Hospitality at Fabric

Hospitality at Fabric

11 January, 2011
by: Lachie Gordon

What happens when London's DnB kings throw a party at the queen of London clubs? Lachie Gordon has a right royal time that's what.

I've always been a huge fan of Hospitality, despite the flak they attract for ‘going commercial': bringing dnb to the masses can only be a good thing. However, as the thirtieth topless teen pushes past in the main room of Fabric, kindly depositing much of their hard-earned sweat on my clothes, I do begin to wonder if it's time to leave Hospitality to said youngsters and their overactive glands.

Whipping the crowd into this frenzy between the hours of twelve and three are Nu:tone, London Elektricity and Danny Byrd. They know their audience like the back of their hands and drop banger after banger, relentless in the attempt to cause mass heat exhaustion in their frantic audience. They all fail to excite my small group however, and after about ten minutes of each set we retreat to our sanctuary, the Med School takeover of room three.

It's room three’s line-up which really draws me to the night in the first place. In Med School the Hospital crew have a vessel through which to display that they're not just skilled at picking out what will appeal to the masses, but also what is genuinely fresh and exciting. Entering the multi-tiered space, a grin spreads across my face as we're hit by the searingly heavy beats of Med School’s latest signing, Joe Syntax. The difference from the main arena is startling and with not a bare chest in sight we get down to some proper dancing, buoyed along by entrancing drum patterns and deep basslines. Next, Blue Mar Ten follows on from his stunning promo mix (which you can listen to free here), with a slightly less techie selection of tunes, allowing haunting melodies to flit in and out of disjointed beats.

Room two is home to bit of a mash-up of different styles tonight, with dubstep leading the selection. Emalkay is the main attraction and he drops some real wobblers, wildly attacking the punters with twisted bass-lines pulled from his enviable record box. However it eventually all becomes a bit much and we run for the cover of room three where we find London Elecktricy doing a special Med School set. It's a rare glimpse into the label head honcho’s taste in the deeper side of dnb, and what a glimpse it is. He weaves exquisite melodies with delicate beats, giving them the force needed in the club environment.

The programming for this event perfectly displays the position that the Hospital group is currently in. With fingers in more pies than most perhaps realise, they manage both to release truly interesting material and have considerable commercially success, something few dnb labels manage. The night has something for everyone, without, as is often the case if you try and please too many people, sacrificing anything that they stand for.

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Lachie Gordon