Thrasher at Warehouse Project implies a direction at odds with its underground roots

Last year's Thrasher was one of the highlights of the Warehouse Project's 2009 run. There were emerging stars of the dubstep scene filling the main room, while the modest stage of the second room sported more experimental artists. Most importantly, though, there was an atmosphere, born of the mutual appreciation of music that rarely gets such attention, that was both excited and friendly. This year's, however, delivered on none of these points. In fact, my first experience of 2010's WHP implied a direction that is the antithesis of its underground roots.

Before I elaborate on that, though, some more positive words need to be said about one of the night's earlier acts: LA based experimental hip hop producer Flying Lotus. His set was firmly in line with my naive expectations about the night: it was seamless but varied; intricate but dance worthy; and without a doubt the best set of the evening. Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect was how much Flying Lotus was enjoying playing. You could see his grin from a mile off, and his enthusiastic mannerisms vicariously inspired the same thrill he was obviously feeling; before you knew it you were throwing yourself into your moves with all the teeth baring abandon of the man himself.

Some highlights included the spruced up version of his 'Tealeaf Dancers' from the 'Reset EP', and an unexpected but very welcome divergence into 'Idioteque' by Radiohead. Unfortunately for the rest of the night no one held a candle up to this performance.

Katy B, despite having a beautiful voice and a full live band, failed to make her music interesting enough to warrant much enjoyment. Only those who were more interested in balling out every word of her songs (with somewhat less skill than Katy B) than actually listening seemed to be having a good time. It's questionable whether they needed to be in a warehouse underneath Piccadilly train station to do this, however.

This was actually a constant problem throughout the night. Even with the huge racks of Funktion 1 speakers ominously leaning over the crowd, the fact that the night was so hopelessly oversold meant that the din of chatter and singing was epidemic to the point that it actually diluted the sound. Even while standing right at the front, it was slightly difficult to pick out the more subtle high end, and when you add to this the feeling that you spent the whole night moving out the way for people pushing this way or that, it was hard to concentrate on the music at all.

Chart toppers Magnetic Man do not require a huge amount of concentration, but I still found it hard to enjoy. The whole thing felt more like a pop concert than anything, their anthems from their album taking most of the set, punctuated with the most generic 'wobble' dup step. The hugely popular and shallowly enjoyable 'I Need Air' was cheapened by the fact that the volume was continually pulled down to let the crowd sing the chorus.

The density of the crowd waned slightly after Magnetic Man closed their set, which is due, I imagine, to those coming from other cities having to leave early to catch whatever public transport would take them home. After this, the evening got a little better. Sets from the likes of Kode 9, and Digital Mystikz demonstrated where dubstep came from and where it will go after this brief honeymoon in the world of top 40 singles and celebrity singers blows over.

Overall, a very disappointing evening. Something about the line-up, the huge increase in numbers, and the fact that the cinema room has changed into a huge advertising shrine to Bench made the whole thing feel at odds with what Thrasher has meant in the past. It felt like the night had moved out of the basement and into the nationally appealing realm of the pop concert. Let's hope this isn't the shape of things to come for the rest of 2010's Warehouse Project.

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