Chapter

01

In Residence

Lux Frágil, Lisbon

Celebrating 12 of the world's best dance floors

In 2016, RA's In Residence series is celebrating club culture by throwing a month of parties at 12 of the world's best clubs. Clubs are the beating heart of dance music, and these are the venues that keep their local scenes thriving. Week-in, week-out, they open their doors to play the music we love.

Lux Frágil in Lisbon is our home for June. The club has been at the heart of the Portuguese dance music scene since it opened its doors in 1998. It's an incarnation of Frágil, an iconic Lisbon venue that, after opening in 1982, became a magnet for the city's artists, writers, directors and musicians. These days Lux Frágil's reputation extends well beyond Portugal, which isn't surprising when you consider its stunning multi-spaced interior and a booking policy that rivals that of any major nightclub in Europe.

As we settle in for a month at each of the clubs we'll be running features that, through a combination of different media, aim to provide lasting documents of these iconic spaces.

June 03 RA In Residence, Lux Frágil, Lisbon
feat. DJ Funk, L-Vis 1990, DJ Marfox, DJ Nigga Fox, DJ Lilocox & DJ Maboku, Paramida, Andre Cascais

June 09 RA In Residence, Lux Frágil, Lisbon
feat. Seth Troxler, Sassy J, Zé Pedro Moura

June 24 RA In Residence, Lux Frágil, Lisbon
feat. Floorplan, Hunee, Dr. Rubinstein, Dexter Lux, Tiago

June 30 RA In Residence, Lux Frágil, Lisbon
feat. Petre Inspirescu, Barac, Eli Verveine, Rui Vargas, Yen Sung

Chapter

02

Key info

Lux Frágil at a glance

01
Address
Av. Infante D. Henrique, Armazém A, Cais da Pedra a Sta Apolónia, 1950-376 Lisboa, Portugal
02
Building completed
1914
03
Club opened
1998
04
Soundsystem
Funktion-One
05
Capacity
2000
06
Resident DJs
André Cascais, Dexter, Leonaldo De Almeida, Nuno Rosa, Rui Vargas, SwitchSt(d)ance, Tiago, Yen Sung, Zé Pedro Moura
07
Dance floors
2
08
Music policy
A nossa vida é toda para diante

Chapter

03

History

A Lisbon icon

Last Friday evening, Pedro Fradique showed me around Lux Frágil, the club he's devoted the past 17 years of his life to. We began in the area known as the bar, which is actually a sprawling lounge with high ceilings, tall windows and a dance floor with space for 700 people. Next we hit the terrace, another huge area, this time with an incredible view of Lisbon and the River Tagus. We then descended to the bit that makes Lux one of the world's best dance venues: its main room. A vast, beautifully maintained wooden dance floor covers the majority of the space, although your eye is naturally drawn upwards towards a jumble of LED light bars, oversized lamps and the speaker stacks that sit imposingly beside the DJ booth.

In an age that fetishises grungy warehouse spaces, it's rare to hear words like "aesthetics" and "design" in conversation about clubs. But as well as being the best place in Portugal to hear dance music, Lux is known for its strikingly refined and continually shifting interior. This singular blend is the vision of Lux's owner, Manuel Reis, and a small team that includes Fradique, the veteran DJ Rui Vargas, Lúcia Azevedo and Fernando Nunes. Together they've created an immersive and multifaceted venue that sets the agenda for dance music in Portugal.

Lux's story begins in 1982. Reis opened a venue called Frágil in Lisbon's Bairro Alto, a neighbourhood known at the time as a hangout for sailors and prostitutes. (Today the area, a matrix of historic architecture and narrow streets, is one of the hubs for Lisbon's recent wave of mass tourism.) "What made the difference in Frágil in the beginning was people's attitudes," said Vargas. "It was like the start of a new modern age in Lisbon nightlife. And Frágil was like a magnet for people related with arts, journalism, books, film, theatre." Frágil played a leading role in establishing Bairro Alto as a thriving nightlife district.

