- Many people who consider themselves knowledgeable of London's club scene seem to turn their nose up at XOYO. It's hard to say why exactly. The venue has a more than respectable soundsystem and plays host to some excellent artists—Kyle Hall, Gilles Peterson and Andrew Weatherall are just a few of the big names playing in the coming months. It certainly feel less serious than spots like Plastic People and attracts a young, boozy crowd—an aspect that's openly encouraged by a glowing shot bar right by the club's entrance. Still, it can be tremendous fun.
Night Slugs and Livin' Proof's session there in June was strong evidence for this. Bringing together party time hip-hop and all manner of bass-led electronic music in the main room, the night had the vibe of a really great student union. (And that's not meant to be a backhanded compliment.) The Livin' Proof DJs, who've earned a rep in London by promoting sell-out nights with US rap stars like A$AP Rocky and Danny Brown, are masters of rocking a party. The music they play is more or less standard fare at any hip-hop club. Notorious B.I.G. and '90s Timbaland beats are mixed with new tracks from Drake and Kendrick Lamar. What's remarkable is the way they bring it all together. A non-stop stream of bangers is delivered with super-sharp scratch mixing, beat juggling and sub-minute blends. Even if you hate this kind of thing, you can't deny their technical prowess. The highlight was probably a mix from Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Paris" into TNGHT's "Higher Ground," a moment where you could palpably feel the energy peak, and almost taste the Jägermeister in the air.
Downstairs, the Night Slugs crew also kept the energy levels well into the red. On entering the main room at midnight, there was no hint of a warm-up: the room was heaving to the sound of gritty, Dance Mania-style ghetto-house. In the space of about 15 minutes you could have heard New Jersey garage from Kerri Chandler, unclassifiable bass music from Girl Unit and a crazy rave version of Destiny's Child "Bug A Boo." It was exactly the kind of hyperactive genre-hopping that has made the Night Slugs label so well-loved. Night Slugs seem to throw everything they can into the pot and, remarkably, come out with something they can call their own.
As label heads Bok Bok and L-Vis 1990 closed out the night it was interesting how often they pushed the music away from standard four-to-the-floor rhythms. Every third track seemed to be full of hyperactive drum programming or silly broken beats. When they combined this with saccharine R&B acapellas or dirty gangsta rap lyrics (one track seemed to repeat "spank that ass" over and over for a truly unreasonable amount of time), they created a particularly impolite and jarring take on house music. In the main it sounded fantastic. Any minor gripes, such as an overzealous photographers or the club's slightly hard to manoeuvre layout, should be easy to disregard on a good night at XOYO. Simply dive in, order another black sambuca and get amongst it.