play music in front of people, see many friends on the road and familiar faces, I guess we all value even more the parties and what we love.” Djebali has always been in high demand and it is no surprise to hear that he has been clocking up the air miles, “I am doing a lot of long travels actually, just came back from an Australian tour ending with an amazing party at Sash and I am next travelling again to South America for a Key Prodduccion party in Montevideo among others and then a 2 weeks’ tour in USA including Flash in DC, Miami Unmute, Boston Experience and Salt Lake City. Also, will play for the Epizode pre-party in Bahrein before the September festival. I am so excited about all this!”
Les Enfants Brillants has had an incredible two months of life to date and has all the hall marks of becoming one of the coolest hotspots in Barcelona. Djebali explains his first impressions of Les Enfants Brillants, “It was a Watermelon night, divided in 3 hours from the guys called Triad, and then myself for a 3-hour closing set. I usually come to the club 1 hour before playing but I decided to come from the opening as I had an amazing feeling with the guys and with Alex who managed the club. So, I first walked into the club as it wasn’t opened yet, so I could really felt the space. It’s not a basic square club, you have a lot of different zones which makes the whole experience better! I knew I’ll have a good night before the doors opened!”
As Djebali is a major part of the touring community it was interesting to hear from him the feedback of the club where his friends had played before him, “I had a chat with Arapu when we played together in Amsterdam and also with Janeret who played 2 weeks before at Les Enfants. I had an amazing feedback from both, about the club, the crowd the sound and the whole crew so I just wanted the night to be as fun as they had.” Moving onto discussing the design of sound system and acoustics of the high-fidelity dance club Djebali was impressed, “Sound was simply amazing. They managed to spread a quality sound, a perfect balance, not too loud, not to harsh, not too bassy, and this all over the club. They told me that they were still improving some details but it sounded perfect for me already. So, the « High Fidelity Dance Club » is the right name.”
Les Enfants is becoming popular for its sound but also for the acoustics, having decorated the interior of the club with diffusors and absorbent acoustic panels. Djebali tells us his thoughts on the acoustics and how it effects his mixing style, “Monitors in the booth can really change your way to mix. In the club, as you said, there is a booth with an acoustics treatment which is a game changer for sure. A lot of club think that you just need monitors, loud enough and that’s it but if you managed to get this kind of warm and clear sound into the booth, the DJ will focus 100% on is creativity. When you feel comfortable and you don’t need to care about technical things (like correcting the frequencies on the mixing desk to make it sounds better in the club), you be able to focus on the music you choose, the way you mix… You get more confident about the tracks you play because you know its gonna sound exactly how it should.”
For any dedicated clubber or even DJ, crowd and artist interaction is of an utmost of importance to both and with Les Enfants offering tantalising proximity to the action. That human connection is clearly just as important to Djebali as he explains his experience, “One of great thing of the club is that you are close to the crowd. It pushes the vibe to the next level, you can connect really quickly with people and feel their energy. I was surprised about how fast the club filled up and how much desire to party people came with from the beginning. It’s a real plus for a DJ to play in front of a crowd like the one in Les Enfants.”
Les Enfants first bookings hint at the future of the venue and with names like Traumer, Arapu, Priku, Ferro and of course Djebali already under their belt it is clear that the underground is their main focus. Being extremely well acquainted with Barcelona and its music scene Djebali goes on to point out just how important Les Enfants will be to the community, “These past years we use to see events like Les Enfants propose, just for the Off Week. Which is sad because you could see all those amazing artist just this one week. Now with a club like Les Enfants, you have every month this incredible number of DJs coming to play, and of course there is a crowd in Barcelona really interested in this music and a lot more to make them discover those artists. I think it’s gonna help the local scene to develop, as we saw in different countries: more collectives, more DJs and promoters and of course, a bigger scene for underground music.”
As with all touring artists having the luxury of being able to road test your own productions and label releases on the best dancefloors is immeasurable. The fact that the sound system at Les Enfants is impressive Djebali explains how things went down, “Yeah, I always play some new tracks of mine to test them and also some of my friend’s new tracks to give them a proper feedback on a good sound system. I played a track called ‘Rave Vision’, part of my next EP which is gonna be out soon on TRMNL records (Vinyl + Digital), I also played few track from my friend and amazing producer Cosenza, one of this will be released on my label, after summer and called ‘Lonely Heart’ coming with a remix by myself.”
“To finish, I just wanted to thanks Alex, Cate and all the team @ Les Enfants Brillants for their warm welcome, and also German for the great video.”
Operating exclusively at the weekends Les Enfants Brillants will continue to present only the best the underground has to offer. The first weekend in July will see Moreon and Alex b2b Kidd Moss while the Saturday night session mean a headline set from Black Loops and support from Vir-gine. The following Friday see’s the return of Watermelon and they will be teaming up with Rawax and that will mean sets from Cassy, Robert Drewek and Triad. The next night is a Cymatix event which will see Brasi and Anah b2b Lumiere rock Les Enfants.
Hitting the halfway mark through the month of July and more top music is on the cards. French taste maker D’Julz will be joined by Max Haas and Kid Moss while on the Saturday Sally C and Marian Ariss will be taking flight in the spaceship. The next weekend will be just as strong with Spanish outfit Checkpoint dropping by with a live set from Levat and a DJ set from Scacco, Barson and Rainer. The Saturday night will see German legend Marco Resmann and Hitch at the controls. Les Enfants Brillants have left the best for last as BCN powerhouse promoters Loud-Contact will be presenting an all-night long set from Italian label La Nota Del Diablo and their label head Quest. Completing the month will be Perlon artist Maayan Nidam with support from Malena. As you can see from their July program we are sure it won’t be long before you are making plans to head along to Les Enfants Brillants.
For a taste of what to expect from a night at Les Enfants Brillants we present a video recording of Djebali’s recent set from Les Enfants Brillants…
Producción : @doctartproducciones
Filmacion y Edición : @germanpalestrini
More info on Djebali
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More info on Les Enfants Brillants
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