Event Review: FUTURE Presents Axtone @ Ministry of Sound, London

Wassup, wassup, wanna party? On Friday August 5^th Ministry of Sound, London, was set to host FUTURE Presents Axtone. Axtone is headed by Swedish House Mafia member Axwell and he launched the record label back in 2005, and following this the record label has firmly cemented itself as consistent imprint which signs only the best in house music and many more genres within dance music.

Ministry of Sound opened their doors back in 1991, the club draws inspiration from New York clubbing venues, and the interior features four rooms: The Box, The 103, The Baby Box, and The Loft. In terms of sound-system performance the club has a 64-speaker, 22-channel sound-system, whilst 6 bespoke Martin Audio ground stacks are positioned around the dancefloor of the main-toom: The Box.

The line-up for FUTURE presents Axtone included Lost Prince, Magnificence, Cedric Gervais, Kryder, Sweiz and J Masaki, who all spun from The Box. Also playing The 103 was Edd Thomas & Cal Moughan, Nausica and Fusche. A good balance of Axtone’s regular artists, and a glimpse of the future with artists currently linked-in with the Axtone Academy, Axtone’s programme for beginner producers, where you learn the fundamentals to take you to pro level production skills etc. learning from the best.

Early set highlights included Edd Thomas, who also works for Axtone, and his set was the perfect warm-up set for The 103 above the main bar as he strung together some catchy vocal-driven Tech House tunes including ‘Same Man’ and ‘Redlight’ featuring the ‘Losing Your Mind’ vocal, and also ‘Chromatic’ which featured the ‘Leave The World Behind’ vocal too. Edd made use of those Axtone acapella’s in his set for sure.

Other early highlights included Nausica who played some heavy Tech House bangers as she dropped Siege’s ‘Perfect’ and also ‘The Sky Might Fall’ from Ango Tamarin, the alias of an Axtone regular, ill let you work that one out though. Meanwhile, over in The Box Magnifience threw down a peak-time set oozing classic Axtone vibes via bangers including ‘We Come, We Rave, We Love’ and ‘Cobra’ from the man himself, which was also signed to Axtone too.

Credit to Credic Gervais took over the wheels of steel from Magnificence too, his set showcased that ‘old’ classic vocals are still relevant in today’s era of music, as his set featured infectious toplines including Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’, Felix’s ‘Don’t You Want Me’ an also another Supermode’s ‘Tell Me Why’ which is the alias of Axwell and Steve Angello. Another big hitter in Cedric’s set was Tom Staar’s remix of his ‘Do It Tonight’.

My favourite set of the night was from UK and Axtone legend Kryder. The man is responsible for Axtone anthem’s including ‘Aphrodite’, ‘Crocodile Tears’, ‘Waiting On My Love’ with label-mate Tom Staar, and also his remix of Kolsch’s ‘All That Matters’. Outside of Axtone he has recently remixed for Chicane and Basement Jaxx, and dropped a couple of originals on Armada Music too, his current studio output is high, and quality.

Kryder wasted no time in cranking the temperature in The Box to boiling as his early track selections included peak-time Tech House in the form of Dom Dolla’s ‘Miracle Maker’, a current Beatport top 10 weapon, and then Crusy’s catchy ‘Selecta’ followed, and before you know it, it felt like we were on the Stranger Things set as Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ pierced the MoS speakers.

Kryder then somehow managed to up the intensity even more by dropping a double-dose of Eli Brown Techno via his remix of Euthymic’s ‘Sweet Dreams’, into his ‘Believe’ release, and then this lead to another classic remix as he dropped the Rebuke take of ‘Storm’ too, before slipping in an edit of Daft Punk’s ‘One More Time’ to get the crowd singing along. This part of his set was full of intent, bangers only.

Kryder then made use of Alex Banks’ remix of ‘The Loop’ as a DJ tool to switch between genres effortlessly, and we were suddenly taken back to 1979 as a sample of ABBA’s catchy ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ was gracing the speakers, and then the Ben Sterling remix of Tiga’s ‘Mind Dimension’ followed, I wonder if this select was intentional after the ABBA outing, as he took us back to another time dimension haha!

Kryder then showcased his genre knowledge …. again, by showcasing a couple of hypnotic Melodic House & Techno tunes from Massano, his ‘The Feeling (2022 Remaster)’, and also Chris Avantgarde & Anyma (ofc)’s ‘Consciousness’ which were either side of ‘Attention Seeker’. These tunes created a mesmerising feeling, as it felt Kryder had the dancefloor under his spell.

As his set drew to a close, he threw in the Dubesque remix of ‘New generation’ which to me feels like what an Axtone release sounds like if the label did Techno, it also has a catchy vocal too. Following this Kryder paid tribute to Axwell/Axtone by dropping Swedish House Mafia’s ‘Can You Feel it’ which then lead to Leftwing : Kody’s ‘Apollo’.

Overall I would describe Kryder’s DJ set as a journey, with entertainment and intent. He wasted no time in making a statement with the early Tech House bombs, before unleashing hard-hitting Techno, and then taking us all down a melodic rabbit hole before rounding his set off with some more hard hitters which paid homage to the label boss. He also kept the crowd engaged with the classic vocals edits and remixes too. His ability to work the dancefloor was on display, and its visible why Axtone and the Axtone Family will always embrace him as a DJ/producer.