CLUBS

Bugged Out! return with headline guest L-Vis 1990 in tow. Rank Aldy jettisons genre tags in favour of getting 'bashy bashy'.

Bugged Out! are back for their first Bristol party of 2011. It’s almost hard to believe they are still going strong, having thrown parties for over 15 years in a world where the barometer of cool goes up and down more quickly than a seesaw in the wind. But this multi-national, multi-faceted, multi-storey (OK, that last one might be a lie) electro-techno party has weathered the storms of popularity and the sun is still shining strong.

Refreshingly, while most club nights are drowning in a sea of DJs, Bugged Out!'s latest line-up has just three. The hypotenuse of this triangle of sound is resident Matt Walsh. He looks pretty fly – wears snazzy ties and shit and lurks around the multi-haircutted parts of London – but, country bumpkins, let's not be overwhelmed by big smoke fashion: he plays good records wherever he is. Despite Matt’s weighty contribution, Bristol’s Julio Bashmore will most likely be the biggest draw of the night. He is unique, the sound of the past frottaging with the future in a 4/4 bed of beats. At the moment he is nearly everywhere, the South West’s undisputed King Of House proving, almost single-handedly, that it's back (for some it never really went away, of course, but let's face it, that silly barometer never lies still).

The final member of the party trio is ‘Mr Hyper Bass’, L-Vis 1990, whose fingers are in so many pies it’s amazing he has any free to DJ. In addition to his sublimely bashy bashy solo work, he runs Night Slugs with Bok Bok. It’s a good lookin’ label. As everyone gets themselves in a tizzy over what to call the best next thing, Night Slugs are busy releasing it. They are exceptionally anti-genres. Music is, after all, constantly evolving and there really is no need to categorise it at every opportunity. Unless, that is, it's your job is to write previews, in which case, a description of some sort is mandatory. Sorry, Night Slugs, but it's impossible to write that a label is “a bit like, sorta, you know, boom-tsh-wubba-wubba-boom-tsh-whump-whump” and not look silly – that much has been proven. So ‘4/4 bass music’ will have to do. But Bok Bok and L-Vis are fundamentally right: on the dancefloor, the pigeonholes don’t count. Jettison your categories. Never utter the g-word again. Just go and dance.

BUGGED OUT! WAS AT THEKLA, BRISTOL ON FRI 21 JAN.
 

Copyright Rank Aldy 2011

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