London Clubs: September

London Clubs: September

08 September, 2008
by: Robin

Using the term 'fidget house' always feels a bit ridiculous – especially since Jesse Rose, one of the style's originators, claims it was a joke that went too far. But in more than one way, fidget sums up a lot of what we've been seeing in London clubs. For a start, records by Rose – and others on the Dubsided label like Switch or Duke Dumont – are everywhere, even in the boxes of DJs who wouldn't otherwise play much house music. A few European artists are getting played a lot too, like Oliver $ and Crookers, who have a new giallo-themed EP on Mad Decent. Another thing we've noticed is that the music's typical characteristics are mirrored in the way DJs play, and even the way the audience behaves. By house standards, all three are hyperactive, rowdy and want instant gratification.

By hyperactive we mean that fidget producers can't settle on the way their tracks sound: they have to tweak constantly and interrupt things with unrelated interludes. And another part of the art of fidget is to use production tricks for thrills, like looping, stuttering effects and noisy digital processing. In some ways the whole thing is starting to resemble rave's early-'90s wave. The way lot of old hardcore tunes patch together of tons of crowd-pleasing ideas is something that's been ironed out of a lot of dance music, especially the more underground it is. As in progressive house and minimal techno, that means things develop slowly, the style is constant and the objective for the DJ can sometimes feel like it's to pull off the least noticeable mixes he or she can.

Another similarity is that producers and DJs are open to the influence of music other than house, particularly MC-led, bass-orientated styles. If you go to a night like Zombie Disco Squad's Get Rude (at Catch) you might here tunes that borrow from Brazilian baile funk, as well as genuine examples played, which is the kind of mix-up people seem to want. Hip-hop and dancehall are there too, as you can hear in Hervé and Sinden's 'Beeper' (huge but really grating) and their slightly better remix of Toddla T's 'Do U Know'.

Unfortunately, talking about any return to this kind of thing means you have to remind people to forget a lot of what's been written about 'nu-rave': it's a fashion movement that pastiches early-'90s club-wear, and that's pretty much it. It's also worth saying that writers (starting with Simon Reynolds) have already traced hardcore's legacy through UK music like jungle, drum 'n' bass, garage and grime, but the last couple of years' house looks like another way in whic it's resurfaced.

The same goes for bassline house, the latest development of garage, and, weirdly, Baltimore club music – two things that often get played alongside fidget to provide variation. B-more gets dropped at Switch and Sinden's Get Familiar nights at Fabric, along with other US music like ghettotech and booty house, and Superfilth's residents – who've had fidget acts like Mowgli at their night, now at 93 Feet East – are used to mixing in bassline. Even the DJs' style of mixing at nights like tends to be different to the tasteful blends normally associated with house, partly because the unpredictable structure of the records people play mean DJs have to keep it short and dramatic, which adds to the overall lively, cut-'n'-paste feel.

Some people aren't going to like all this, including anyone who'd prefer to zone out to some deep house or minimal. They'll probably imagine that these nights are for the chronically, self-consciously bored, and the excitability of a particularly unsubtle DJ like Sinden can just be plain cheesy. If it sounds like a laugh to you, though, here are some more to investigate: Stick Up Kids, along with a few others at the Redstar, Bloggers Delight at the Lock Tavern, Magic Circle, which is part of Egg's Always Fridays night once a month and Trouble Vision, which is launching at Corsica Studios this month. Night Slugs, currently looking for a new home, is different - bassline, grime and dubstep are played more often than house - but it's probably the best of the lot and it fills a similar hole. See you next month.

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Robin