The Hydra: Blueprint – M-Plant 20th Anniversary with Robert Hood, Blawan, DVS1- Studio Spaces E1, London

The best nights out I have had in London over the past year have been at The Hydra – consistently amazing line-ups and great crowds. One of the best club venues in the city over the past year has to be Studio Spaces – good sound, amazing toilets, great vibe. So imagine my utter delight when the two magically combined to create a permanent home for The Hydra.

Opening weekend saw three of the best line-ups in clubland across the bank holiday weekend. On the Friday night Resident Advisor opened with the likes of Matthew Herbert, Giles Peterson and Carl Craig. Saturday night was a triumph delivered by record label Ghostly International and then came Sunday… the icing on the super deluxe cake… Blueprint Records celebrated 20 years of M-Plant. It was the techno line up to end all bank holiday techno line ups (unless of course you were at Atonal in Berlin, but as I wasn’t and I am choosing to ignore it).

We arrived as Luke Slater was hammering it out early in the Warehouse room. The crowd were warming up, slightly reserved on the dance front to begin with but as brain shaking bass, waves of synths and the odd high hat drum roll carried them along, everyone’s hands were in the air by the end.

Next up in the Black Studio was Shackleton who started his set by transporting us into a chaotic street market of sounds. Hollow eerie wails were hustled out by melodic xylophone and the crazy pipe trills of a snake charmer fighting against insect like percussive shakers and deep bongos. In turn the street market morphed into some deep jungle adventure full of tribal voices, rumbling bass, and a much deeper moody feel.

I missed the first 20 minutes of Robert Hood’s set whilst carrying out some epic queuing for the loo. Nice toilets they may be, but there are not enough of them for a venue that size. In the words of the post event thank you email sent out by Hydra, “There is of course room for improvement, but we are listening to your feedback and working on all of your points now to keep making things better and better…”

There was an issue on Sunday night that cannot be ignored and that was the dangerously high temperature in the venue. Topped with the fact you had to queue 15-45mins to get outside to cool down and then, when you got out there to find it raining, you had to stay out there with no cover or coat for up to 30mins at times to get back inside. It wasn’t ideal and did make for a slight wrinkle in the mood of many. But the tunes more than made up for it.

We found sanctuary in the back corner of The Warehouse under the air con. However, in an attempt to keep cool so many people were dancing at the back, that the front (unchartered land I usually avoid) was unusually spacious and so after half an hour of luxury fans, we traded them in to get so sweaty at the front that my make up just melted clean off my face, getting lost in the music and stomping so hard my legs ached for days.

Robert Hood delivered a slamming set – with only a short respite around halfway through for some new Floorplan tracks of glorious uplifting gospel proportions – we were soon back at the business end of some serious arse kicking bass and sonic bleeps. It was amazing.

At this point I spied to my left a serene figure… a lone raver standing still I the madness, wearing a body warmer… not even breaking a sweat! It was enough to make me wonder if he was even human. 

DVS1 followed Hood. He was off to a great start when I had to leave for another lifetime of toilet queuing and by the time I got back, my mates needed a break and fresh air so we headed outside and enjoyed some cold wet drizzle and a queue to get back in.

Unable to handle the heat in the Warehouse anymore we stuck to the smaller Black Studio to hear Blawan’s set. Much as I love this guy’s tracks, I am not the biggest fan of his DJ sets. They aren’t danceable – unless you are partial to marching with a militant techno fist punch every second – which many people were. It was a relentless four to the floor onslaught with just enough variation in the mid range and high end to make it interesting to listen to but still not much to dance to.

We were, by this time, being rained on as condensation dripped from the ceiling. A word of advice – It’s best in that situation to not look up at where it came from. You’ll get another splat right in the eye.

At a little after 6am the Warehouse space closed and we in the Black Studio waited for the mass bundle as everyone tried to fit into the one smaller room. It never happened. All I can think of is that DVS1 annihilated everyone so they had to go home straight to bed. It was a techno furnace in there – the troops did well!

The final set of the night came from Rødhåd who instantly lifted the mood. He delivered a tough but very sexy set, taking us on a party ride full of build ups, drops and layers that could not fail to engage both your mind and your limbs.

I was overjoyed to get home and scour myself in the shower and incinerate my clothes. A great night of Techno but a bit of a fail on the personal hygiene front. I am however, happy to report that with a little work on the aircon and maybe some portaloos in the Warehouse space, The Hydra has a great new home and I shall be enjoying many more parties there. 

Words: Abbi Barham

Photos: Daddy’s Got Sweets