As the '80s wore on, the first waves of house and techno lapped at the shore of Lisbon's music scene. At Frágil the music policy had always been open-ended, a blend of rock, soul, funk, new beat, hip-hop and other styles, and the new sounds coming out of Detroit and Chicago were welcomed into the rotation. "In the same night you could hear The Clash, Mr. Fingers, Cybotron and back to rock again," said Vargas, who began playing at Frágil in '87. Like many dance venues at the time, DJs weren't in focus like they are today. The club bought and owned the records that were played at Frágil, and the booth was hidden above the bar. This didn't prevent Frágil from developing a reputation as a wild dance club with a tough door policy.

"Really, really hard," Vargas said. "I tried like five or six times to get in without luck."

"Me too," said Fradique.

At the beginning of the '90s, Portugal began to embrace dance music. Clubs like the famous Alcântara-Mar and Kremlin were blossoming, and raves and warehouse parties popped up across Lisbon. In '92, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, Frágil left its home in Bairro Alto for the first time to stage a large-scale warehouse event. "To many people here, it is still the best party ever," said Fradique. Encouraged by its success, Frágil staged two other similar events.

These era-defining parties are remembered by the Lux team as the first step in Frágil's eventual relocation and rebirth as Lux Frágil. They took place in Lisbon's east side, a then rundown district by the Tagus that was almost considered to be outside of the city limits. (The flyer for the first party was simply a map with directions.) "Before '98, coming there by car you were likely to have a flat tire," said Vargas. "The roads were terrible. Really, really old. A lot of holes. It was tricky." 1998 was the year that Lisbon staged the Expo (or World's Fair), a cultural event that brought 11 million visitors to the city across three months and completely rejuvenated its eastern district. Reis had always been fascinated by a cluster of early 20th century riverside buildings in the area, which he was eventually asked to take on as part of the east side's facelift.

"I think the concept that was in Manuel's head at that moment is exactly what's happening at Lux still today," said Fradique. "Two rooms that could host different situations, concerts and DJs—"

"—and arts, and installations, and be like a showroom for arts and for creative people," Vargas said.

Clubs like to throw around these sorts of buzz words, but in the case of Reis and Lux it very much rings true. Reis, who at one point was voted as Time Out Lisbon's "Man of the decade," has developed a small hub surrounding Lux, which includes a nearby furniture shop and a restaurant. Of the various large-scale installations at the venue, the most famous is probably the enormous, Niki De Saint Phalle-inspired legs that stretched from the carpark to the club's entrance.

"I wasn't working at Lux when it opened," Fradique said. "I was a Frágil customer who came to Lux, and I totally feared that this was too big for the city. There wasn't gonna be enough of a scene and a crowd for this." It quickly became clear that Lux was a space that people naturally enjoyed spending time in, but the challenge, which persists to this day, was attracting and continually exciting Lisbon's music fans. In late '90s and early '00s, there was no culture of weekly international DJs being booked in Portugal—so, taking their cues from dance music hubs like London and Paris, Lux created one, gradually introducing more guest DJs each passing year.

"I would say that in the first seven years we had guests only on Thursdays," said Vargas. "So it's also an important part in our history that the resident team is the same. It's only a few people who are new. The originals are still here and we still work together on a weekly basis and we know each other very well. And this core of resident DJs, they created the structure of Lux's sound. It established the sound on which the guest DJs would flourish. When it was time to have the guests DJs I think they felt pretty much comfortable."

Vargas, Yen Sung, Tiago Miranda, Zé Pedro Moura and Leonaldo De Almeida have all been residents since the days of Frágil. Dexter and Nuno Rosa have been at Lux since it opened, and André Cascais and SwitchSt(d)ance are the newer arrivals. I asked Dexter if there was a music policy at Lux, and he said: "It's not so much a music policy as a general moto: 'A nossa vida é toda para diante,' a quote from Portuguese painter Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, which could be roughly translated as 'All our life lays ahead.'" In turn, I'd interpret that as "Dance music that is alive to all of the latest developments in the scene."

