Match report
Early proceedings were characterised by the kind of stumpy sub-industrial clunking and cod reggae workouts that represent the aspects of dubstep I like the least, where the subtlety, space and groove that mark the genre out as worthwhile have largely been mislayed without even a sense of fun to replace them. Distance sets are generally notable for their musicality and flow but he didn't appear to have much freshness in the bag this time. The tautly wound below-the-belt alien funk of Pinch's 'Boots' was a distinct standout, of the whole night in fact. Youngsta on next seemed similarly uninspired and his always consumate mixing was merely workmanlike and largely unengaging, although Midnight Request Line (and Mala's remix) still sounds good more than two years on. Youngsta is a great DJ to watch but with the decks being so far from the floor and mostly obscured by the system on the night, the setup wasn't conducive to there being much of a connection with the crowd. Vex'd were late starting and DJ Kion stepped up to play a second set in the interim, this time more lush and funky in tone and it seemed that some energy and colour were finally being injected into the main room, yet it wasn't to last. Having read promising reports about Vex'd's current live show I had been looking forward to hearing what they've been working on but it was a wet fart of a crunching hip-hop flatline that eventually emanated from the Gramps system. While Benga's absence was highlighted in bitter-sweet fashion by a scattering of his playful laser-soul breaking through the murk over the course of the evening, and it's a safe bet that Chef would bring some party vibes, by this point I felt myself drawn towards the door.
The potential of the second room at the Concorde is always badly marred by the DJ booth being right next to the main entrance, and by essentially being a bar area, but Japanese people with looping peddles is nearly always a good look. Sadly I didn't manage to catch any of Oneman or Whistla's sets, but I've a feeling they were more interesting than what was happening in the main room.
(I realise nobody's interested in my night out - I was going to post that at dsf for people that were at the event but then changed my mind)
