Review: Drumcode, Motion

Suffice to say, it had been a tumultuous week. And what do people like to do in the face of apocalyptic adversity? Try to forget. And what’s a good way to remember how to forget? Dance to some bloomin’ techno! Heads down. Meet the call of the 4/4 wild. Visiting nights like Drumcode are a valued addition to Bristol’s nightlife at any time, and it was greeted with especially open arms on Friday night. Behold, careless abandon.

Drumcode, Adam Beyer’s (Techno. Swedish. Brilliant) record label, is busy. Dedicated, and relentless. And on Friday night as part of the world-famous In:Motion series it stopped in to…err….Motion (you’d never have guessed). While Bristol’s punters were nursing sore heads and gathering their thoughts on Saturday, the Drumcode crew were already off to Manchester for the next leg of the techno tour. Devoted. Anyway. Back to Bristol’s night. Who played? A mix of Drumcode stalwarts, including Adam Beyer and Alan Fitzpatrick, local Bristol crew, and notably Em Williams who got things off to an excellent start in the main room. Welcoming techno. ‘Welcomno’? NO. Anyway, if you don’t think there is such a thing as welcoming techno – you just haven’t listened hard enough. 

Ida may be at home looking after the kids (respect to you, Ida), but Adam and friends were doing Drumcode proud. Thanks to Em Williams, cockles were well and truly warmed, and a quick nosey afterwards into the Tunnel revealed the ridiculously-talented-in-way-too-many art-forms-to-count William Koiam Djoko. Thank you, Sir. Excellent selection. 

It was a heads down, chin up kind of night. One where it would have been useful to listen to two rooms at the same time. Not possible though, so back to the main room for kinda new kids on the block Dense and Pika, before Alan Fitzpatrick did what he’s been doing best for so long. And then Adam Beyer – the guy sitting at the head of the (turn)table to close. The main room was, it’s fair to say, having a lovely time. Refreshingly, it wasn’t too busy, queues were under control (in fact there really weren’t any), and the techno was exactly as it should be. A Drumcode special decibel meditation. 

We shouldn’t take our nightlife for granted in Bristol. When there’s so much choice choice on your doorstep, you get spoilt…lazy even. People came from far and wide for this night, there was even a man from the Isle of Man there. We’re lucky in Bristol, and we shouldn’t forget it. Drumcode was proper techno music on a crisp sound system with a smorgasbord of DJs in a world-famous (yep, yep, top 20) club. Oh and the crowd absolutely freaking loved it. It was the perfect acoustic antidote to the real world. And, heck…let’s go there…it was glorious.