- It was 11:47 when I arrived at the carpeted Bookbinders palace. Excitement and anticipation had been gradually oozing from my veins since the countdown to Sandwell District—the first of meandyou's 2nd season parties—had begun. A two hour mix by Sandwell's Function and Regis, headliners for the night, had played havoc with my patience for over two weeks. I was clucking for technologically induced vibrations.
Photo credit: Nik Torrens
For those unfamiliar with the event; the crowd is an anthropologist's dream with its complex characters and entangled modern cultures. It's only unforgiving opinions of musical excellence, alongside alcohol and less savoury products, that provides a commonality between the differing factions. Fear and loathing has no place except behind the bar where staff make no effort to hide their contempt.
When I first entered, Joseph was drenching the room in subtle low-slung basslines and haunting melodic rhythms. The remaining hour-and-a-half of his set dived ever deeper, manipulating everyone into a heads-down marching stance. It's remarkable how far the young resident has come over the past six months. This was the first night that one of the regularly enlisted talents had been given the opportunity to build and shape the atmosphere to such an extent. The results? Unquestionable. The best nights are a product of mood-setting performances from home grown talents such as Joseph—and this was a fitting example.
As 1 AM cruised by, Function and Regis—or Kalon to fans of the British Murder Boys—had looks of dedication about their faces as they began to install their laptops and complex MIDI controllers. Function originates from over the Pond whilst Regis is a Birmingham-born disciple of situationism. Alongside Female and others they have helped to grow the self-evolving Sandwell label, whose output is never short of sublime.
Photo credit: Nik Torrens
The three-hour performance put on by the international alliance elegantly shifted between smooth entrancing chords and dark twisted intoxicating nuances. Tracks were pulled apart, reconstructed and let loose. Brief windows of future elements were momentarily shared with the adoring public as the likes of Sasche Funke, Shed, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann and nameless classics infused the pulsating dance floor. This was the first time I had seen either DJ, but their expertly executed flow and seamless timing were but two of the reasons I would witness them again.