After an "accidental" fire at a neighbouring furniture shop, Hackney lost the District and, with it, the only decent DJ bar in the area and, with that, Hackney's best monthly helecttrobass/Junglestep-TechRave. For RaveTap it was the loss of a spiritual home and the beginning of a search for pastures new.

Where better for Robot Music to re-capture the spirit of the District than at its sister-bar The White Horse in Brixton which proudly boasts 4 structurally sound walls and an intact roof. DJ Braiken was missing due to holiday commitments but standing in were two antipodean Robot Music debutants...

First to lay down was Hekaman - he warmed the crowd with some slower tempo electronic pleasantries. Despite monitoring issues, Big H's performance was a lesson in highest quality electro and seamless mixing - truly, that shit was the tightest thing to come from down under since Peter Andre's mid-riff.

Next stepped up Master Atreides and quite literally. Standing on a crate to better manipulate the records and work the mixer, Atreides upped the ante and pushed the tempo on a notch. Playing a mixture of cutting edge future sound and classic cuts the transition from down-tempo melodics to jacking bangbeat was as deft as his work on the fader. Sick.
(click to enlarge photos)

With that the way was paved for T.Smilex to play what he would describe as a "down-tempo-less-in-yer-face" dance-floor style. From what was on show it was "less-in-your-face" in the way that you would compare being hit in the eye with a hammer as opposed to a brick and "down-tempo" as in less than 180 bpm. This vibrant set led to some some movement on the floor and was met with elation by a contingent of wide-eyed, gurnsters who simply couldn't get enough of the T. Top drawer stuff and some nice scratches.

With the bar beginning to buzz it was time for Jimmy Bolus to nice up the floor with a set tailor-made for the carnival-goers. The Bang Face Carnival that is. With whiplash-inducing bass and fierce breaks cut-up with 4/4 stompers who needs dancing policemen and stab-wounds? A solid performance with those expected elements of spice. Pressure.

With the dance-floor quickly filling, it was time for Saint Acid to take over the controls and for Bang to take over the punter's Faces. It did. There followed an hour long assault of Jungle-inspired neo-rave which sent the crowd into a dancing frenzy which even the bar staff couldn't resist. The pace was unrelenting and the up-front mixing style uncompromising, punctuated by bursts from a horn of some description. The Saint wound things down to cheers and cries of "one more" that continued a full 25 minutes after he'd packed up and left... Truly an awesome nasty.

To sum up - a good comeback for Robot Music at what will hopefully be a regular venue and some new faces well and truly banged.

Thanks to the Guardian for the promotion and thanks to Julie Burchill for not turning up (that's a lot of Face to Bang, if you know what I mean...)

Quote of the night - "One more, Fatso!" (Tim Hinks)

Author: Jimmy Bolus

Photos courtesy of www.saintacid.com (click the eyes to see - username: saintacid, password: bangface)