Academy couch team member and host of the BBC Knowledge and National Geographic television program 'Making Tracks', Nick Dwyer, romantizes the nightlife for our sixth installment of the second term Daily Diary...

I guess Friday really began after midnight on Thursday. In the sweaty little downstairs box that was Tempo, vibes were firing on all cylinders and a full Academy crew representation saw all kinds of shapes being thrown, tequilas being shot and holas being hollered in the general direction of Frankfurt lad and Studio Team member Mr. Roman Flügel who, as you’d expect, laid down a superb selection of percussive nuggets and disco grooves. And showed that a grown man doesn’t need to look daft rocking out with a tambourine. Respecto. The UK’s xxxy had his best bassface on while Finland’s Sara Sayed and Melbourne’s Phoebe Kiddo were giving a few neat lessons on dancefloor domination. Tune of the night, no contest, would be Caribou’s remix of Virgo Four's ‘It’s A Crime’ – once that riff kicked in it was rave times ahoy.

Roman Flügel headlining night at Tempo

Although a little later than usual, once the sleep had been wiped and the synapses were connected and running in a somewhat orderly fashion - Friday proper began [Ed. Note - the author is trying to convey a sense of Friday during the daytime Friday]. First up on the couch was Barcelona based Young Turks family member John Talabot to break down some insight into his sun-drenched washed out take on tropical disco which, ironically, according to the man himself, is never made in the summer months. And no, it was not a case of too many siestas - instead, they don’t have air conditioning and thus that’s how their label “…..earned its name of ‘Hivern’ as it’s wintertime music”. Once studio time rolls round John doesn’t like to go overboard on his sonic options, “I don't like to spend ages flicking through 3000 snares, it's easier to be creative if you limit yourself and really find out what you have” - he rounded off proceedings by playing something off his forthcoming album which had even the weariest of last night’s battlers head-nodding in approval.

Gerd Janson on the couch with John Talabot

"Nick Hook was knocking the crowd with a selection that was as Nick Hook as you could get. Whatever that means..."

So things were a little bit different today at the Academy. The usual lunch-break-then-straight-into-lecture-land wasn’t the case today as we were all to be graced with an appearance from Mr. Bobby Digital himself - RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan. More about that later. It seemed that last night's party shenanigans had not only served as some pretty decent bonding, but it seems like Mr. Flügel sparked some pretty decent inspiration too, as the studios were a hive of activity: Roman and Chico Unicornio from Peru rocking out some end-of-days sounds, former participant and now team member Dorian Concept giving everyone’s favorite new gadget, the OP-1 (created by Swedish engineers Teenage Engineering), alongside Germany’s Marc Übel and the dude with the hair and the golden voice - Mr Jesse Boykins III. But the real party was in Studio 2 - Paul Salva manning the ship, Nick Hook on riffs (and vibes!) and Ronika with that look in her eye like she’s just about to bust out something that’s gonna change the world - quick, someone get this girl a mic. The Hookie monster himself seemed pretty excited about what was in store later on tonight - as he and fellow participants Naptha and Doc Daneeka were scheduled to go on alongside Modeselektor in what promised to be a 2000+ people knees-up affair of epic rave proportions. I remember Nick Hook promising that if he didn't stage dive by the end of his set, I could get my money back. I remember believing him. After a philosophical discussion on the expression for when you leave without saying goodbye later (in NZ it’s called a "French Exit”, for the Italians it’s “The English Way”, and for the Germans it’s “The Polish Way”) and it was back in the lecture hall for just another one of these epic storytelling sessions that we’ve been lucky enough to be privy to this week.

Andrew Noz on the couch with the mighty RZA

Now at this point I would love nothing more than to let you know all the deep insight that I gleamed from Prince Rakeem aka The Abbot aka Bobby Steels aka the RZA himself, but I was duty-bound to head to the radio. With a live broadcast each night on RBMA Radio, we thought we’d do things a little bit differently for Friday’s show, and joined by fellow team members Todd Burns, Max Cole and Gerd Janson, it became an exercise in the right kind of shambolic live radio that was the order of the day. There was a quiz, there was Todd Burns on Todd Burns, and there was more awkward pauses than you could fit into a Harold Pinter play. Gerd won the quiz, Max Cole shouldn’t be on radio (in a loving way) and massive shout out to our international listener and participant Rupert (aka xxxy), who was listening whilst en-route to a gig in Manchester for the night. Definitely a show I won’t forget in a hurry.

Morton Subotnick on stage with visual artist Lillevan at Reina Sofia

With the radio over, the vibe in the air was that the RZA delivered big time in his lecture, and before we knew it the participants were big bus bound for the Morton Subotnick gig. I opted for conversations with James Pants and Dorian Concept about warlocks, then somehow found myself on our way to a club in a train station known as Macumba for the Modeselektor Monkeytown tour. Now this was a night - Naptha was laying down the foundations, Nick Hook was knocking the crowd with a selection that was as Nick Hook as you could get. Whatever that means. The man’s a dynamo and he sent the crowd ballistic with a whole bunch of tunes I suspect don’t really get dropped in the crowd too often. Cowbell of the night award goes to Kerri Chandler's "Bar A Thym" and anthem of the night goes to Dead Prez - which prompted a fairly awesome crowd chant from the Academy posse of “It’s Bigger Than Nick Hook! Nick Hook!”. Modeselektor was up next and, man I must be getting old or something, but it was just too loud. They did their thing, the crowd lapped it and suddenly it was Doc Daneeka at the control. It’s easy to see why he’s one of the most hotly tipped producers from the UK at the moment: killer rhythms, serious bass and superb DJ-ing from the Berlin-based Welsh bass don. Myrainspotting skills by this stage were a little bit below par, but even if you are a buffed-up aggro Spanish bouncer on an ego-trip - The Academy Clan ain’t nothing to f**k with.

Nick Hook Naphta Modeselektor performing highlights from their 'Monkeytown' album The crowd at Macumba