The night began with a slow and chilly start, arriving to a queue of people spilling off the curb all the way down The Mile Castle. Eventually reaching the doors, we filed our way through the people buzzing around the bar. The stage layout echoed that of a Boiler Room, with the decks at the front of the raised stage and people horse-shoed around the DJ. As we caught the end of Chloé Robinson’s set, the dancefloor was pulsing along to dreamy techno beats. Although the crossover to the headliner of the night was a little shaky, the abrupt pause in music was quickly filled with cheers for Interplanetary Criminal.
The Manchester-born DJ, known his genre-blending twist to UKG tradition, graced the NX stage for the second time this year as part of his October tour across the north of England, Europe and the US. With the nonchalance that has become a staple of his performances since his legendary Dekmantel vinyl set, IPC sipped his pint and loaded up his first song of the night, a 90’s chanting synth vocal over a two-step house beat. Having grown up in Manchester, a hub of modern rave culture, he showed off his cultivated taste as he teased vocals from Grime legends JME and Wiley over speed garage drops.
Mixing old into new, he paid homage to the iconic Prodigy’s Out of Space, a tune that pioneered breakbeat with its expert drum sampling. Working the crowd, he playfully slowed the beat, conducting us into attention for the drop that sent arms flying and drinks spilling. Another highlight of the night was the euphoric drop of his track Yosemite, a collaboration with Kettama that perfectly blends wobbly beats with rising melodic vocals building to the most iconic moment of the night.
Yosemite, a collaboration with Kettama that perfectly blends wobbly beats with rising melodic vocals building to the most iconic moment of the night.
Other than some complaints I usually have for NX, an overcrowded dancefloor and a sound system that can’t quite fill its huge walls, the lively night captured the energy of the next academic year, leaving us all excited for more big nights to come.