Heard in… Bristol In Motion

Heard in… Bristol In Motion

7 December, 2010 | 3.40AM

• Written by: Dan Cole
• Filed under: Music News: bristol in motion, heard in

As the second biggest city in the South of England, Bristol has struggled to make a massive impact on the clubbing front. With London just under two hours away on the M4, Bristol has always been seen as the underdog—not necessarily a bad thing, as it has helped feed the underground and creative talent the city has manifested. Yet without huge clubs such as Fabric and Ministry of Sound, Bristol clubgoers are limited to the vast array of smaller, more underground follies littered around the centre.

But things are about to change. Emulating the model of Manchester’s Warehouse Project, Bristol’s top nightclub promoters have teamed together and ascended upon one of the city’s largest nightclubs, Motion, putting together a three-month long festival called Bristol In:Motion. With lineups spread across techno, house, dubstep and hip hop, the festival has seen the likes of KRS One, Green Velvet and Rusko man the helm of this odyssey in nightclubbing.

Beatportal decided to check out what all the fuss was about and flew in especially to see Just Jack hosts Booka Shade and 2020 Soundsystem and then, the following day, Bloc Party’s very own Kele playing live at the Rizla Recrafted party.

Just Jack parties have been tearing up the Bristol nighttime (and daytime) with their unique blend of tech house and house for five years now. With residents Tom Rio and Dan Wild, the party outfit has been responsible for bringing in an assortment of globally recognized top acts to the South West, so it was only fitting that Booka Shade topped the bill for this event.

For a city that’s synonymous with dubstep and drum & bass, it can be surprising for some to note that the Booka Shade party was a complete sell-out. As soon as the doors opened it was down to Matt Owen and Leftroom up-and-comer, Amos from Waifs & Strays, to warm the crowd up.

Taking the main stage to a packed room came the 2020 Soundsystem collective, the live disco-funk ensemble consisting of Ralph Lawson, Dubble D, Internasjonal’s Fernando Pulichino, and Julain Sanza, and the troop dutifully stirred up the crowd with their funk-driven disco and house. Following was emerging London DJ, jozif. Fresh off his release on Wolf + Lamb and recent Resident Advisor podcast, jozif has become the talk of the town and his set of disco and house lived up to the hype.

Completing the evening was the behemoth of German tech house: the genre-defining Get Physicallers, Booka Shade. With a live setup that would put even Jean Michel Jarre to shame, consisting of an electronic drum kit, several keyboards, microphones, and more knobs and dials than you could shake a stick at, Walter and Arno are the ultimate electronic festival band. Running through their immense catalogue of pop hits, they banged out live versions of old standbys like “In White Rooms” through to newer records “Bad Love” and “Regenerate.” An overriding professionalism shone through as they took the atmosphere up an extra notch and showed the South West’s capital how they party in Berlin.

Saturday’s affair at Motion was a considerable contrast, with a lineup the brought together indie, electro house, and garage heavyweights. Bloc Party‘s Kele may have stolen the limelight with his new electro manifestation and tracks from his debut offering, The Boxer, but the tone was brought down a notch as he re-interpreted classic older tracks like “Modern Love” and “Flux” in a Euro, tech-house styled reworking.

However, the talk of the night was centered on one man: the living, breathing, walking garage legend himself, MJ Cole. Positioned in the smaller, tunnel room, the icon blasted through late ‘90s UK garage working up to more contemporary 2-step hits including latest Prolific Recordings anthem, ”From The Drop.”

MJ Cole feat. Wiley, “From the Drop” [Prolific Recordings]

While Fake Blood and L-Vis 1990 pummeled the main room’s Funktion One soundsystem with their bassline-heavy electro house, your intrepid journalist was drawn to the Mystery Jets DJ set in the tunnel room, albeit completely on his own. Unfortunately the DJ duo, otherwise known as The Assassins of Youth, failed to pull in any crowd as they spun an eclectic set that included Laid Back’s ”Cocaine Cool” and Modeselektor’s remix of Headhunter’s ”Prototype." With the festival still in full swing, all I can say is: Watch out Manchester and London, because 2011 looks like it will belong to Bristol.

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