Eastern Electrics: May We Feel The Bass (Or Not?)

Eastern Electrics: May We Feel The Bass (Or Not?)

05 May, 2009
by: Maxbacharach

Three huge arches, three huge rigs, three huge(ish) promoters and two intrepid Spooners – welcome to Eastern Electrics 2009, Saturday night-style. Having attended a host of their past events, I'm an unashamed – nigh on evangelical – fan of Bloc and Dublime (two of the three rave syndicates entrusted with this evening's entertainment), and having only recently recovered from March's storming Bloc Weekender, am all up for a chance to re-live the 'glory days' at what is billed as the festival's official afterparty. (As for Dublime's recent, riotous Fabric takeovers – don’t even get me started!)

So why do I leave feeling so underwhelmed? After a decent start, with Channel One Soundsystem's Mikey Dread – possibly the world's most endearingly lazy DJ – dropping dub reggae gem after dub reggae gem, much to the delight of me and my peers, we skitter through to the Bloc stage for what seems an like an unreasonably early performance from Robert Henke aka Monolake (it's only 1am). So be it. A pioneer of the underground techno scene making an all too rare London appearance, he's the main reason we, and so many others, are here. Things start well – thick, clunking beats and fat swabs of noise are all good in  my book – before it slowly begins to transpire that the sound, although big, is disturbingly muffled, and that the delicate percussive textures central to Henke's sound are all but lost. Bollocks! Intermittent dancing breaks out and some interesting sounds emerge from the ether, but it's all foreplay, and not a patch on Henke’s ecstatic hit job at the 'real' Bloc a year previously. By the time he finishes it's as if the whole thing never happened.

Bemused, we head back through to Dublime's arch, praying for a richer musical experience. Sadly, our woes are only compounded by Dublime's ridiculously understretched soundsystem. And where's the effing soundman? One too many tokes out back me thinks. It's a real shame as Brendon Moeller is playing some lush tech house in sterling Basic Channel fashion – all swirling synths and thick, gaseous basslines – that would no doubt have ripped it were it not for the pithy sound. Andy Stott follows and suffers largely the same fate, dropping sick choon after sick choon to frustratingly moderate effect. Only a spate of regressive 'ardkore, played late in the day, gets people dancing proper, and by the time D Bridge drops his first tune – dubstep, patently, and good dubstep at that – we've all but given up on Dublime. (Dubless, more like.)

Much moping ensues, and before we know it – owing to a rave-quashing mixture of disappointment and waterlessness – we make the unanimous decision to leave. There's nowt more frustrating than hearing your favourite acts butchered by poor acoustics, and we'd had a good five hours of it. Best laid plans eh?

Click here to read Lowri's take on Eastern Electrics: May We Feel The Bass?

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Maxbacharach