I love warming up my own parties. In fact it’s one of my favourite DJ tasks, so it’s a real shame that I’m 1) not very good at throwing parties and 2) therefore don’t get very many opportunities to warm them up. But when I do, I feel like I do it properly. Here’s what I played at the Welt Discos x Pumping Velvet party last Friday in London, which might be a suitable soundtrack while reading the rest of this rumination on throwing parties:

Joe Delon @ Welt Discos x Pumping Velvet (21/11/25)

It’s funny to look back over two and a half years since the first Welt Discos event, which was a resounding success (write-up here, recording of my warm-up set here). After that first smash, each subsequent event I threw in Lisbon did progressively less well on the door, until the last one knocked me out of the game completely. Certain things were consistent between all four parties though, regardless of attendance: the music was exceptional, and those who did come, including the guest DJs, all had a fantastic time. So I guess I’m good at throwing under-attended parties that are really good — not a bad talent to have (I’d rather that then throwing over-attended parties that are shite), but not one I can regularly afford to indulge.

But then In The Pocket came around and I knew I had to do something to celebrate. So I arranged three release parties — in Lisbon, Berlin and London — with artists from the compilation. In Lisbon it was an easy enough job, since I work at the club Outra Cena and could ask to take over one of the rooms. Once again it was a sterling night musically (you can listen to Xiaolin’s excellent warm-up set here) and the vibe on the dancefloor was lovely. Nonetheless, even though I didn’t pay myself, the club lost money. My boss was very understanding.

Next was the Berlin party at Arkaoda a couple of weeks ago. According to the deal with the venue we’d get 70% of the door takings, so I had provided the artists with a sliding pay scale based on how many people might come. This was only possible because all three guests were also my very close friends and down for a flexible model. And as it turned out, we had 200 people come — enough for a sick vibe on the dancefloor for the whole night, and also enough for me to pay the artists, and myself for once, a fair(ish) fee. I give quite a bit of credit for this to Arkaoda as a venue, as it’s obviously a great place to hang out and many people are happy to pay to go in without knowing what’s going on. I also give credit to Gwenan who boshed out a completely fresh club-music modular live set — a big draw. If only all events were this easy to set up and run.

The London launch party last Friday was also very easy for me to set up and run, primarily because I didn’t really do any setting up or running. My friend Sam PV, founder of Pumping Velvet, generously took the lead on almost everything, from dealing with the venue to selling tickets on RA and posting regularly on IG. I did what I could to generate some interest (including taking a photo of me with Sam’s dog Katsu for the algorithm), but during the weeks and days leading up to the party I found myself facing up the fact that despite 7 years of living in the city, and another 10 years of going back regularly to play, the number of people interested in attending an event organised by me in London is very, very small. Ticket sales were slow, response to my posts and stories about the party minimal. There was an outside chance of some walk-up traffic on the night, but the venue we were doing it at — Club Cheek in Brixton — is relatively new and unknown. In the end, despite mine and Sam’s efforts, and despite many wonderful friends showing up, we had fewer than 100 people through the door, enough to cover artist costs but not to cover the venue hire fee.

I say this with more sadness than bitterness. I think it’s indicative of a broader issue I’ve identified regarding me, my music/label and my self-presentation. In general my music is good, I’m good — I know that much — but neither me nor what I do are particularly cool or on trend. And I put very little effort into changing that, either in terms of what I play or how I play it, or in terms of how I communicate with the outside world. Sure, occasionally I try to do a professional job to spread the word about a release — like this CD —  but in general there’s no hype, and the occasions I do try to generate some hype are usually the times when I feel shittiest about what I’m doing. Although it’s not good for my bank balance, it suits me much better to just do my thing and not worry about how I’m pushing it to the outside world.

There was an extended period during the middle of the party on Friday, during Joe Milli’s fabulous set (more on that below), when the lighting tech left the haze machine on by accident and the whole Club Cheek dancefloor filled with so much fog that you couldn’t see your own feet. The photo at the top of this newsletter shows the effect: a view of Joe from approximately 1.5 metres away while he was DJing. It was simultaneously very cool and very unnerving — at moments I felt a bit like I’d fallen into a k-hole and just had to wait it out until usual service resumed. Joe joked he thought he’d died and ended up in the DJ afterlife, unsure if there was anyone left at the party but knowing he had to just keep on playing. I bring this up because this moment was the only time I thought to take a picture the whole night, which is both hilarious and kind of captures the point I’m trying to make. I wish I’d taken a photo or a video of Joe playing when you could actually see him. But it just didn’t occur to me, and in a way I’m glad it didn’t. I was just enjoying myself, lost in the fog.

Anyway, about the music. Joe came on after me and smashed it, playing a poised mix of bass, techno and sick sick electro. Slick mixing, sustained energy, big moments. There was more than one Pev banger, this excellent Huey Mnemonic tune I’d never heard before despite thinking I’d rinsed his back catalogue and, once the fog had finally dissipated a bit, a triumphant finale featuring ‘It’s Not Over Yet’. The Club Cheek dancefloor is actually a really good size for a half-full party, and people made the most of the space to throw some proper shapes. At one point there was a conga line, reminding me of the moment at Arkaoda during mine and Stephen’s set when a girl got up on her friend’s shoulders — completely incongruous but fun.

