It's hard to believe Subfriction’s residency at Blackfriars only began in January, it's name is mentioned in the same breath as nights many years it's senior. After a fantastic launch night featuring guests Rufftrax and Acto alongside residents Floyd and Kid Robotik they had the confidence and pockets to bring Taz Buckfaster out to play. The Recovery EP was one of the duttiest dubstep releases of 2010 so I was looking forward to skanking it up! Throw local hero Indra into the mix and suddenly February 11th was imprinted in the collective calendar and mind.
Kid Robotik put his fingers on wax to get the night started with Philly B on hype duty, after playing together at nights like Volition and In About It! these two go together like chalk on blackboards, or cheese on crackers. Start as you mean to go on seemed to be the vibe and it was deep and dirty from the outset, right up my street. This is no less than crowds have come to expect from the increasingly talented and prolific Kid Robotik, expect big tings from him in 2011.
It's refreshing to see a female DJ spinning vinyl but Floyd is no gimmick, girls' got skills and a bag full of funky dub to back it up. I loved her set at the first Subfriction and tonight she was no disappointment. She kept the room bouncing and nicely grooved her way through a genre defying hour that kept her name on lips long after she left the decks. She's an inspired choice of resident for Subfriction and offers something completely different to so many dub style DJs out there. Her style is futuristic, funky and fresh. Long may she reign.
I'd describe the first half of Indra's set as dubstep with a tropical flare, though that doesn't really do him justice, he progressed from comparatively light beats to the likes of the disgustingly satisfying 'Smoking Ban' by Skinnyman and a beautifully filthy remix of the ubiquitous 'It's Bigger Than Hiphop' by Dead Prez which helped the crowd find it's skanking feet and made the best of the four (yes, four) extra subs the promoters had dragged down. The last twenty minutes of his set was my personal highlight of the night, but that grimey style is what got me into dubstep in the first place.
Taz Buckfaster was in charge of riddims for the last hour and started very high energy, it wasn't long before baseball caps were throwing themselves off of heads and onto the floor in the sheer excitement of it all as he hit the crowd with jump up tune after jump up tune. The dubstep got heaviest as 3am started to loom and the most eager Tazfans threw themselves into each other with a gusto more frequently seen in moshpits in heavy metal basements rather than Blackfriars. To be honest, this wasn't my cup of tea but then I use phrases like "not my cup of tea".
No night would be complete without hiccups, and no review complete without mention of them. Now very much a marked man, Slot One was responsible for tagging all over the freshly painted bathroom walls, an act that didn't exactly ingratiate Subfriction with the bouncers and management. Add to that some further antics in the "ladies" toilets (which would be scandalous for me to go into) and necessitated the removal of the stall doors and I do worry about the future of the night. It'd be a real vibe killer if Subfriction had to rehome, especially with No Face and Bungo booked for March, the promoters have served up a dubstep scene on a plate, something Glasgow really needed, it'd be a shame if the city didn't give the love back.
Words: Chris Stevens (Megamegaman)
Photos: Crocky Da Man
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