"I have seen a lot of amazing nightclubs over the last 20 years," said Dixon. "They can be 'amazing' for different reasons. The architecture, the soundsystem, the crowd, the programming or the music they push—Lux ticks the box for all of this aspects. And you can add one more point that is maybe the most outstanding for Lux: their residents. Because yes, Lux still has residents. Residents that not just play there once in a while, but residents that play there every weekend, and because of that they build the foundation of the club. They shape the club, and very often more then the club, they shape the city's nightlife. Now tell me: how many clubs in this world can you name that still have that? This is really what sets Lux apart from a lot of my favourite clubs in the world."

Vargas and Fradique mentioned Ben Klock, Dixon, 2manydjs, Michael Mayer and Sven Väth as key regulars over the years. (In the case of Dixon, he's been playing Lux annually for the past 12 years—"it's been lovely to see his path to where he is now," Vargas said.) So far in 2016, Lux has booked acts like Omar-S, Andrew Weatherall, James Ruskin, Function, Bjarki, Etapp Kyle, Dasha Rush, Donato Dozzy, DJ Qu, Marcel Dettmann, John Talabot, Barnt and Jackmaster.

This gives you an idea of the level Lux is working at, but the list belies the challenge that the team faces in keeping its bookings fresh and facing forwards. Lisbon doesn't work in quite the same way as, say, London or Berlin—new sounds and names tend to be introduced more gradually. Recently the task has become a little easier, with the summertime influx of tourists meaning there are plenty people in town looking for a dance music fix, but Fradique remembers a time when things were far less straightforward. "The first time we booked François Kevorkian we had really like only a few people," he said. "But we were blown away, so we booked him again and again. By the third time the place was packed."

"I first played when I was just starting out, and they've been with me at every stage," said Daniel Avery. "To recently curate an entire night with such like-minded souls, and on that soundsystem, was an honour. Everyone involved in Lux, from the staff to the crowd, has a genuine passion for music that is almost tangible from the second you walk in the doors. It means the club can consistently take chances on new acts they believe in."

"It's all about, 'How can we pass the virus to other people?'" said Vargas. "How can we infect Lisbon and the Lisbon scene with our enthusiasm and love for the music we like?"

Last Friday, on the first night of RA's In Residence series, this question was put to the test. The lineup was a mix of artists—DJ Marfox, DJ Nigga Fox, DJ Lilocox & DJ Maboku—from the local label Príncipe, purveyors of far-out Afro-Portugese club sounds, along with Night Slugs' L-Vis 1990, Dance Mania's DJ Funk and Paramida from OYE Records in Berlin. The night began slowly but steadily, and by the time Marfox handed over to L-Vis 1990 the main room was relatively busy. Some of the UK-style sounds L-Vis was pushing seemed to spook the crowd, but as he settled into a steadier groove the place suddenly went from bubbling to boiling. DJ Funk hyped the crowd with lewd shout-outs on the mic, and then launched into a blistering, 140 BPM ghetto house set. When I left at 5 AM to catch a flight the crowd was losing its shit. For the team at Lux, there is a very particular type of satisfaction over parties like these: the idea that they may have reshaped the tastes of their city just little bit.

Chapter

04

Residents

...in pictures

Chapter

05

Character profile

João Botelho

Patron

"He's almost part of the team," said Pedro Fradique. He's referring to João Botelho, the highly respected Portuguese film director who has been a regular since the days of Frágil. You'll find Botelho at Lux almost every weekend, and as the one of the best and most energetic dancers in the club he's hard to miss. He dances until his shirt becomes drenched in sweat, then he changes into the spare one that he always brings with him.

"This kind of late hedonism that he chooses (he's very aware of the electronic scene and the DJs he likes best) is very unique, and extremely elegant," said Fradique. "No matter how deep into the night we are he never really loses his grip, his intellectual sharpness, his charming moves or his honest charisma. He jokes that his friends go to the gym but he prefers to dance."

