- Rye Wax set up shop in the basement of the Bussey Building last summer, the first of three record stores to appear along Peckham's Rye Lane. Late last month the owners were given the the keys to the rest of the building, throwing their first As Below, So Above party. The lineup for the occasion was diverse, ranging from Glenn Astro and Egyptian Lover to Baltimore and Jersey-indebted London crew Gang Fatale. In theory, that kind of variety in a night is appealing, but the different options also posed the threat of congested stairwells and transient crowds.
When I arrived for Glenn Astro's set with IMYRMND, the club felt uncharacteristically sparse. The duo, who are frequent collaborators and part of the crew revolving around London's Wotnot imprint and Berlin's Oye Records store, navigated their way through lush and danceable house, hip-hop and more. But there were only an awkward few dancers on the floor, and the room's disjointed layout meant that some of the crowd were hidden around a corner.
Egyptian Lover played in in the main room, and it was soon clear that he was the night's biggest draw. He began his set DJing, moving rapidly between house and electro cuts from the oversized record bag next to him. Halfway through, though, things changed for the weirder: he stepped up into the spotlight and, with a completely straight face, pulled on a black Kangol cap and a dark pair of shades before grabbing the mic and starting a live PA. The performance featured a live 808 and a lot of call-and-response with the audience, which lent it a silly but enjoyable feel.
Downstairs, meanwhile, Henry Wu and K15 presided over a full dance floor. The sound was ropey, but that felt less important with the kind of jazz-flecked hip-hop beats they were flitting between. The Rye Wax residents closed out the main room, playing to a reduced cluster of people that seemed very up for it. Dropping slow-build house like Maurice Fulton's remix of DJ Nori’s "Happy Sunday," there was a hypnotic, steady pacing to their set. The residents' carefully considered selections were a pleasant relief—elsewhere on the night, restless crowds and open-handed eclecticism had left the party feeling a little scattered.