Review: Drum Music, 19th October

Drum Music
Friday 19th October

8/10

RUN BY a Manchester-based collective (who also run Base Camp), Drum Music is not your average club night! Tucked away under a railway arch, the Attic is the perfect venue for a club night with an underground vibe that gives you more than just commercial tunes. I was a bit sceptical at first of reggae, hip hop, drum & bass, dubstep, jungle, and live drumming all in the same room on the same night, but that scepticism vanished quickly as the Drum Music DJs expertly mixed between the genres.

The night warmed up with dubstep from Ken Evil followed by reggae tracks from Longshot, with drum beats slowly creeping into the mixes. Things really kicked off when the West African drumming group Tanante came on, the sound of their drum beats reverberated around the room with no need for microphones. The crowd loved it! The live drumming in the middle of the club night was an amazing and strangely disorientating experience, bringing something of the summer festival feeling into Manchester’s autumn. Tanante brought the night to life and are no amateurs; they perform in venues throughout the North West and run West African Djembe Drumming Workshops.

 With the crowd well and truly warmed up, R-Lass, the ‘unstoppable jungle warrior’ took over, followed by Fibre with some serious drum & bass. The dance floor was alive and the bar area almost empty - it was obvious that this was a night for people who know what kind of music they like and don’t need to get drunk to enjoy it. Rufmouth kept the crowd going with hip hop fused with an undercurrent of drum & bass, and then Ken Evil was back to ease the night to a finish with some dubstep.     

 This wide range of music genres was refreshing and attracted a very open minded and mixed crowd, with a healthy balance of students and non-students: the Drum Music collective is successful in its aim to ‘break down barriers and include as many different people as possible’. Having said all this, the night does end up being mainly Drum & Bass, as the name would imply, with the reggae and dubstep there mainly to ease into and out of the more hardcore D n’ B. I would definitely recommend this refreshingly unique club night - get yourself down there! Just watch out for the resident unicorn…

Check out next week’s issue for an interview with one of Bass Camp’s DJs.

Agnes Beviz