Hush House
Skudge (Live), Dylan Thompson
R. Cary & J. Were
The Garage
Friday 23rd November

Hush House don’t really mess about when it comes to stellar mixtapes, well-respected electronic music websites and more-than-decent club nights. The success of their latest outing into Leeds clubbing territory, therefore, shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It was an interesting booking, but it has to be said that for the most part the Hush House crowd weren’t looking for edge, and would probably have been satisfied with whatever offering Nathan and co. served up. Nonetheless, edge was what they got, with a live set from Swedish duo Skudge.

R. Cary and J. Were warmed things up pretty nicely, throwing in some funky disco sounds for the early birds before Elias Landberg and Gustafson Wallnerstrom took the stage. The headliners filled up the rather small space provided by The Garage’s quirky setup with analog hardware and treated us to a ridiculous hour of off-the-cuff, propulsive techno. It was absolutely brilliant to watch and even more fun to dance to, and the Scandinavians kept things danceable, with only a few detours into the slower, tech house side of things. It was a deliciously heavy set, and full of energy, despite some diehard fans complaining that it wasn’t quite hard enough for their tastes. It has to be said that the crowd were slightly frustrating, treating the main room more like the living room of a house party and talking over what should have been a captivating ninety minutes of live music.

There wasn’t too much time to be annoyed at unappreciative kids, thankfully, because Hush House Dylan Thomas played a pretty inspired set and was an unexpected treat after the brilliance of Skudge. It’s always a treat to hear a real passion for music in a selector’s choice of tracks, and when it’s nicely mixed too, you can’t ask for more. Opening with some crazy jump-up tech he managed to switch between tempos without losing any of the vibe, showing off a selection of fun, vocal-heavy grooves as well as some early, more acidic techno. Maybe The Garage’s layout wasn’t quite suited to the event, and maybe the crowd didn’t know how good they had it, but all in all the night was a blinder, with some outrageously solid techno…for those of us who were paying attention, at least.

words: Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura