Episodes Presents - VS

The London club land has always been known for it’s diversity and forward thinking ethos but in recent times, since the second coming of house I have to say I’d found a real lack of innovation.

 

Like yes, you can go to established spaces and enjoy huge lineups each week however in terms of exciting ideas and concepts things run pretty much like this; “Come here – See all these names you recognize”.  So it was very refreshing to hear about a new concept night, VS presented by Episodes.

It’s a well-known fact that many dance music producers use different aliases. This affords them the opportunity to flex their musical muscles in different directions and do things they are not generally known for.  Episodes pit artist’s aliases against each other in a night that rewards eclectic listeners with a wide-ranging mash up of styles.

Spending the early hours of the night in the smoking area there was a real excitement about VS. People not talking about headliners but discussing the kind of people they would like to see at a night like this. Zed Bias / Madslinky / Phuturistix  I heard a lot, would be nice before he retires…

Kahn vs Neek was set to clash the duo’s resurgent grime bangers against Kahn’s more dubwise productions. It was right on point, laying on the pressure with golden age dubstep tunes before vicious grime dubplates and then back into the deep. Bringing on Flo Dan as a special guest was a nice touch, things got so hot the fire alarm went off, no seriously it did!

 

Addison Groove vs Headhunter was poised to be the set of the night. Maybe I expected too much, I wanted to be thrown about between 808 pace and darkness but instead got half and half. The dubstep he mixed wasn’t enough of his ‘sound’, considering his more eclectic catalogue of Tempa and Techtonic releases.

However, once ‘Work Them’ dropped everything kicked off and the next 30 mins was my highlight of the night. Frantic drum machine wizardry and footworking bass.

 

Plastician vs Plasticman was always going to be eclectic. He has a track record for promoting much outside of his own label ‘Terror Rhythm’ on his Rinse shows and being a key figure in Dubstep, Grime and recent Trap/Bass movements. His set was peppered with all sorts of goodies and plenty of new stuff alongside those raw Plasticman tracks.

 

During the gig I caught up with promoter and longtime bass enthusiast Kai Marley about the night.

The nights concept was the most original thing I've seen in a while, how did it come about? It just came to me one day to be honest. I like the whole soundclash 'vs' thing anyway, and asking artists to play 'against' their own alias' allows them to explore their whole range of music in one set, without being tied down to one genre.

It's something a bit different and unique, which I think is lacking these days in the London club scene. I don't want there to be any boundaries or limitations here in terms of musical style. So often now you go to a party and listen to house or techno or whatever for 6 hours straight. Which is cool, I like that too sometimes, but it's everywhere.

Playing a really eclectic set is good in concept but on the floor it can be tough. Was that in your head when choosing the acts? It was more about giving artists the challenge of drawing from more than one of their musical backgrounds and letting them run with it. They can decide what to do with the set. That's what makes it interesting I think.
So what plans do you have for 'Episodes'?

Episode 2 & 3 are coming in early 2015. Can't really tell you much else at the moment.

Everyone I'm speaking to Artist-wise seems to be really up for the whole alias vs alias thing, so you can expect some interesting things to come for Episodes.

So…Stay tuned for the next episode.
Words by Josh Gray

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