MUSIC

Motion, Bristol (Sat 26 Nov)

Tonight sees two of Bristol’s biggest dance music beacons, In:Motion and Futureboogie, putting their collaborative heads together to provide something which promises to be really quite special. Futureboogie have a pedigree for quality nights not just in Bristol but globally, their many tentacles also taking in a booking agency (Quantic, Bonobo and Julio Bashmore are all on their books), a radio show and probably a chain of butchers too. If they do, you’d be guaranteed a decent sirloin. In:Motion too have, almost single-handedly, brought back the BIG club night to Bristol. The night is really two obelisks of the Bristol scene colliding at the top of their game.

A warm welcome is immediately on hand, walking straight into the Cave to be greeted by the French house styling of Christophe: vocal chops stuttering through a bed of warm, sparkling synth lines and the sort of basslines that strut up to your arse and demand it to move. In the main room 23-year-old Londoner Maya Jane Coles is treating/pummelling the crowd with some of the toughest kicks this side of Japan. Her style takes a techno approach to percussion, the aforementioned kick drums piercing through clicking and popping percussive elements, but behind this a bed of housey analogue synths and rich vocals adds funk and soul to the mix. It’s a tribal-esque peak time work-out filled with heads-down bangers and it’s still only 11.30. With her control of the crowd, deceptively simple rushes combined with deep moments of musical introspection and unrelenting power, you can’t help but feel Maya is going to be headlining many more nights like this to come. Excellent stuff.

Pulling away from the main room briefly finds Horse Meat Disco in full-on vocal house and disco mode, its joyous purity getting even the most Fred Perried in the crowd dancing and smiling. On the way back through to the main room Bonobo is just stepping up to the decks, his arrival providing a mass exodus from other rooms which crams out the Tunnel with nodding heads and shuffling feet. His eclectic squelch of a set provides a welcome change of style and, while it doesn’t offer any surprises, it is reliably quality, merging his own tracks with sci-fi, hip-hop beats moving, if not necessarily wowing, the crowd.

Back in the main room it’s left to newly crowned Venue DJ of the year Julio Bashmore (pictured) to give the soundsystem a work-out. And how. The cones are probably still shaking now. Bashmore straddles that line between bass-heavy monstrosity and classic house, albeit pared back, restrained. No better example of this is in his modern classic ‘Battle For Middle You’ which, as is generally the case, takes not only the roof off but also part of the ozone layer too. Well, it certainly seems to get warmer anyway. He seems to be able to straddle that line between crowd pleasing and underground head placating with ease. Another cracking set proving that his award is not without merit.

Crazy P take to the stage next, a dramatic devilish headdress adorning the head of lead singer Danielle Moore. A poorer journalist would go on to describe the devilish live funk set the band whip out but, thankfully, you’re in safer hands. Crazy P are past masters of this live PA business and they keep the crowd suitably on their feet for the duration. Disco meets house, perfect for a warmed-up crowd but perhaps taking a bit of energy out of proceedings following the work-out they’d just received from Julio.

In the Tunnel, though, Bristol boy Appleblim is picking up from where the main room left off: chunky, jacking house and techno being the order of the day. For those used to Appleblim in his guise as dusty, atmospheric dubstep producer this may have been a shock, but he has been pounding this path of late, erring on the techy side of UK funky. Every element is so precise and so tight, but the roll is submarine deep and driving, perfect for three in the morning, a wake-up call for the tiring legs.

And, before disappearing off to the after party at Cosies, there’s time to take in the wonderful Henrick Schwarz. A perfect way to end the night (having not stayed for the Futureboogie closing set), he brings the pace down and takes the crowd on a deep, meandering, but never boring, trip through dusty house. No manic drops, no huge synths, just a nice crunchy, techy, percussion-heavy trip through the deeper recesses of dance music.

A night absolutely devoid of a weak link then, guaranteed quality in the three rooms and a fantastic crowd that’s up for it and dickhead light. The only gripe is a sense that it may not be bettered for a long, long time. (Stuart Roberts)

Copyright Stuart Roberts 2011