Drugs&parties expert Michelle Lhooq shares an interesting invitation to a "sober rave for all the freaks seeking new horizons of holistic hedonism...:

Parties are portals into a new way of being.

The womb is a vortex into what comes beyond.

MUSHWOMB is an alternate reality to a nightlife hellscape infected by the clout matrix.

It is a wormhole where a pussy portal leads you to a sunny dancefloor where the vibes are immaculate, the music is soulful, and toxic substances are abandoned in favor of sparkling shroom candies, botanical booze-free cocktails, and chaga chai teas.

The portal opens on 01.22.23 in a sacred queer space in Los Angeles—a secret yard where the underground’s sweat and joyful tears collect into a pool for baptism and rebirth."

Teledisko, the world’s smallest nightclub at just one square metre, has opened a new location in Madrid - five tiny nightclubs are already set up in and around the city of Berlin. Once inside the disco-booth, a selection of songs including ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’, Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, and Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ can be chosen from, while effects such as strobe lighting, a spinning disco ball, and fog machines can be altered by punters. "What happens in the teledisko stays in the teledisko. Dance like there's no tomorrow!” - reads Teledisko’s website. The club fits three people at a time and lasts for just three minutes once a song has been chosen and activated from the screen outside the club, Spanish outlet Informacion reports.

"Although the lack of tourism had a catastrophic effect on jobs and livelihoods, it had a positive influence on biodiversity and the environment. Now Ibiza is facing something of an identity crisis. The question has been raised: is this model of tourism actually sustainable? And if not, how does Ibiza move forward while keeping its title as the world's greatest clubbing destination?" - Mix Mag asks the essential question in the wake of the climate crisis and biodiversity crises, ath the closing of Ibiza's longest ever season.

“Today, in wartime, our community is starting to make itself visible again. New parties awaken memories of a long-forgotten phenomenon: life” - Kyiv-based photographer Arthur Vovchenko and Anna Lukash told Mix Mag after STEZHKA, queer party, was held on the first weekend of October. “We are going through very dark times, so parties are valued differently now. I feel that the community needs this space, we need to see each other, kiss, talk, and dance in order to support each other and ourselves” - Arthur says.

"Every time I pop out, I keep running into fools talking on the dancefloor. Just standing around, chitty-chatting" - Michelle Lhooq is frustrated and angry in her latest post. She also gives the oblivious a scientific explanation of the dancefloor: "The key to a popping dancefloor is ENERGY CIRCULATION. The DJ opens the portal and radiates nrg through the speakers, which disseminates through the dancers and twists into an atmospheric vortex. So when Chatty Kathys cluster by the DJ booth, ya’ll create ENERGY BLOCKS right at the power source, siphoning radiance with your black hole of self-absorption. This is not your aunty’s tea party. We out here exorcising demons. Out here for dissolution, for relief, for fucking feeling something—not networking!!!".

"Nightclubs and music venues have been closed since March 2020, disco lights are banned, and DJs are prohibited from playing on 'raised podiums' or mixing tracks in case, god forbid, this encourages dancing" - Rave New World's Michelle Lhooq looks across the ocean into Singapore night-scene. She points out "the moratorium on partying feels like a morality-tinged repudiation on the value of electronic music culture: classical music concerts have returned, pop bangers blast at indoor spin classes, church choirs sing maskless, yet the country is still waiting for a tiny cadre of four or five top officials to decide when clubs can reopen".

An interesting point by Michelle Lhooq in her latest Rave New World post: "Clearly, we are entering the most absurd era of the pandemic, where ravers are actively trying to catch the virus, the scarcity of COVID testing is a joke, and the President himself is tweeting 'LMFAO IDK just Google it'. As the void closes in, the question lingers: is there any use resisting the nihilism of this moment? Or do you just cross the goddamn Rubicon, and jump into the gabber rave mosh pit?".

Rave New World's Michelle Lhooq makes a great point in her latest newsletter about partying getting its long over-due recognition: "Suddenly, club culture was front-page news, rather than relegated to tabloid gossip or society pages; everyone poking out of their quarantine hovels now obsessed with knowing where the party’s at... Now, rave culture is going mainstream, Gen Z is arriving on the scene, and city officials are finally recognizing the economic value of nightlife—thanks in part to grassroots activism that kept beloved music venues afloat during pandemic shutdowns. Could all of this mainstream media attention finally destigmatize nightlife—a culture long associated with antisocial escapism and frivolous peacocking—and finally convince the gentry that partying is, in fact, an essential activity?".

Music Journalism Insider has given over this week's edition to film critic Aaron Gonsher, who suggested a few films about parties and partying. Among the chosen ones are 'The Hip-Hop Nucleus' - a documentary on the notorious mid-to-late ’90s hip-hop parties at the Tunnel, 'Crowd' - subtle capture of Giséle Vienne’s extraordinary dance performance, 'Talkin’ Headz - The Metalheadz Documentary' - a snapshot of the cultural moment/movement when jungle crested and drum & bass surged...

At midnight on Sunday, at least a dozen venues in England celebrated "freedom day", the first night of clubbing since March 2020. The week started with a Monday morning full of clubbing, stuffed clubs, and scores of people queueing outside venues. At no point were clubbers asked to present proof that they had tested negative and vaccination passports were not required, Guardian reports.