I have to put in a word for the Cheeky sound system, too; surely one of the best in the city. I tested out a couple of tunes before the doors opened, including Gent1e $oul’s ‘Armer Gnom’, and was thoroughly impressed at the definition and bass, with sexy vibrations coming up through the wooden floor. So during my warm-up set I focussed on warm and bass-heavy music, plus several vocals to take advantage of the crisp reproduction from the speaker horns. I played a few favourite tunes of 2025 and tried out some promos for the first time, as well as a couple of incredible tunes I’d heard friends play out over the summer. Everything sounded fantastic both in the booth and on the floor. I amused Joe (43), who was on the dancefloor, by playing a very Joe (43) tune, Bok Bok & Tom Trago’s ‘Get Me What You Want’, on -8. I represented the CD by playing ELO’s ‘The Traverse’, and later Joe M obliged by playing Peach’s ‘Suzhou Star Chart’ during his set. It in turn amused me that also on the dancefloor was Louis R, whose track ‘Brokendrum’ comes before those other two tunes in the ‘In The Pocket’ DJ mix. So it was a kind of reconstruction of the project in real life.

After Joe it was Mo Probs, who had beasted it across town from their shift at Cafe Oto in order to play the closing set. They brought the pace down but maintained the grooviness with classic Chicago dubs like Jine’s ‘Take Me To The House’, early William Orbit production ‘Prepare To Energize’ and this hectic Optimo remix of Liquid Liquid’s ‘Optimo’. It was a vibe shift but for me a very welcome one, because it meant the party truly showed off all the facets of what the Cheeky sound system could do. “Next time I just want to play disco and boogie” said Joe, and I felt the same way. Towards the end of their set Mo dropped the League Unlimited Orchestra version of ‘Things That Dreams Are Made Of’ and the bassline nearly blew our heads off. It sounded utterly unreal.

Mo finished their set with the Galactica remix of ‘Dancing In The Dark’ by Mike Mareen, which I rechristened ‘Dancing In The Fog’. It was the second time this year that I’d heard someone end their set with the tune: remember my review of PDA back in July? And it made me think how nice it would have been to have a PDA-level crowd for Joe and Mo’s sets at the party. But, as always, I know that everyone who did come down had a great time, and the music was fabulous all night. Club Cheek is a killer small venue and I really hope they make a success of it. I’d love to go back there just to party.

I have one more gig coming up on 5 Dec, my long overdue debut for CURVS alongside Chima Isaaro and founders DIDI and Phoebe. Both Chima and Phoebe have played at my label parties in the past so it feels very fitting. The vibe is HOUSE and I am going to go all in, so please join if you’re in Lisbon on the 5th.

After that I have no gigs until the end of January, not out of choice, that’s just how the cards fall every year. So I’ll have more time for this newsletter: expect the end of my Ghostcast track-by-track, my favourite records of 2025 and, if you’re unlucky, a return of the festival poster design roast.

Tracklist

Michael Oswell plays Barker Against Ariana Grande [Unreleased]
Dorisburg - Sinai Hypnosis (Dub) [Aniara, 2012]
Neu Verboten & Nyn - ‘Worlds End 3 (feat. Loa Mauna)’ [Subject To Restrictions, 2025]
Gent1e $oul & Finally Julius - ‘Armer Gnom’ [Fast Castle, 2025]
Alien D - ‘Swamp Thing’ [1432R, 2024]
Invincible Scum - ‘House Of The Rising Scum’ [Dissident, 2008]
Sweater On Polo - ‘Dirt Down’ [Signal Route, 2025]
Floppy Life - ‘Dat Thing’ [Basement Floor, 2018]
Jovonn - ‘It's Gonna Be Right (Be Smoove Dub)’ [Goldtone, 1992]
Metro Area - ‘Piña (Swag’s ‘Mas Jugo’ Dub)’ [Classic, 2001]
Dorisburg & Efraim Kent - ‘Wired To The Mainframe’ [Aniara, 2025]
IT-XPO - ‘The Blue Line’ [Superflux, 2025]
Kai Alcé - ‘Take A Chance (Mr Fingers Ambient-Acid Mix)’ [NDATL Muzik, 2015]
ELO - ‘The Traverse’ [Welt Discos, 2025]
Daniel Chavez - ‘Slow String (Adam Raphael Dub)’ [Superflux, 2025]
Pocket Candy - ‘Sofa Surfer’ [Brave Trax, 2025]
Bok Bok & Tom Trago - ‘Get Me What You Want’ [Night Slugs, 2014]
Circula - ‘Salt (Cloaka Remix)’ [Discos Dead, 2013]
Mitch Von Arx - ‘Get Go’ [Self-released, 2025]
Maximum Tilt - ‘Aphelion’ [Self-released, 2025]
Mattias El Mansouri - ‘Struktur’ [Nous’klaer Audio, forthcoming]