Want to know why Martyn's new album 'Ghost People' is like the works of Rothko? Read on...
I thought I was alone in my anticipation for the forthcoming sophomore album ‘Ghost People’ from 3024 label boss, Martyn. How wrong I was. Tickets flew out the door, and desperate wall posts left on Facebook from those too slow off the mark. Even ticket holders are clambering over each other to request location details of the secret venue, as the promised leak is late in arriving. The eagerness is at an all-time high.
Needless to say, the location is revealed and the masses run down to the warehouse in Hoxton. The space has been treated to a makeover courtesy of Erosie, the artist and 3024 collaborator responsible for the eighteen-metre mural seen on the front cover of forthcoming ‘Ghost People’. He's wrapped the walls of the main room with a recreation of the album’s design, giving a feeling of stepping into the album itself. Black Atlantic’s Tom tells me it took Erosie three days to complete and it had proved difficult finding a landlord willing to allow such a feat to occur in their rented space.
Manny Z warms up the growing crowd first with acid, techno, breaks and into some Acen style old school rave that sets the tone well. d:Bridge steps up to the plate to play his unique interpretation of where DnB should be going, towards a vast expanse of apocalyptic barren lands. Darkened skies and low rumblings of unearthly sounds are heard, the kind that only he produces. The tempo may be slower than most other examples of the genre yet the music has just as much swagger and bounce as anything else you’d care to dance to.
The DJ booth is now surrounded by followers, arms aloft, worshipping the shrine of steel wheels, reminiscent of praying tribes of the East (see 3:43-6:04) all surging forward beyond reason due to the space available. SP:MC goads the crowd well whilst leaving enough space for the music to breathe. The crowd are literally struggling to breathe now as the low ceiling and lack of ventilation mean the room is a complete sweat-box with tears of sweat tearing down the walls.
But now the time has come for the headline act. Martyn delves simultaneously into material from ‘Ghost People’ and first album ‘Great Things’ and highlights of the set include 'Masks', ‘KRDL-T-GRV’, ‘Elden St’ and his remix of Tiga’s ‘Gentle Giant’.
There is some recognition of individual elements in his music. In the majority of tracks recurring themes are occasionally heard: four-to-the-floor bass drums come from techno, whilst the bass lines have an air of dub and dubstep, the snares have the snappiness heard in garage and the 808 soundscapes of house roll throughout, as do the staccato mid and top ranges heard in minimal. But Martyn doesn’t just use these as a nod to his influences; he moves beyond and innovates with them. Much in the same way Rothko used ‘multiform’ style in his paintings by creating a dense mixture of overlapping colors and shapes, Martyn blends the shades of resonance where, upon close inspection, you may be able to recognise how it’s formed, but from a distance it becomes its very own shade.
Kode9 closes the evening with an astounding set of garage classics. The big guns come out early when the instantly recognisable ‘138 Trek’ resounds, and the Hyperdub label boss keeps the energy rising with classic after classic, going deeper, darker and further than we’ve ever delved before. I've seen him DJ three times now, each time playing a different style and this occasion confirms that he's a Jedi master in the art of mixing: playing a predominantly all-vinyl set gives him extra kudos.
Two o’clock arrives and passes yet the crowd remain astutely present. One more tune turns into five as though it's Kode9 refusing to stop playing rather than the crowd refusing to leave. Yet, as with all good things this event comes to an end, and we all float home, on a far higher plain than we arrived on.
Click here for the next Black Atlantic party at C.A.M.P with Lunice
Stop-motion capture of Erosie’s mural being painted will be coming soon on this website
For listing of some of the tracks heard in each set click here
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