Promoters Treehouse have been carving out for themselves a decent corner of the Leeds club scene, building on previous smart bookings (such as a 5 hour Kowton and Peverelist B2B) by booking Tectonic Recordings boss and Bristol dubstep heavyweight Pinch to bring his own heady brand of industrial-grime-techno-club-hyphen-exhausting music to Wire.

Residents Jabes and Fae warmed up the fairly empty basement with style, and it was a shame there weren’t more feet on the dance floor, especially as Jabes teased the space with some energetic UK hardcore and acid-tinged tracks. Either way, thankfully the room began to fill by the time Pinch’s rangy figure stepped into the booth. Drawing for one of many Pinch-only dub plates, which featured a Patois vocal warning the crowd about what they were about to witness, he then set to work. Beginning with the 130bpm club material that he has more recently been putting out with the long time partner Mumdance – think ‘Turbo Mitzi VIP’, which alas, did not make an appearance – the man reminded us of his more diverse music credentials, using Mala’s iconic ‘Miracles’ to punctuate the high point of the night.

If anything, dubstep has become one of the previous chapters of Pinch’s production career, and duly he interspersed carefully selected dubstep classics with more recent grime trips which sent the crowd into a practical frenzy: Kahn and Neek’s ‘Percy VIP’ kicked like a f*cking mule from the first time I heard it out, and tonight was yet another example of this. If that wasn’t enough, amplifying the immediately recognisable 8 bar snaps of ‘Pulse X’ – Youngstar that went clattering between the pillars of Wire’s compact dancefloor was the eski-growl of Waifer’s ‘Gunman Riddim’ – both grime tunes which are certified classics and were delivered with the efficiency and timing they deserved by the placid man in the DJ booth.

Oliver Staton

Image Credits: Pinch on Facebook