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BLOC Weekend Preview Two: FWD vs. Rinse

For a number of years now, this soundclash of two London bass institutions has set light to the venues it’s graced; in the past, the darkened spaces of the sadly defunct The End trembled beneath the weight of subs, deep meditation and grime’s balls-out aggression. Currently operating at Matter, FWD vs. Rinse pits the none-deeper attitude of Plastic People’s seminal FWD>> night – the space that fostered dubstep from its earliest days and has continued to prove itself the genre’s mecca – against the multicultural, multi-genre mix of London’s best pirate station, Rinse FM.

A healthy crossover between the two sides has always existed. Some of FWD’s most well-respected residents and regular players have slots on Rinse, from Kode9 and Youngsta to uber-DJs Oneman and Brackles. In the years since the dissolution of UK garage and its re-emergence as grime and dubstep, both have arguably done more to push both genres restlessly onward than any other entity. And after nurturing London’s emergent UK funky scene, the last six months or so have seen that genre’s Africanised beats and tribal flex begin to infiltrate venues far beyond the confines of the Big Smoke.

So BLOC’s FWD vs. Rinse takeover session sees an impressive array of artists from across these three fields, many of which are continually pushing down the barriers between London-centric bass music and all manner of other regional styles. Top of that list are Roska and Scratcha, who will be playing back-to-back. Roska is one of funky’s most recognisable characters, his tracks built from a unique blend of Detroit-influenced melody and soca-style syncopated snares and all watermarked with his cheeky sonic signature. Scratcha’s recent 12” for Kode9’s Hyperdub label, released under the name DVA, pushed the genre’s latent tropical vibes even further, resulting in a pair of lopsided dancefloor gems. ‘Ganja’ is the one to investigate, its grin-inducing melody riding off droning pulses of sub-bass to disconcerting effect.

After a few years in the wilderness off the back of an ill-fated (despite the Mercury Prize) push for the mainstream, Ms. Dynamite has been making something of a comeback recently. Her recent collaborations with Zinc (‘Wile Out’) and Geeneus (the furious ‘Get Low’), both of whom are also due to appear, have gradually shifted from sporadic underground hits to regularly played peak-time tracks, and it’s good to hear her back on scathing form. If recent live performances are anything to go by, she’ll be well worth catching. Rinse head honcho Geeneus himself is a reliably excellent DJ, his recent sets moving further from grime and dubstep to embrace a variety of house musics – everything from London to Berlin and back again.

They’re also hosting a rare live appearance from reclusive grime genius Wiley, who was responsible for some of the genre’s most seminal riddims – his early Eski instrumentals, produced for Roll Deep and a young, pre-Calvin Harris Dizzee, pretty much defined the genre’s sound: brash, minimal and uncompromising. Admittedly, recent years have seen a move towards the kind of throwaway electro-pop hits currently being peddled by many of his contemporaries, but you never know - there’s always a chance someone might pull ‘Eskimo’ out for a spin.