- DFA Records are a diverse handful of talents, but one thing that they share in common is a sound more suited to a small intimate box room of arty types, rather than the immense space of matter. The main room at matter that greets clubbers on entrance can only be described as gargantuan—vaulted ceilings and a third floor skybridge for the VIPs—enough space on the dance floor to pull a few shapes you'd think. There is an elevated DJ booth that would rival an airport control tower for inputs, switches and blinking lights, and, opposite that, the club stage.
Gucci Soundsystem warmed up room one with solid house beats you wanted do a Bee Gees strut to, in a much chirpier style than some of his minimal productions. As one of DFA's prized dance artists, it was surprising to see Gucci on first—he deserved to play to a larger crowd than the pickings of people that paraded round the room as matter filled up. Meanwhile, room two, with its smart animated mosaic projected on the wall, was filled by some funky house grooves topped with jazzy improvisations by Mock & Toof and Babytalk. There was a feel-good vibe running throughout, contributed no doubt by the younger, more eclectic range of folks in a wide range of dress-up—anything from checked shirts to smart shirts to logo t-shirts.
The first live act was Yacht, a crunk girl-boy coupling that are as much about their moves as their music. They danced in synchronized shapes and interacted with the crowd, telling us "We're here for you!" Their invigoration was replicated by some of the audience, but even though they were there for us, it still felt like we were waiting for something else. Planningtorock, a solo female act, wasn't it—she didn't fare well with her obscure musical style of sampled harp plucking and indecipherable vocals, despite some mad props including an elaborate LED head mask. But even though things had dimmed somewhat, there was excitement in the air. It was almost half 1, and the main room was packing out, all those little spare spaces were being filled and suddenly you'd lost your friends and you were squashed in somewhere. Next on the bill? LCD's Special Disco Version.
matter turned into a flagrant disco party as soon as Pat Mahoney and James Murphy started spinning. Big and bouncy 4/4 house loops shook the club like a toy and high-pitched strings with funk bass had the crowd elated. Grins were spread as wide as faces and there were handclaps together to the ultra-catchy anthems. It truly felt like a disco party, sans the sunglasses and flares. The disco house rubbed shoulders with tech house and on a version of Housemaster Boyz's "House Nation" whoops and whistles hit the high ceiling as the place exploded. An edit of DJ Pierre & Marshall Jefferson's "Everybody Dance (Clap Your Hands)" made for an infectious, upbeat finale of screaming soulful female vocals, which led directly into Gavin Russom who came onstage with his arms out-stretched.
Russom continued the journey through a world led by a driving bass line that quaked through the walls and floors and numbed our bodies. Composed, lapping up the attention, Russom twisted and tweaked knobs on his mixer as an architect might, meticulously altering his layered and progressive sound—his opening track lasting what must have been over twenty mind-bending minutes. After Russom finished with wiry, whining synths, lights went off and body images flashed up in strobe style across the huge wall space where the scrawled DFA logo had previously been proudly presented. Optimo finished the night off on a deeper and darker trajectory, on some bizarre samples that made us gawp. DFA's last trick: Turning this jubilant disco house into a dirty deep one.