Music / Drum & Bass
Review: SWU FM, Motion Bristol
April 16 marked an important night in the history of Motion and the Bristol music scene. Roni Size & Krust, Laid Blak and Bandulu Gang were a few of the sixty strong line up all playing for fundraising purposes. In true Bristol spirit, all proceeds were going to the new radio station – SWU.FM – who were showcasing the range of music they plan to air on their fully licensed radio waves. I went to see what kind of hype we could expect. With the combination of a maze-like, open Motion complex and a line-up longer than your monthly bank statements, the scene was set for a spectacle of Bristol finest underground talent. Motion is pegged at 20th in DJ Mag’s list of best clubs in the world, and tonight it showed off why it has achieved such a reputation. Even though the main room in Motion was not in operation, the three other rooms; Room 1, The Tunnel, The Cave, more than made up for the loss.
As soon as I entered Motion, the Tunnel’s selectors were Caski, back-to-back with Rowl and Near, greeting new arrivals with a future garage set. I was disappointed to realise that only the left side speakers were working, unequally distributing dancers across the floor. However, the murky transient synths with the quick garage breakbeat was effective in get people’s soles twitching. Moving on to Room 1, the variety of music on offer was instantly noticeable, as Ishan Sound and Stryda filled the warehouse of Room 1 with a heavy Dub set that summoned everyone to the front.
By 1am Motion had seemingly reached full capacity, with an estimated turnout of 1000. The bartenders were rushed of their feet and the queues were only getting longer. A current of Bristolians were drifting towards Room 1 from the other rooms: Roni Size & Krust. As the Bristol Drum & Bass titans ignited their legacy the audience danced into form and I, being 6”5”, was able to get a decent view of the euphoric 160bpm swaying, contagiously spreading through the room. Brown Paper Bag and Heroes track were mixed with other heavy Drum & Bass and jump-up tracks, made the set great to dance to whilst historically prevalent to Bristol.
The high-energy pace from the Room 1 was offset by Jus Now playing a back-to-back with Kry Wolf, Money Wrench and Juma MCing over the UKFunky and Jackin-House set in The Tunnel. Lyrics such as ‘I’m a little bit high, I’m a little bit drunk’ got the crowd participating, whilst also being effective in letting their limbs loose into tribal-style skank. Through a corridor and into the adjacent Cave room, Woz had the crowd dancing with a his strict-industrial 4 to the floor techno. A highlight track he dropped was his own production ‘SIBS’, which had people dancing instantly after returning from their smoking break.
Bandulu Gang played nothing less than a faultless hour of music. Their sounds which are characterized by a strong sub-bass and dissonant synth sounds which swamped Room 1 and got everyone’s head rocking to every snare. The DJs screened the crowd with the fog machine in run up to the drop of their most famous tracks, such as ‘Badman City’ and ‘Fierce (Commodo Remix)’, whilst the silhouette of the DJ was backlit through the smoke. I loved the theatrical element they gave to the dark Dub that has become synonymous with the Bristol Sound. Lastly, Dubstep pioneers Joker performed the last slot of the evening, going back-to-back with Mensah (NYTA) and OH91 with Double MCing. Even though the crowd of started to thin, the music only thickened, as Joker dropped some of his crazily distorted tracks such as ‘Tron’, filling the lost space with sound. I felt the DJs could have played more of their better known tracks, as I felt the set lost its captivation in places.
is needed now More than ever
All in all, it was a massively successful night, and many people went way looking like they had danced off their Easter Sunday meals. The takeover showcased Bristol’s urban and electronic music; a cross section of Drum & Bass, Techno, House, Dubstep, Dub, Reggae and many more. The potential of SWU.FM becoming a healthy, innovative, radio station was in doubt and I’m counting down the days until the radio station goes live in September on 87.7FM.
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