The theory in Lisbon nightlife is that seeing Botelho at a party is the best way to tell you're at the best spot. "The fact that he's mainly at Lux means we're still doing a good job," said Fradique. "Every time he goes abroad, for films festivals and stuff, he spreads his moves, but he always says this dance floor is his home."

We asked Botelho to tell us about his relationship with Lux. Here's what he said:

"Fernando Pessoa, the greatest Portuguese poet/writer of the 20th century, after living part of his childhood in South Africa, returned to Lisbon from where he never left. And despite the fact that he could not make extraordinary trips around all parts of the world, he coined the beautiful phrase, 'Oh Lisbon, my home!' I steal it from him to declare my passion for Lux Frágil where, I assure you, all trips are possible: the ones we know possible and the ones we think impossible.

There is a heaven, which is the rooftop/terrace, from where you can see the whole world. At the centre, the bar/first floor, a delicious purgatory (although the current pope has abolished that from catholic dogma). And then the wonderful hell that is the dance floor/downstairs, where you can experience the limits of sound and dance. 'I would believe only in a god that knows how to dance'—now I steal from Nietzsche to claim that those who, like me, live according to that belief, know that the most beautiful club in the world exists in Lisbon."

Chapter

06

Soundsystem profile

Funktion-One

Rui Vargas and Pedro Fradique told me that Lux's Funktion-One system has been a key element in building long-term relationships with DJs. Yes, they say, Lux provides comforts like a nice dinner and hotel, but the quality of the experience in the DJ booth and the perception of the sound on the dance floor is what's kept artists coming back.

"The people at Lux are great listeners and ask the right questions," said Chris Hawkes, Funktion-One's representative for Portugal, who designed and finalised both the former and current systems. He told me about the conversation between himself and Lux that led to the first Funktion-One being installed eight years ago. "Their first question was, 'What do we need to do to get the best out of the system?'"

"Our answer to that question was quite expansive, from stuff that normally gets looked over like acoustic treatment, to changing the DJ booth position, which involved removing a wall. Incredibly the management agreed to all these proposals. They also reinstalled the air-conditioning and redecorated. They did this all in just two weeks, an accomplishment I have never seen before or again."

"We had the same Funktion-One system running for eight years and it was beautiful," said Vargas. "We were happy with it. But then last year said Funktion-One said that they have new stuff coming out with a new generation of speakers."

"We were aware that the improvement would need to be felt by all, and not just the specialist ear," said Hawkes. "We changed the double infrahorn to put in BR221's and acquired some new near-field excitement for those in front of the booth while gaining a much more even dispersion of the very low content. We changed the Resolution 5's to Funktion-One's new Evolution 7. These Evos bring in a new openness to the mid-hi frequencies, and the recently upgraded HF's have that magical stardust quality that we are loving. The MC2 audio amps have been replaced with XTA's new APA amplifier, which again has moved the audio experience into a completely new realm."

The results didn't go unnoticed. "People like Dixon or Michael Mayer, who come every year, they were really, really happy," Vargas said. "The difference is huge."

Chapter

07

Mixes

The sound of Lux Frágil

Rui Vargas and Tiago show us how they do it in Lisbon

This mix was recorded at Lux's bar on a Friday night. I tried to cut the best hour from an all-night set to make you understand what the vibe can be and the freedom and fun we can have upstairs at the bar. Originally designed for a non-dance environment and more of a chill zone, quickly everyone understood that idea would be mission impossible. Since then the sound and lights have been adapted to the room so you can have both quiet intimate zones and a more predictable dance area. We are nine residents so the sounds will be different through the week, but they'll all be filled with energy and fun!

Our routine on a Saturday night is playing for six hours straight, so it's virtually impossible to sum it up in one hour. I opted to select some early hours welcoming classics and show a glimpse of the dubbier, spaced-out first half of a regular Saturday night. A lot of classics, too. What happens after this is better experienced on the dance floor.

Still haven't got your Lux Frágil fix? You can visit its club profile here, and there's more information on the series via the dedicated In Residence page.