On Wednesday 24th Feburary, CVRL, Skit and
Kareful got on the decks at Phonox club in Brixton for a Survey London event,
playing alongside Plastician, P Money, Scratcha DVA, Jubilee and Chefal. I was
lucky enough to be able to make it down for this, and it was definitely worth
the long (and delayed) journey from Bristol! The night was pretty monumental
for the Wave movement as it was the first time many of the artists involved in
the Wavemob mixtape Wave 001, as well as many other heads on the scene, had
met. In fact loads of my favourite names who weren’t on the billing, such as
Klimeks (founder of Wavemob), Spoze, Kaleyn and Moonbaby, came down to show
their support, which was great as I had the chance to meet them all! It seemed
to be a moment when the online community that thrives on Soundcloud and other
social media had a physical, literal presence, and this was something really
special. CVRL actually flew over all the way from Copenhagen for the night; his
first ever performance in the UK. From what I can gather, it was many fans’
first time hearing the sound in a club environment, just as it was mine, and
this gave the Wave sets a real air of excitement. It was so great to have so
many people who love the sound in one place, promoting and supporting it – the
atmosphere was intimate and it really felt like the beginning of something
strong. Big up to everybody who came down, was really cool to be a part of!
Wavemob - Skit, Klimeks, CVRL, Spoze & Kareful
CVRL played first, and kicked off the night with a very
chilled, almost purely Wave set. Since it was his first UK show, we were all
very excited for him, and though there weren’t many bodies in the room at this
time, those who were there seemed to respond well to the sound. Hearing the emotional
soundscapes of relaxed Wave tunes on a real sound system for the first time was
really moving for me, and perfectly provided the chilled atmosphere that the
early set time demanded. Hearing tunes like Hnrk’s ‘Nekrophag’ and CVRL’s own ‘Alone’
in a club environment was truly haunting. The set was very unique in its
emotive depth, definitely something that needs to be heard more in clubs, and
as the genre grows and gains support I hope to see a lot more UK CVRL sets. I
would have liked to have seen the system pushed a little harder at this point,
but it was still early on. Catch my interview with CVRL from a few weeks
ago here.
CVRL and Kareful behind the decks
Next on the billing was Skit, a London-based producer who
runs the Yusoul Records label, who I also had the pleasure of interviewing a
few weeks back (take a look here). Skit’s set was a little more upbeat than
CVRL’s, with a lot of Wavey Trap tunes being dropped. He was spinning CD and
handled the equipment well, dropping dirty mixes that had the crowd skankin'.
Spitting over his set was London hip hop duo Tailr.Mde.Lvn, who you can listen
to here (they also produce Wavey hip-hop beats). These two were hilarious, and
really added to the energy of Skit’s set which was nice to see. Skit previously
revealed that he’s working on some tunes with these guys that will be released
in the near future, and having now witnessed the chemistry these guys have
first-hand I am super excited to hear that! Though it was still fairly early,
the crowd picked up during Skit’s set and his energetic sound got a lot of love
from those dancing. If you missed out on the sounds of Skit at Survey, you can
catch him playing Fabric in April, back to back with Daffy
(find the event here). He’s assured me that he will be dropping a lot
of Wavey tunes there too, so if you’re a fan of the sound I’d definitely
recommend getting down there!
Skit ft Tailr.Mde.Lvn on the mic
Kareful was next up, delivering an absolutely cracking set!
The room was definitely livelier at this point and the system had been turned
up louder. The crowd went wild for Wave tunes like Kareful’s own ‘Emerald
Halls’ which was really great to see. His set also consisted of an array of
Grime and Dubstep, one of my favourite moments of non-wave was when he dropped
the Commodo remix of Gantz- ‘Free Focus’ - everyone in the room was dancing hard. Like Skit, Kareful handled the equipment well and showed us what can be
done with Wave to build excitement in a club environment. I can definitely see
Kareful being at the forefront of moving this sound from the internet to the
club. You can read my interview with him from earlier
this year, here.
Kareful
Kareful was the last Wave-head to play, coming off at 11pm.
The rest of the night saw an array of exciting Grime and Dubstep, with Jubilee
following Kareful on the decks. However Wave made a re-emergence later when
Chefal dropped Kareful’s Glacier and P Money spat over it; a really exciting
moment for Kareful and all the other Wave-heads in the house! Plastician also
dropped a few Wavey tunes, including ‘Children of Gaia’ by Sorsari. Because I
had to travel back to Bristol for work the next morning, I left before
Plastician’s set, but was gutted to hear the next day that I had missed a
surprise appearance from Benga and Joker, who went back to back with Plastician
on the decks, as well as Flowdan, who took over mic duties. I hear from all those
present that this was absolutely crazy, and was a special surprise for the
crowd who only paid £5 to see huge names.
It’s actually pretty incredible that on one of Wave’s first
club nights, some of the early pioneers of Dubstep - a genre which grew out of
Croydon and stayed underground for years before being launched into world-wide
popularity - showed up. It really reminds me of the constant potential for musical
movements to blow up and gain huge recognition. With the right level of
commitment and dedication, I have every confidence that the same can happen to
Wave. We need more nights where the Wave community can gather and celebrate the
incredible music pushed by these talented producers, and hopefully as the scene
grows from a purely online movement to a more physical and club-based one we
will see entirely Wave-focused nights emerge, with a much wider variety of
Wavey producers on the decks promoting their music.
After the night, a few fans and producers from
the scene gave me some words to express their reactions to the night. The
comments were overwhelmingly positive, and some that really stood out to me
were those given by IN:EXHALE, a wave producer himself, who simply said –
‘Wave in a live scenario showcases the energy and the attitude of London
sound, in way that allows the audience to either react drastically, or stand
back in awe, and let the atmosphere fully immerse them’ –
As
well as those made by Ben, a wave fan who came down for the night, who said –
‘It
was my first time hearing wave in a club environment and to be honest I loved
it! It was such an experience hearing all these different vibes from such
talented artists. I feel like this genre is going to blossom into something
extremely innovative!’
I
also spoke to Kareful who seemed really pleased with how the night went, saying
-
‘I
think the tracks went down pretty well, you never really know how people are
going to react to new music but it seemed like people really enjoyed it. A lot of
the harder more Trap and Grime stuff I played went down well, but so did a
lot of the Wavey stuff! Emerald halls got a good response as it always does,
which was great! I feel like over the next year, more and more people will show
up to the shows, which will be great so see!’
If I’m honest, I don’t think the sound system at Phonox was
as strong as it could have been during the Wave sets. I’m sure the sound was
pushed a lot harder as the night progressed, but I would have liked to have
heard the Wavey stuff backed up by some properly heavy bass. This is something
we can push to work towards in the future, and something that I’m sure will
become more of a priority for Wave DJs as the sound grows. At the moment, the
focus is on getting the sound out there and promoting it to a club crowd, and
this was certainly what happened for Wave on Wednesday. It was a huge step
forward for the development of the sound, and was also a lot of fun!
I’d like
to say a huge thank you to everyone I met that night in London for being so
welcoming and friendly, I can’t wait to see you all again, as we continue to
push the sound! If you weren’t at Phonox, make sure you don’t sleep on the next
opportunity to hear Wave being played out!