Leonidas returns to Dalston for an evening of 60s, 70s and 80s vinyl gems. Expect a varied set spanning cocktail exotica to boogaloo, experimantal eectronic music to 70s/80s disco.

Leonidas has had a love affair with music since he was 4, started DJing at 15 and organised his first party a year later. He has been collecting records for over 25 years and in that time has delved into everything from jazz to electro, dub to progressive and funk to techno.

He was one of the first DJs to play a variety of music in mid 90s Soho, holding residencies at Mondo, Freedom Bar and later The Player and Match Bar. Other residencies have included “Up” – a gay/mixed house night at Whitechapel’s Rhythm Factory in the early 00s and countless events and house parties, including 3, 4-day New Years extravaganzas in Scottish castles in the early-mid 00s. In the late 00s he moved into a large, Victorian, shared house in Hackney (“Belle Villa”) and, partly inspired by David Mancuso’s Loft parties, started having regular 20hr parties (“musical journeys”), while building up his (vintage Tannoy-based) audiophile sound system.

This led to guest slots at Beauty and the Beat, Brilliant Corners, Spiritland, 4 to the Floor and Peckham Springs. Since moving out of Belle Villa, Leo has been putting on his own late night (5am) lovetoparty events, using his audiophile sound system, most recently and notably: Valentine’s lovetoparty at The White Hart in New Cross earlier this year. His next party at the White Hart will be Samhain lovetoparty this Halloween. He also hosts a monthly musical comedown show on Peckham’s Balamii radio at 1pm on the 1st Sunday of every month.

Leonidas has been experimenting with various synths, drum machines and guitars since he was a teenager and with music production tools since the 90s. Debut release “Sequential EP” came out on Kay Suzuki’s round in motion label in 2012 and was followed up with a collaboration with Kay on house EP “Synqlock vol I” a year later. Both EPs won plaudits among respected musicians and DJs such as Manuel Gottsching, Theo Parrish and Pepe Bradock, as did his 2 UK house EPs with collaborator and label owner Hobbes – (“Machines, Tapes & Electronic Setups” and “Mo Machines”) both receiving club DJ and media plaudits, with airtime on BBC Radio One (Rob Da Bank). He has also released 2 re-edit 12”s on his own lovetoparty label.

His summer 2017 EP with Hobbes “The Rags of Time” EP has been dubbed “this summer’s Balearic anthem” while his contribution (“Shesha (dub)”) to YAM Record’s “YOUANDMUSIC vol I” compilation has received many plaudits from the underground and “deep” house scene throughout SE London and way beyond. Leonidas has 2 further EPs scheduled for release this Autumn: the long-awaited Synqlock vol II with Kay Suzuki and his 1st release/collaboration on 2020 Vision with newly signed artist DOKTA. More are in the pipeline in what is proving to be a busy 2017 for Leonidas.