It's 11pm on a Saturday night and clusters of people are slowly starting to gather underneath the Manhattan Bridge outside of 88 East Broadway in NYC.  The anxious crowd isn't waiting for the infamous city-to-city Chinatown buses or here to sample the dim sum, they're here to get down at the monthly Flashing Lights party held inside the Chinatown mall at 88 Palace.

Flashing Lights is hosted by resident DJs Nick Catchdubs [Fool's Gold label co-founder], DJ Ayres [The Rub], and Jubilee [Nightshifters] in collaboration with MeanRed Productions; who take over the 2nd floor of the East Broadway Mall and transform the Chinese restaurant upstairs into one of the most untraditional and extremely random party locales in the city.


Walking into the space for the first time it's hard to not pick up on a wedding reception/Bar Mitzah party vibe (save for maybe the occasional decorative dragon or two) with large circular tables outlining the dance floor and disco tunes bumping over the P.A.  This feeling instantly fades away however with the sight of swirling green and red lazers and glowsticks being fervently waved around on the fully carpeted dancefloor.


The night started with Catchdubs, Jubilee, and DJ Ayres laying down a tag-team set to get the party warmed up.  A collaborative Disco set got the evening cracking, slowly cranking up the energy level with tunes like 'Blunt Edge' off of Zinc's recently released Crackhouse EP and throwbacks like the Robin S classic 'Show Me Love.'


Todd Edwards was next to hit the stage and threw down an inspiring hour+ set.  Todd's music contains a soulful element that you just can't teach or force, you either have it or you don't.  His productions have a soulful sex appeal and a timeless quality that resonate just as much now as they did over a decade ago and as they will continue to another ten years from now.  Relatively unknown in the US outside small pockets of the electronic music community, Todd was one of the premier contributors to the 90s Garage movement in the UK and is considered to be flat-out one of the pioneers of electronic dance music.  When you look at his tour schedule and see dates headlining Room1 at the Fabric nightclub in London, you feel lucky to get a chance to see him at these smaller and intimate nights.

From the moment he opened with his 'toddified' remix of 'Burning Down The House' you knew it was on.  Listening to his set consisting mainly of original productions, it's impossible to ignore the intricate sampling and editing found throughout his music.  Chopped and re-pitched vocals fusing together with underlying breakbeat 2step drum pattens; the flinty vocals interwoven into the tracks instead of simply layered on top of them.  Edwards dropped his Daft Punk remix staples 'Face To Face' and 'Technologic', as well as personal favorites from the night 'Never Far From You' and his 'Run It By Me' remix which all got the crowd moving.



Kingdom took the reigns next and kept the party going til the early AM dropping some tunes off the Fool's Gold and Trouble & Bass labels.  BokBok's bubbling, brain melting 'Citizen Dub' went off something fierce as well as the James Blake remix of Untold's 'Stop What You're Doing.'  NYC heads, you can catch Kingdom live again next Friday night, this time in his home borough of Brooklyn at Public Assembly.  Keep your eyes peeled on the Fool's Gold website for his debut release on the label, a serious banger called 'Mindreader' ft. Shyvonne on vocals with remixes from Bok Bok, L-Vis1990, and Todd Edwards.  Kingdom recorded a uStream session last week that you can relisten to here. 3 hours of straight fire, don't sleep on that!!!


Out to the Flashing Lights crew for putting together such a memorable and stellar night of music and to Oliver coming through yet again with some sick photos.

also, gotta big up Scion for the socks!  nothing like a fresh pair after a solid 5 hours straight on a dancefloor.

Stay up to date on upcoming FL lineups at flashinglightslightslights.com and enjoy some tunes below:



Todd Edwards Treehouse promo mix

Boris- Buzz In (Todd Edwards remix)

Flashing Lights vol. 4 ft DJ Ayres, Catchdubs, & Jubilee

Kingdom Discobelle October mix

Kid Sister- Right Hand Hi (Kingdom remix)