Dave Haynes

Last night I found myself at Shunt for Netaudio London, a small but interesting festival for netlabels. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but as SoundCloud was hosting the Wi-fi Media lounge I headed up on the Saturday (a little wearily after just getting back from Amsterdam) to hook up with fellow SoundClouders Alex and Nils who were both over from Berlin.

Shunt itself is one of the most stunning venues I’ve been to in recent years, a members-club comprised of a large sprawling maze of railway bridges right next to London Bridge station.  After a particularly fraught journey to the actual venue itself it felt a little like entering a strange deam heading down a long dark tunnel into the bizarre mix of audiovisual installations, quirky spaces and laptop DJ’s. Chance meetings Jonas and Martin D from Last.fm only actually heightened the surreal dream-like experience but by the time I left I wished I could have stayed longer to soak up more of the atmosphere.

If it wasn’t for the suprisingly annoying lack of mobile phone reception once inside, the space would make for an awesome (un)conference. I’ve heard that Shunt might be closing in the near future to make way for a shopping centre so make sure you find an excuse to get there before it closes.