Masnytsya (previously “Maslyana”) – is one of the biggest in-house events by the Closer crew during the year. Through the years, it has given us a lot of great memories, sets, and pancakes (also known as “mlyntsi”) eaten at the place. And also this video:
After their stunning 2021 debut amongst The Ghost’s set Shchuka-Ryba ensemble is now one of the main parts of the weekend. Like coming from the nighty Closer dancefloor to the morning-ish Lisnyy Prychal until 2022 (now, because of the curfew, caused by the Russian invasion, this cozy tradition is halted and the party is daytime only, stretched for the whole weekend though).
The absence of night shouldn’t stop the well-deserved fun, so, as usual, many people were waiting for this date, especially, after the first announces of the foreign artists friends. Another interesting announcement this year was the debut of the new for this party locations – Garden had its blast (50/50 debut, since in 2024 that location was used as Closer Connection stage), Octan shop had their one-set-show of Sasha Ushenko & Sasha Tsapenko nearby, and Dvir was given to Shchuka-Ryba’s fun and games in full. Because of that Dvir planning, I almost missed their usual singing with the DJ on Sunday. Almost.
But, let’s go to the DJs. The start of Saturday was a monstrous thing. Just like the queue – I swear, I don’t remember a queue at Closer THAT big since 2021. But after you manage that, you’ll have two great options already – Borys (that one, who’s usually outplaying any guest at any party) at the main stage or a very rare on-decks appearance of Closer’s honcho Sergiy Yatsenko, playing b2b of all kinds of downtempo with Gapon at Garden. Tough choice, I know.
Continuing with monstrosity – Saturday at Garden ended with a dream-team of Closer residents – Roman K, Igor Glushko, and Shults.Sashaa. The only bad thing about their set is that their location was too small for that, since Garden functions as an indoor place during the cold times and it’s just impossible to fit all the people inside. The selection was… just what you expect out of 3 Closer residents, full-speed groove, packed with all kinds of housey and not-so-housey stuff. But the one track was filmed a bit more than the others, hehe.
(@party_of_ravers)The main ground of Closer on Saturday was given to Alex Picone. With all his experience (Lucretio confessed to me after the event on Instagram, that he started to DJ because of him, think about that) and selection, jumping between the trancey and housey moods (I swear, the tracklist of this set should be stuffed better, than the Italy national football team in 2006), it was just perfect choice for the fully-packed dancefloor. That was Saturday…
Sunday started with two legends on the decks again. Bard (Ukrainian club legend from another era) started with his specialization – obscure Ukrainian oldies at Dvir, while Alex Picone came back on 1s and 2s at Garden (this time with a MUCH calmer selection).
But the main stuff was prepared obviously on Lisnyy Prychal. Lukas Wigflex took the perfectly pre-heated place after Hanna’s warmup. And brought the memories from my high school times again. I got used to it already – but mostly because of the electro-house revival these years. He took it into another direction – his set was, in a big part, about the minimal of the 00s (remember that shuffling?). A bit unexpected choice, I must admit, from a guy, who got caught on my radar after his “The Land Before GRIME” mix, but it was a perfect choice for that time and place. That minimalistic sounds are the best base for everything, after all.
After a short interlude with Shchuka-Ryba, Dr Banana came on decks, just to take that kickstarted set on some outlaw levels. Couldn’t expect less from one of the main reasons we have so many “Track ID” comments on the web these days. Going with an extra deck for the a capellas was a perfect idea, just as to put “Devendra” by Dorothy’s Dream in the middle of the set on fully-stacked Lisnyy Prychal.
The night was closed by a very aggressive breaks by Alex Savage on Lisnyy Prychal and the Ukrainian national anthem on Dvir (that’s kinda a tradition already, must say). Conclusions – as usual, we have the warm-as-hell posts from the artists, I’m just quoting the best parts with the links to the original ones:
Dr. Banana: “The entire trip was pure magic and I was constantly reminded of why the country means so much to me. It was beyond inspiring witnessing the spirit and resilience of the people through these trying times. The energy at the parties on Saturday and Sunday was something I had never experienced before, to see the whole club filled with smiling faces cutting loose and partying so respectfully was moving. The world could learn a lot from the Ukrainians, I know I have.”
Lucas Wigflex: “I first visited Kyiv at the end of January 2022. It was a couple of weeks before the war booted off properly, but things were slowly starting to get spicy over there. Half of my crew dropped out of coming on the trip for valid reasons. But the three of us who ended up going didn’t give a fuck, we’d been in a COVID-induced lockdown for a few years and were desperately seeking an adventure. We all fell in love with the country that weekend. Among the most courageous, compassionate, and generous spirits you could ever encounter are the people of Ukraine. For three UK mugs used to paying nearly 30 quid for a pack of long straights and a pint of beer it was extremely affordable. But what truly made it feel like the most exciting city in the world at that time was its dance music scene…”
Even more – both of them had left their paychecks in Kyiv (intentionally, don’t think bad about the guys’ holidays), which were sent immediately to the charity by Closer (that was a plan, more about that in this post). Probably, the perfect way to end the start of the season. Hope, it will be safe and blooming.
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This piece was written in Ukraine. Ukraine is in the middle of the war with Russia right now. Would be great if you could donate to the biggest Ukrainian volunteer fund here. Also, you can pick any music initiative, that is also trying to help from our list here. We’ll be stronger together.
