I arrive at south London's cavernous Arches club - now home to a gaggle of the The End's past promotions, including this one - justifiably hyped and ready to let loose: for DnB and dubstep heads like myself, the bill is amongst the best so far this year.
Sadly, the venue's glossy reception area comes off like a newly built London student union given a half-arsed 'serious nightclub' makeover (yuck!), making for a lukewarm entry. Never mind, I tell myself, it's all about the beats, and saunter into the main room, tonight home to a feast of UK DnB talent. A huge, gutted arch consisting of a few pointless podiums, some overly-enthusiastic lighting and a colossal stack of speakers, it's vulgar but impressive. Bristolians Break and Survival are doing their best to get people moving - dropping a succession of tough, dark techstep groovers straight out of the nu-school canon - but owing to their early billing they provoke little reaction. I duck outside for a ciggy - duly bumping into my sidekick for the night - and grab a tolerably priced beer. So far, so-so.
At midnight the second, smaller room opens up and we shuffle in, rightly looking forward to a feast of dubstep-meets-techno-meets-funky-meets-wonky-meets-whatever courtesy of Appleblim's red hot Apple Pips imprint. Newcomer Brackles is doing exactly what Break and Survival aren't, playing buoyant, funky jingles perfectly in accord with the crowd's boozy mood. Geiom follows, keeping things appropriately upbeat, and by the time he's done I'm fully into the skippety, afro-leaning 4/4 groove. Cue Peverelist, pioneer of the deeper, techier side of the dubstep coin, who would no doubt have smashed the place (albeit subtly) were it not for the fact that less than 10 minutes into his set the increasingly over-stretched PAs decide to pack up, intermittently kicking back in as if to rile the bass-hungry crowd. Bugger. Still, everyone puts a brave face on it and some decent skanking starts to break out as the vibe gets darker and sludgier. Back in Room 1, Irishman Calibre is taking things in a typically jazzy direction and I'm wondering why he wasn't playing the warm-up set. No-one seems to care though, and I give myself over for a few minutes, bopping about inanely and taking care not to get elbowed in the face.
The night's getting on a bit now, and before I know it my accomplice has all but disappeared. So much for him. Another ciggy/beer/brock-out later and I decide to steal a quick powernap (is that cool?), only to be woken by a riled-looking bouncer barely minutes in. Aaaargh. I twaddle back into Room 2 to find Appleblim playing some remarkably arid techno and do my best to block out the vibe-killing effects of the cruddy soundsystem, but by the time the clock strikes 4 I'm thoroughly bored of dubstep-meets-techno-meets-whatever and crave something more exuberant. Fortunately, Marcus Intalex – architect of the current ‘intelligent' DnB revival – is getting geared to go, and I pluck up a late burst of enthusiasm.
What follows is one of the best hours' worth of DnB I've heard in a very long time, packed to the brim with mutant funk and just dark enough to mess with my weary brain. Alone in the crowd, I dance like an idiot for what seems like an age – carried along by SP:MC's cheeky asides – and leave feeling pleasantly satisfied. The End it most certainly was not, but whilst venues come and go, good tunes are (at least for a while) timeless.
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