Four Tet and Ikonik showcase intelligent dance music at Oxjam
Oxjam 2010 review
Tuesday 5th October 2010
As part of another creative way of raising cash for good causes, Oxfam have one more converted one of their larger stores into a live music venue and stuffed it full of the best second-hand items from all their outlets, all in the name of attracting punters to enjoy live music and buying goods to raise cash. However, the bands who took to the stage on a cold evening at the end of September were anything but second-hand, which saw the union of the unique tech house of Four Tet supporting the unique blend of electronic sweeps and hard hitting beats of Ikonika. It's no surprise given the line-up and locale that this attracted a great crowd of IDM (intelligent dance music, don't you know!) fans, expectant to see what these two were capable of.
First of all, major thanks go out to the Oxfam store staff and volunteers for putting on such a good night – even though they had organised three nights of live music and partying beforehand, they showed few signs of flagging and got people into the spirit of the evening, encouraging people to buy from the stacks of great CDs, DVDs, Vinyl, books, clothes and loads more. It's worth mentioning that there was plenty of Four Tet gear on offer for cheap that had been generously donated, so a bargain was to be had before the music kicked in. I myself ran off with a copy of a collaboration album and a random mix from Skint records, so bonus points for me for the night.
First up to the decks on the set list is DJ Ikonika, who cuts a small figure behind the decks. Sporting dual decks, mixer and Macbook, the sound she produces is in no way small, which her set of just over an hour was able to demonstrate. What stood out to me was her ability to mix and match records that flowed well in the mix, producing a progressive sound that created great build ups and enjoyable hooks. Her set covered just about all the genres of electronic music from tech-house and electro beats to samba rhythms, dubstep stompers and glitchy rave, including a lot of her own releases in the process, with pinpoint mixing precision. By doing this, Ikonika ensured that there was always something new coming up while being able to break up a monotone 4/4 beat that often plagues house DJs without resorting to drops and fade outs. Certainly there's not a lot to hear that you are going to find on mainstream radio but the crowd enjoyed it and her set provided an excellent warm up to what was to come.
Stepping up as the headline event, Four Tet wasted little time in setting up to show his stuff, all produced and mixed live with a pair of laptops, complete samplers, fades and effects. The result was that he was able to play his tracks on the fly with a lot of improvisation, leading to glitchy resamplings, haunting echoes, thumping basslines and brilliant drops between tracks. It's gigs like these that show that electronic music has finally managed to come out of the bedroom and have become performances in their own right.
I had heard before the gig that his music was described as "folk electronic". While this reflects some of the more ambient tracks with acoustic guitar sounds, I believe that this doesn't half cover it, as he is quite happily able to create sounds akin to Daft Punk or LCD Soundsystem as easily as Jazzanova or Future Sound Of London. Highlights included a fantastic progressive mix of Angel Echoes that grew slowly into a house stomper and a very glitchy and reprogrammed version of Sing that had the sound bouncing off the walls, all music from his more recent album with older favourites stuck in for good measure.
Clearly the man to watch this evening, the crowd showed their appreciation in the form of the scrum of dancing bodies before the small stage. Note to self – an Oxfam shop is not the best place to dance in and if this is what a group of usually sedate IDM-lovers get up to, I can only imagine the mess a rock gig would produce.
eFestivals t-shirts, vests, hoodies, fleeces, mugs, tickets
As well as being the UK's most popular festivals website, eFestivals sells its own range of clothing and other goodies. There's a range of t-shirts and vest-tops, and hoodies and fleeces, all featuring the eFestivals 'dancing man'.
eFestivals is 
