On Friday I went to Dalston Superstore for 'Hungama', a queer South-Asian focused party where they combine Bollywood and Indian pop with hip-hop and electro. It sounded cool, but I really didn't know what to expect. It was a Diwali special leading up to next week, and the DJs - Ms Lanji, Max Allen, Dj Anch, Lil India and Shimmy Hendrix) - were all sick. I'll get into my favourite music moments in a bit but I just want to talk a bit about the vibe first. As I've just come to accept at most nights at popular venues, you always get a few people pulling weird faces at the music as if confused that they disapprove even though they've specifically paid for this night (they're usually white). While there were a few there, they were definitely in the minority and easy to ignore. On the whole, the atmosphere was jubilant and welcoming, diverse and inclusive, and there was a constant, reassuring sense of fun through the whole night. You just wanted to be there, you wanted to be part of it.
Musically, it was enchanting. The electro remixing of Bollywood music was so well executed I was losing my voice by the end of the night from saying 'oi oiiiii' every few minutes. Build-ups were sufficent, drops were satisfying. I can't pretend I'm in any way knowledgeable about Indian music, but seeing everyone around me and my friends recognise each song was exciting in itself. One track was combined with Major Lazer's 'Lean On' which I have found here, and another with 'Sorry' by Justin Bieber, and the inclusion of the entirety of 'Dola Re Dola' had everyone downstairs losing it. On that note, there was enough contrast between the rooms that it stopped you getting bored of the same mood for too long. While this fusion of sounds dominated the basement, there was more alternation on the ground floor as well as Western music with Indian influence. Bicep's 'Rain', one of my favourite songs by the duo, samples the 1976 Bollywood movie - "Laila Majnu" and was a great example of this. Purely for sick track choice I want to mention Jamie XX's 'On Hold' Remix; I wouldn't have expected it at this event, but it worked great in the mix of music upstairs!
All in all a 10/10 night - I believe Hungama is on every month or so if you get the opportunity, go! It's definitely an event I want to add to my regular schedule.
Moving on to Saturday night now, XOYO was the host of 'Pleasurehood', featuring DJs Pional and Joe Goddard. Here we come again to interesting combinations, because I didn't expect the two to compliment each other so well. Pional was on first and the set as a whole utilised heavy house and techno beats and ambient electronic treble to shift the mood of the crowd. I found some of it quite emotionally evocative, and 'Time of The G's' was a prime example of this. There's something about the pedal note alternating between two chords and the eerie vocals that's melancholic, almost vulnerable. 'Tempest' was also great and the constant build up was buff to dance to.
Bicep's 'Orca' and Four Tet's 'Afraid' remix (throwback to lost village!) both featured, both complimenting the set well and building the hype. Pional moved away from this pure techy sound plenty too, and a couple of songs really stood out to me. 'Pembe (Jimmy Rouge Edit)' by Orange Tree Edits was pure bliss, I loved every second of the African vocals and the brilliant instrumentation. '1960 What?' by Gregory Porter - what a tune! Don't even know how to describe it to be quite honest, but Pional's mixing and this track were stunning together. There were a few songs here and there I didn't love, but I never got bored and overall I rated it highly.
Joe came on at about 2am and although the crossover was slick, you knew he had arrived. There's a certain nuance to his style, and the diversity of music he covered was consistently entertaining. 'Deputy of Love' brought the disco IN; after the intensity of the techno throughout Pional, this was so refreshing, and it didn't stop there! The anthem that is 'You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)' had the entire club belting, dancing together, having a MOMENT. We saw RnB with Ciara's 'Oh' which is an absolute timeless bop and no one can tell me otherwise. There was, of course, plenty of wavey vibes, which I was expecting from Goddard. 'Magic Fly' by Space provided the bouncy synths to create that spacey feeling, like gravity was slowly disappearing. 'Killer' by Jupiter Heroes really reminds me of a chase level in a retro video game, if that makes any sense, like there's some sort of impending danger. It was out there, but really slapped in the club.
Anyway, this was all great, but unsurprisingly the highlight of the night without a doubt was 'Gabriel'. It is of course Joe's most famous song, but I think with good reason. It's almost operatic to me, as you shift from one section of the song to the next. I loved it, everyone in the club loved it, and seeing it live changed my perception of it substantially. It was just unbeatable, and as soon as it ended I just wanted to hear it again. I think we played it twice on the way home to be honest. Other than this, however, I didn't hear much of his own music which was a bit of a shame. I did have to leave a bit early so I'm sure there was more, but one major song in over an hour is too little in my opinion either way. I was really hoping to hear 'Lose Your Love' and in my ideal world the set ended with the chill vibes of 'Electric Lines', so I'm just gonna assume that's what happened...
I've got to take a second to commend the lighting - sometimes the lights can just feel like filler to the music to keep your visual senses distracted. But Pleasurehood used it as part of the performance magnificently. There were dancers all around the room using strobes, sometimes of their own accord, sometimes in unison. The colour changes and use of darkness weren't overdone and timed well, and generally I just think the visual-audio relationship really complimented my experience of the night altogether.
So, I had a great weekend overall, and am now really enjoying the comfort of my bed on a Sunday. If you haven't already, do check out both Pional and Joe Goddard, they're quite different but I love their music and would definitely want to see both of them again! Hope you enjoyed reading, safe x
