Club Watch: Beat Dimension Warehouse Party @ Hackney Downs Studios

By Londonist Last edited 144 months ago
Club Watch: Beat Dimension Warehouse Party @ Hackney Downs Studios

Showcasing three of the year’s most promising techno scientists, tonight’s Beat Dimension Party in East London’s cavernous Hackney Downs Studios provides the appropriate setting for a new breed of analogue wunderkinds.

Jay-Z and Kanye, Fripp and Eno, Des and Mel – there’s something exciting when artists at the height of their powers come together. And so it proves with Karenn, the latest project from two of UK Bass’ brightest hopes. Blawan made 2011 his own with a string of fine 12”s which peaked with the track Gettin’ Me Down — an irresistible cocktail of sticky r’n’b vocals, churning bass and his distinctively colossal drum sound — if you were kept awake at all last summer it was probably the reason why. He is joined under the Karenn guise by Pariah, the young London maestro who, since emerging with his seminal track Orpheus has developed a particularly emotive style of futuristic garage.

Moving away from the bass scene where they made their names, the collaborative material has a pronounced techno slant, with its sight set firmly on main-room dance floors. With their debut 12” recently released, expect their three hour (!) set to feature tough techno rhythms, 4x4 flavours and no doubt a seasoning of low-end wobble.

Though dubstep and techno have been seeing each other casually for some time, rising producer Objekt has brought some romance back into the relationship. A trickle of tracks last year flitted effortlessly between the two forms, crossing half-step rhythms with raw techno missives. Within a year of releasing material he was being commissioned by Radiohead and SBTRKT for remixes duties. These days it takes a lot to stand out in the dubstep scene, a genre increasingly oversaturated, over-reported and uninspired. Objekt is quietly reshaping the genre’s parameters – an extended set tonight should shed some light on this mysterious young producer.

Completing the bill is the masked Redshape from Berlin, whose strain of foreboding techno will hopefully help recreate the requisite Berghain at 6AM vibe. A bill of hard hitting excitement awaits – this weekend there will be little to top this.

Beat Dimension Warehouse Party: Karenn, Redshape & Objekt at Hackney Downs Studios, Friday 2nd March. Tickets are available here.

Last Updated 02 March 2012