As I'm sure you know if you've seen any promotion for it, the line-up was insane, and while the bits and bobs of everybody I caught were consistently exciting, I was mainly there for DJ Marky and Calibre. Drum and bass at its finest, I will happily say, with the two representing the two sides of the genre - almost like light and dark. So, Marky came first and the press hall was literally heaving with people jumping up and down, going further and further back like that herd coming down the slope in the Lion King. I know I've said it before, but Printworks just blows my mind as a venue, it's this huge, mechanical maze, like the laboratory you try to escape from in Portal... it was a bit cold, though.
But not in the crowd. DJ Marky has the ability to make you feel like you're on a beach even as you look around the dark, old warehouse - it's fast-paced, euphonic, the drops are mad, you just want to dance the whole time. Tune after tune was coming through, I really enjoyed hearing 'Roll The Dice' out for the first time - Shy FX brilliant as ever, Stamina MC reminding me of Marky as we'll see later, and Lily Allen's silky-smooth vocals sound so peng over the gritty 172 BPM drums. Sooo buff man, and it wasn't long before we got Marky's remix of Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You' - mate. MATE. I can't tell you how gassed I was for all of this set, but this song really hit hard. The feel-good lyrics still hold their place, but the wobbling bass and DnB beat give it some darker inflections that stops the twenty-year-old track from being just a throwback. He also picked up the decks at one point to do his signature move, scratching the turntable upside down, which is more jokes but does add to the set.
The hype just kept growing as we approach the end of the set though. By this point, we'd made it to the front of the crowd and the speakers were right in my ears. Your whole body is just pulsating with the rhythm, the DJ and MC are right there, you look back on the Lion King herd and you just realise the real power of music. I actually found myself on the Printworks instagram story at the front at this point which was a nice lil' bonus. They stop the music before the last track and MC GQ gives us a little reminder that it's only about 6 o'clock in the evening by this point (lol), and he can go get himself a kebab on the way home - relatable without being cringe. Anyway, this gave them time to build up the excitement for the last track of the set, and what could have been better than 'LK'. Summer VIBES. Everyone forgot the freezing cold outside, what an utterly wholesome moment. Perfect way to end the set, for an hour and a half I hadn't been bored for a second. I've seen Marky once before but this set really showed me what he's capable of.
Calibre provided a totally different experience. This was in the Dark Room which was absolutely pack out, took about five minutes to get into, was sweaty af but as a result held onto real rave atmosphere. It's weird to think how big the whole venue was and hundreds of people were packed in the tiniest area. Calibre's set centred around more sparse tracks, moving away from the crowd pleasers but it provided a continuous atmosphere. The interplay of the percussive rhythms and angular basslines was good-weird, and I did begin to lose awareness of how sardined we were in there from getting distracted by the complexities of his DJing. The mixing was intelligent I guess I'd say, and so it was enjoyable to analyse more than gas over. All in all, Printworks was worth every penny, just wish I had heard 'Yellow Shoes', don't know if I just missed it or it didn't play.
A lot of music stuff happened this week too. James Blake's new album 'Assume Form' came out - thoughts? I like it, it hasn't blown me away but I don't deny it's good. It manages to keep his authentic sound and vocal style up and you of course know it's him, some of the chord progressions are dazzling - 'Lullaby For My Insomniac' comes to mind - but I wasn't crazy about every single song. Highlights were 'Into The Red' and 'Don't Miss It' for me, and I thought 'Tell Them' was unexpected but works for him brilliantly. It's subtly different, the trap beat isn't too much, and the melody of the hook is hypnotising.
However, the real new release that has stolen the show for me is Bonobo's 'Ibrik'. It's part of the upcoming album compilation he's making for Fabric, which is being celebrated with a 4-hour DJ set at the club itself in February. It's got everything you need from a Bonobo track, it's chilled out and upbeat simultaneously, and the main melody that recurs throughout is made up of just four notes but it gets in your head as if it's addictive. 5:50 is a solid length for a track of this style in my opinion, and the drop at 3:57 is beauuuuuutiful. With earphones on I have to listen at least two or three times. Check it out if you haven't already; I also really like the album art and fabric released this little 30-second clip with it that's wavey too.
That's all for this week - I have tickets to an Odesza concert today which I'm VERY hyped for so I will try and write up my thoughts on it in the next week or so. Hope you enjoyed xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment