1-800 Dinoasaur

The best representation of the way in which 1-800 Dinosaur came across at their Store Street takeover can be found on Airhead’s guttering polyrhythmic floor-rattler October. The overcast aggression of the sampled “Don’t go there” mantra that crops up throughout has a streak of carefully calculated unfriendliness, but it’s packaged in this grime-indebted UK-centric production that feels so warm and familiar. The manifestation of this Anglo-dancefloor vision was the highlight of Blake and co’s party. It was the eyes-down selections of him and his peers that proved the  real worth and the potential of their label.

Airhead got the night off right with a myriad of underground dance tropes. His technical ability as a DJ meant that the nods to 2 step, grime, garage and jungle weaved in and out of each other seamlessly. Dense yes, but it takes an extremely proficient DJ to play a set like this before what is essentially a sold out James Blake gig. When his time came, Blake proved once again that he can effortlessly mollycoddle the affections of: screeching super fans, chin-strokers and those in search of the maddest night of their life by reworking his hits to incorporate headier drops and bigger highs. Blake’s popularity among club-goers leaves him with the same issues that Caribou had to battle with a few weeks prior and – like Caribou – his affinity with both worlds left nobody disappointed.

He made a point of thanking everyone for coming to the 1-800 night (again reiterating the wider attractions) and while the crowd thinned after his set, it was by no means a lull of a centrepiece. After Mala kept the bass weight running in room 1, label boss Dan Foat was getting a more conventional party started with Frank Tope in room 2 which kept us occupied until James Blake reappeared to DJ with his secret weapon: ex Roll Deep MC Trim. After giving the main room a re-up with an airing of Young Thug’s instant classic Danny Glover, Blake dropped a string of bulky grime instrumentals for Trim to spit over. An exhilarating set, and testament to 1-800 Dinosaur’s ability to bring a sense of back-room intensity to the country’s largest dance platform.