XPLICIT
deck maestro DJ Friction, aka Ed Keeley, who last guested at Xplicit two and a half years ago. ‘Every night I’ve played Xplicit has been a great one,’ says Keeley, ‘but then the drum & bass and jungle scenes are in a better position than they have been in a while. It’s great that we have people like Pendulum out there, because that way the scene can remain underground but still draw new, young fans in through these hugely successful
artists.’
McGrath agrees with this. ‘We probably have a younger crowd than most clubs, actually. Maybe about an 18 to 24 age range, mostly, and the Dillinja
for
its drum
& bass
scene, though,
good value multi-bill events with more than one big name attached to each – he’s also diversified into other areas, for example the Bongo’s budget midweek residents’ night JungleDub. He’s also tried out Xplicit nights in Glasgow, although for such a hands-on promoter, not being based in the city proved an obstacle. ‘I’d love to get something started there eventually,’ he says. ‘The nights we did put on in Glasgow were really well received, so there is an audience. Edinburgh’s still more renowned
DJ Friction which I think is down to the fact that there are more students from London and the south of England here, it’s a sound they’re used to hearing in clubs back home.’ Similarly, McGrath’s liking for dubstep has seen it creep onto the night’s playlists recently.
This birthday party, however, will feature an exclusively D&B line-up for one of the country’s most hyperactive crowds, including long-established former Metalheadz artist and Valve Recordings head Dillinja, the up-and- coming Spor and hot young Brightonian three-
core crowd comes and goes as people leave university and the city. But that mean we can’t stop growing. It might not be possible to jump from 1200 to 3000 capacity venues right away, but I don’t see why we can’t aim for that one day.’ doesn’t
Xplicit’s Fifth Birthday Party, with guests DJ Friction, Dillinja and Spor, Potterrow, Edinburgh, Fri 22 Jan.
PR: ‘It has an old-school piano and one of those chipmunk vocals on it, which was very unusual when it came out. People tend to get bored of a lot of tracks that are played so often, but not this one. As soon as that piano drops, everyone recognises it, and everyone goes bananas for it. High Contrast has had a bit of mainstream success, plus he’s signed to Hospital, pretty much the best label around.’
KONFLICT MORPHY
Messiah (Noisia Remix) (Renegade Hardware) Simon McGrath: ‘Konflict are two Glasgow-based producers, and even their own version of this track is one of my all-time favourites. This version stands out, though, because I remember Noisia playing it as the last track of our third birthday party and then crowdsurfing to it to end the set.’ Samsara (Nerve Recordings) PR: ‘This is actually on my own label Nerve, but it’s still one of my favourites. It’s a tough track which builds and builds slowly, with some nice eastern strings and an old-school jungle feel to it. Purely on crowd reaction, this would have to make it into an Xplicit top five – it’s really dancefloor friendly, but it doesn’t hit you in the face with a stick,
you know what I mean? Morphy’s from Glasgow, we used to run LiveEvil and he’s a fellow Xplicit resident.’ 21 Jan–4 Feb 2010 THE LIST 29