El Junco

So, it’s a Tuesday, it’s midnight, but you want to carry on drinking and listen to some good music. What are your options? Well, in Madrid, there are lots. This city specialises in late night music bars, late night fun and late night assignations. It’s a late night / early morning kinda place.

One of Madrid-Uno’s favourite spots for mid-week partying is El Junco, a jazz bar and long-standing refuge for the the night birds of Malasaña. It’s open every night from 11.00pm to 6.00am and will usually have a live band on until about 3.00am (modern jazz or blues plus pick-up sessions) followed by the resident DJs (mixing jazz with funky house and classic soul). At weekends it’s usually DJ only and tends toward the more soul music side of things (think James Brown / Rose Royce).

Located on the corner of Plaza Santa Bárbara (Metro: Alonso Martínez) its position makes it ideal for those wandering back from the town centre or those heading into it, and so on Friday and Saturday nights it’s usually rammed – with a long queue to get in if you arrive any later than midnight. But for, say, a Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday it’s usually OK.

This particular night was a classic example of how it works: Madrid-Uno arrives at midnight and walks straight in, grabbing the last remaining spot at the bar and ordering a whisky-coke. Half an hour later is in deep conversation with a couple of lovely ladies who are ‘gastronomic journalists’ (nice work if you can get it) and the place is slowly filling up. By 2.00am it’s virtually full, the three-piece band for the night are now joined on stage by some of their jazz friends (inlcuding an excellent saxophonist) and our group has grown into about eight people – four Spanish, a Puerto Rican with one of those rings people put through their nose, a Frenchie, a completely plastered Austrian who is clearly on a mission to obliterate himself, and M1. A couple of hours flash by, more drinks, the DJ takes over from the band. Some people are slipping out for a few breaths of fresh air (and others to toke) but there’s no-one on the door so no issues with tickets or anything. By 6.00am, chucking out time, the place is still 3/4 full and some of my new compadres are heading off to shower up and get ready for work. Austrian chap has collapsed in the flower bed outside. Puerto Rican nose-ring babe is snogging the DJ, and M1 gets a ride on the back of a moped all the way back to his pad from an acquaintance of the journalists – even though he’s only met me for a couple of hours.  Complete lunacy for a school-night but so typical of this city.

This is definitely a recommended place, but I would avoid it for a Friday or Saturday night simply because it gets so completely full. There have been rumours that they water the drinks down but in my experience this has never been the case. I usually go for Dewars White Label and, whilst I’m no expert, I know my brand and what I got served at El Junco was definitely authentic.

El Junco – jazz, blues, friendly, funky, but liable to make work the next morning a difficult place to be.

Night Clubs in Madrid

I have come across an El Pais newspaper special supplement on night clubbing in Spain (Guía De La Noche – extraíble). Included was a top ten list (‘Top’ 10 De Los Mejores Clubes) covering the whole of Spain in which two Madrid nightclubs were featured – Danzoo @ Macumba and Deep. There are a lot of posters for Danzoo plastered over walls and lampposts down in the Chueca and Malasaña zones and Madrid-Uno was pleased to see that Richie Hawtin has been gigging there recently – an old-school fave from the Detroit minimal techno years – LOVE IT! Deep is a night rather than a club and is now resident at Changó, a converted theatre with the old stage still intact and used by the show-offs. Quality house music led by the two resident DJs José Luis Magoya and Ángel Molina and sometimes supplemented by the likes of Coxy and Digweed.

Here’s the rest of the Madrid clubs recommended in the supplement:

Fabrik – Out of town ‘megaclub’ (holds 5,000 people+). Techno / progressive.

Fulanita De Tal – Gay / Mixed club in Chueca. Very camp. Free entry.

Independance – Rock and indie (Franz Ferdinand / Strokes etc.) Chueca zone.

El Juglar – Funk and RnB disco-pub in Lavapiés.

Luke, Soy Tu Padre – Very small. Post-punk sounds (think Sonic Youth / new electro).

Nasti / Barbarella – Hot and sweaty club nights down in Malasaña.

Low Club – Fridays and Saturdays.  Often v good DJs but sound system sucks. Always packed.

Supersonic – 1980s indie and 1990s Brit-pop.

Space of Sound – An ‘Afters‘ club that kicks off at nine in the morning and goes on all day. This place is an institution and attracts all the ’serious’ clubbers in town from all walks of life. Muscle-bound poseurs, glammed-up girls, spaced-out students, Versace clad metro-sexuals and frenetic dancing activity. If you’re on an all-night bender and don’t wanna stop, try here. It got raided a few weeks back by the police the evening when electro goddess Miss Kittin was due to be playing. So much excitement for just one night.

Sin embargo, Madrid-Uno showed this list to some trendy friends of his who live down in the Tribunal zone and they were fairly dismissive, agreeing only with two; ‘Space of Sound’ (“but only if you’re less than 30 years old” was one comment) and ‘Luke, Soy Tu Padre’. But hey, it’s all subjective right? Having only been here a few months Madrid-Uno is not sure his comments count for too much on the general ’scene’ in Madrid but here are some thoughts. Firstly, folks is friendly. Even with my limited Spanish people are happy to chat and total strangers go out of their way to help. There’s a (wonderful) absence of that London ‘too cool for you’ arrogance and whilst they love to get completely smashed in general the Madrileños rarely fight. Secondly, it’s very retro; an awful lot of post-punk and 1980’s indie / new wave, trannies still consider themselves outrageous, the electro house thing is only just starting and there is no sign of any emo. They’ve only just caught on to the late 1990s South American invention ‘Reggaeton’. House music however is very fresh and the leading Madrid DJs work closely with the world’s best producers. Thirdly, it helps enormously if you know how to dance ‘Latino’ (i.e. salsa, merengue, rumba etc.) because it’s the base of all the pop music you’ll hear. Fourthly, the locals are bionic. These guys have serious stamina and know how to pace themselves. There’s no wimping out at 2.00 am here so be prepared!