- Given the high profile of Livity Sound, it's remarkable that it took until 2015 for Peverelist (the outfit's core member alongside Kowton) to make it to the United States. Livity Sounds remains overlooked in the US, which is strange given their devoted following in the world of bass music. Peverelist and Kowton's recent ten-day tour made only a few stops in The States and missed New York, so I took a trip to Washington D.C.'s to catch the Bristol duo at the city's up-and-coming Flash club.
Situated on a major street in a trendy area of D.C., Flash has an unhinged vibe that's accentuated by its excellent Funktion One system, its roof deck with skyline views of the city and the LED lighting system on the main floor. Bottle service is offered unobtrusively, even on weeknights, but the overall atmosphere remains focused squarely on the music and the dance floor.
Livity Sound came on around 11 PM, with Peverelist up first. He pushed the soundsystem full-strength from the opening tune, switching off with Kowton every few tracks. The first half of their three-hour set didn't hit many familiar points, which might have been because I hadn't yet heard the label's most recent releases, but is also partly down to the nature of their music: situated in an amorphous middle ground between techno and bass, there's often little to latch onto for long.
The two artists showed noticeably different DJ styles, with Kowton queuing up the grimy bangers and dirtier drops while Pev went deeper, occasionally catching the crowd off guard with a rave track. By 1 AM the room was packed and the audience—a mixture of heads and weeknight partiers—was deep in its groove. Soon the set wandered through vocal-led dancehall cuts that had the crowd bouncing across the floor. By the final stretch, Pev and Kowton made their way back to canonical dubstep, with Skream's mix of Digital Mystikz's "Ancient Memories," a pair of Skull Disco tunes and classic Untold on Hessle Audio. The music had been excellent, and with the party still swinging and the DJs playing for another 45 minutes after the lights went on, I left with a very good impression of Flash. Let's hope we won't have to wait too long for Livity Sound to make it back to The States.