The Bug @ Unsound – photo by Dubversion

It was always going to be good, but…

Brixton in the freezing cold, trudge trudge trudge. I was already fairly boxed before I got there, which turned out to be exactly the right state to be in for the rest of the night…

Dubversion up to his usual tricks on the decks, warming the place up up up… and still being chatty. Somebody renamed the venue Jamm since last time, but I’ll let them off because they also divided it up into two rooms and put a big soundsystem in the main one. Initially we were confined to the bar room which meant a chance to catch up, and to meet some online personas in the flesh.

Kevin Martin showed up with his bags and gave me the lowdown on the contiuning Bug infection strategies – been in the studio since the beginning of the year, been destroying computers like they were going out of fa-fa-fa-fashion, been playing all over the place – low key things where the audience is guaranteed to go mental. I even carried his bag for him into the main room, the slag that I am. There had been some indie band on in the main room… time to blow all that away!

Some teething problems with the sound (which frustratingly sounded excellent in the hall, but the monitors weren’t working or something, so no noise on the stage) meant another brief set from Dubversion (ha! Main Room action at last!) who rose to the occasion inna rub a dub style. Wicked.

And then… Kevin had sussed that people were up for a party, so we got a top notch selection of 90s ragga – Burru Banton, Ninjaman, Cutty Ranks, oh yes and some Smiley Culture. Great stuff rewound at the right moment, a touch of effects, superb pacing, the whole place jumping. Ras B and Warrior Queen took the stage and the sound… the sound… some bloke behind me heard the first burst and said “oh this is a bit violent for me, I think I’ll go next door again”.

MCs on form – you can tell they’ve been out on the road a load recently – occasionally telling Kevin to put a sock in it so they can freestyle and be heard, Ras B on the war on terror, Warrior Queen with some rude spanish… it just got better and better – Warrior Queen over the Killer riddim, Ras B AND Warrior Queen over “F-Yah Self” which tore the place up (that bass never sounded so good and the the sirens were perfect – not grating at all). Somewhere in the mix Kelis and TOK collided, a one-off mashup or something we can all get our hands on? They rocked it.

The only thing to follow up with was Miss Pink with some ruff Congo Natty classics moving into drum ‘n’ bass. Great to see her up there – she used to sell me d ‘n’ b and breakcore records in Ambient Soho and was about 17 million times nicer than anyone else working in a “dance” record shop I have ever encountered. Top DJ also.

So there I was, shivering, wandering down Brixton Road at 3:00am, muttering to myself “fucking excellent… fuck me… fuuuuuuck…”. 4 night buses to get home but worth every minute…