An event advertised as a warehouse gig with exact location "TBA" can be a bit of a guessing game for London punters, but one can usually count on a stripped-down eastern locale. Peckham's ever more visible Bussey Building, however, stands as a solid alternative to any of the East End's multitude of spaces. Amid nail salons and off-licences, the all-purpose creative hub in the area designated by some as South London's next gentrification hot-spot (for better or for worse) offers an ideal sort of multi-story blank canvas for nights like Deviation x Hyperdub to take over.
The queue was still standing dozens strong upon my arrival near 1 AM, and inside would further testify to the hype surrounding the event—the first floor, where headliner Omar-S would soon take the decks for a two-hour romp, was thick with revellers and the characteristic warehouse wave of body heat. Upstairs proved less rammed, with Hyperdub/Young Turks' Morgan Zarate spinning dance floor-moving numbers du jour from Helix, D Double E and SBTRKT.
Photo credit: www.anomalousvisuals.com
A downside to raw spaces like Bussey is sometimes lacklustre attention paid to detail, which made finding posted set times for the night a difficult task. What was certain, though, was the buzz surrounding the end of Martyn's trademark spaced-out techno leanings on the first floor, with Omar-S preparing to step up. Donning a fisherman's hat and taking centre stage to the sound of "Detroit, make some noise," Omar-S proved more than capable of setting the kind of vibe you might expect from a Michigan veteran. Androgynous, arty 20-somethings rubbed shoulders with 40-year-old rave veterans and the dance was all the better for it, glued together by the organ-rattling strength of the sound system.
The second floor provided a breezier escape, with Scratcha DVA and Ikonika going back-to-back alongside the hiss of a gloriously over-the-top fog machine. For all the transcendent excitement of the first floor, the second did feel altogether more like a family affair, with Hyperdub head honcho Kode9 taking the mic and punters given more room to feel the rumble of the label's emphasis on bottom-end sound. Ultimately, though, I'd leave just past LV's set, worn out from a day on my feet and unsure of who I'd be missing (and where).
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