Belleville Three luminary Derrick May headlines Subculture at the Sub Club as part of Red Bull Music Academy Tour events taking place across the city over the weekend, supported by residents Harri and Domenic and Paranoid London, playing live tracks from their self-titled debut LP.
A long, brolly infused line is already waiting outside at 11pm for doors opening, most holding tickets, mildly grumbling about how clubs love to show off their long lines to passers-by, making them seem the place to be, but for the damp customers waiting to get in, it’s often a point of irritation.
Moments after walking in, it is all forgotten and forgiven, and Harri and Domenic have the dancefloor filled by midnight, a bit of a sausage fest, a mix between poser young ravers taking selfies and grumpy old ones scowling at them.
When Paranoid London come on, playing from the back of the dancefloor, it completely confuses those at the front of the crowd, not knowing which way to face, or where the music is coming from, though one-by-one they click and the acid techno duo, featuring vocals from Mutado Pintado, grab the crowd by the soles of their feet and have the place bouncing.
Vocals don’t always work well with this type of music, but these are perfect, up there with The Horrorist or Green Velvet, dark and dirty, spoken word more than MCing or singing, not too imposing, not too quiet.
‘Eating Glue’ is one of their highlights, “I worked all week for this man, I don’t care if she has a fake tan, long legs and short skirts all day long, that’s right, sucking up dust, eating glue” on top of a driving 303 bassline and as well as ‘Transmission 5’, raw, analogue stuff, concerned with the groove, the build, the filters, the percussion, rather than melody.
The place now a sweaty, misty, strobing cave, with bar staff unsure of what time it closed with the clock change, and glass collectors endlessly wandering about with torches in their mouths, surely creating a worse lock-jaw than some of the punters.
Derrick May comes on, back at the front of the club, crowd confused once more, and brings everyone back down briefly, before providing an entirely expected masterclass, progressive, funky, minimal, maximal, anything you want, making the crowd dance expansively or almost introvertedly at will.
At 3am the crowd is a mess, unsure how to take it all in, but by 5am they are hypnotised, everyone each in their own groove, smiling happily safe in the knowledge that they haven’t lost an hours sleep, but gained an hours dancing.
Words: Stevie Williams
