APEX PRESENTS: SUBSOUL w/ T.WILLIAMS, ZED BIAS & MARIBOU STATE
Blue Mountain, Bristol | March 30th
The Bristol force that is Apex Records welcomed SubSoul to town for the first time, presenting a solid house and garage line-up which sold out in no time.
The coming together of these two respected names and the acts on show meant a heaving crowd of people on a mutual wavelength. Entering Blue Mountain we found Onza and ∆dmin delivering sets way beyond that of a mere warm up, while a second room featuring the Apex Collective, Miamian b2b with Jakatu, Colorbox and Bailey provided a strong source of diversity and flavour, fluctuating between variations on a bassy theme.
Back in the main room, Maribou State were the first of the heavyweights on show, continuing to cement a burgeoning reputation based largely on their clever remixes and solid productions. Given an hour to work with, the duo went in with a series of surefire crowd pleasers – a Four Tet remix followed by a jacked-up version of Ben Pearce’s What I Might Do and a stunning Bonobo remix – all interspersed with more obscure house slammers. This was a set full of marvel and intrigue.
T.Williams continued to mine that housey territory, whilst also subtly introducing the more garage-based elements which would soon begin to define the main room, with a heavier leaning that prompted escalating energy levels. He didn’t shy away from the mainstream either, dropping Bashmore, DJ Luck + MC Neat and even Basement Jaxx’ Red Alert across his two hour set.
Zed Bias may have more pseudonyms than a schizophrenic con-artist (see Maddslinky, Phuturistix, Daluq, The Henchmen etc), but he’s most commonly known for the classic garage hit Neighbourhood under the Bias monicker. Now signed to the esteemed Tru Thoughts, his set expectedly supplied the bulk of the garage vibes. He made a huge entrance, carrying on the trend of irresistible selections and remixes, second track in dropping Azzido Da Bass, before ranging to the best version of The Source feat Candi Staton’s You Got the Love that we’ve ever heard. Expectations were surpassed all night as a wealth of DJing precision saw classic old school elements polished up and spliced seamlessly with the new.
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Words: Claude Barbé-Brown
Photo: Theo Cottle
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