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A Review: Survey London at Phonox

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!


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