Lunatic DJs and vibrating internal organs. Lowri Clarke gets stuck in at Proud2.
Proud2 – formerly Matter – is probably London's best club. It's custom built – unlike most London clubs – meaning that when they built it they were actually thinking of clubbers as opposed to say meat-packing. It's absolutely massive, so you don't get the same congestion you do in Fabric or Corsica Studios. There's a stunning circular smoking section with a bar at its centre and loads of four-poster double beds lining the edges. The walkways above the main dancefloor allow you to take a breather without missing out on any action – you can coolly observe the stage and be pounded by the best soundsystem in Europe while you lean over the dancefloor.
The soundsystem is the stuff of dreams. The underfloor speakers push the bass through your feet, tickling you under your ribcage. It's like a thundercloud beneath you, cracking lightening up your spine. Incredibly loud but never ear-splitting, and, appropriately enough, tonight's line-up is bass-heavy in the most part: Spectrum have brought Borgore, Joker and Bare Noise to fly the massive dubstep flags, with Zane Lowe and Stanton Warriors on a breaks and electro tip.
Zane Lowe is a radio DJ. Not a DJ. It's that simple. He doesn’t do a bad job of beat matching but his set is unconvincing. He seems to be playing big tune after big crowd-pleasing tune, playing what he thinks will get the biggest effect rather than taking us on a blended musical journey like the best DJs do. Stantons follow and, although they're considered amongst the most seminal breaks producers ever, their new album – the very album which they are launching tonight – is rather dull. The breaks sound dated, the tunes have lost their high impact gloss, and they don't play many of their classics. Everyone is waiting for 'Shake It Up' and it never comes. Towards the end, Dominic Butler – the guy on the decks – drops an absolute clanger of a mix and everyone winces. These guys are better in the studio than on the decks. They are simply not going to catch up with the kids who are tearing ahead of them as fresh DJs. Perhaps they've had their day...
Next up is Borgore – and tonight I learn that he is a lunatic. Israeli dubstep (or 'gore-step') producer, the guy has front. He leaps up on stage as Stantons are finishing, getting on the mic to request that we 'make some noise'. He then kicks them off and cracks on a massive Skrillex tune: 'Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites' (Noisia remix). His mixing is spot on, his tunes are enormous and sound incredibly heavy on this system. But the guy is a maniac. He sings. Yep, he is a dubstep DJ who sings along to his tunes. He spends a great deal of time in front of the decks singing and twatting about, while Bare Noise who has already played, mans his turntables.
“Let's have five girls up on stage!” he shouts at one point. The crowd cheer and a number of eager females try to climb up on stage. Security jump in straight away, forbidding the stage invasion. “Come on... four girls?” Borgore pleads. “Three? Two? One?” Security are shaking their heads. The DJ reacts like a spoilt brat. “Boo them,” he demands. “Booooooooo.” Of course the audience oblige. It is a pointless, stupid waste of time.
Joker's up next and already waiting in the wings. Borgore begins giving himself an outro: “Make some noise for the last tune!” he screams.... then proceeds to play another three tunes, followed by an awesome remix of System of a Down's 'Chop Suey' followed immediately by a vicious Slipknot tune. It's a brilliant end, and for the duration of Borgore's entire set, the first mosh pit I have ever seen in dubstep is exploding. There's a mosh circle with mostly male limbs flailing about and barging each other. Joker looks massively unimpressed.
When he finally gets on the decks, the crowd give him his dues, and he plays a big set, but the programming seems wrong. Joker shouldn't be playing last to a nearly empty room, but there aren't any line-ups pinned to the walls. The attitude seems to be: “Here, we’ve put on some entertainment, now you're in the club so attention to detail is out the window.” Did they realise Borgore was a complete mentalist when they booked him? Was having Zane Lowe on the bill all about having a 'name'? It appears to be mostly about bods through the door rather than genuine passion for high quality programming and attention to detail.
Mega fun was had but for the wrong reasons, laughing at Borgore instead of dancing, wincing at the Stantons, mocking Zane Lowe. Maybe my standards are just too high...
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