- The Hydra has been a notable fixture in London’s clubbing calendar since 2012, and last Saturday's guests—Levon Vincent, Mr. G and Move D—were fairly typical of the big-name bookings that usually make it onto their flyers. The most natural comparison would be Manchester's Warehouse Project, which, like The Hydra, operates seasonally, and also started by throwing parties in out-of-the-ordinary spaces before settling into a more permanent home. While WHP's size and lineups might be more sprawling than The Hydra's, the London outfit still faces many of the same issues that plague events of a certain size. The more people there are involved, the trickier it is to get the sound and logistics right, not to mention the price of the tickets.
These issues have been known to spark debate on RA's comment threads, where The Hydra's co-founder and resident Dolan Bergin has often been vocal in responding to criticism. Online disputes notwithstanding, though, thanks to my own disappointing experiences in oversized clubs, I had my reservations about heading to The Hydra's east London home, Studio Spaces E1, for the first time. But aside from an underwhelming second room—hampered by overly bright lights and echoey sound—I was pleasantly surprised.
The first thing to note about Studio Spaces is that the sound is very good. As Levon Vincent took the reigns from Bergin in the main room, the sporadic handclaps that punctuated his early selections panned around me via the venue’s gloriously crisp and punchy rig. Playing for two hours, the New Yorker's set was the highlight of the evening. He displayed a playful showmanship between records, while balancing steady grooves with productions that were wonderfully thick and gloopy with detail. UK house music vet Mr. G stepped up next for a boisterous live performance, turning out the kind of sample-heavy, loopy material he’s best known for. More than once during his set, he jumped up on the stage to conduct the crowd.
Closing out the final four hours was Move D, whose methodical pacing was befitting of the longest set of the night. There were a few surprise turns, like Mosca’s 2-step throwback "Bax" (pitched way down to a chug), and although the momentum petered out somewhat at the tail end, it wasn’t enough to put a dampener on a night where everything just seemed to come together. On this showing, you’d be hard pressed to find a better example of a promoter putting on nights of this scale in London.