CityLife

Contort Yourself v Murkage: DJ Zinc

IMPRESSIVE STUFF: DJ Zinc

FOR the last of the club’s summer collaborative ‘versus’ sessions,  the Contort Yourself boys hooked up with Murkage to bring a veritable UK dance legend to the sweaty confines of The Roadhouse; DJ Zinc.

An early drum and bass pioneer, his track Super Sharp Shooter and his anthemic remix of The Fugees’ Ready or Not helped push the sound into the mainstream. Years later he spearheaded the bassy, garage influenced breaks scene, leading the way with the Star Trek-sampling 138 Trek and his label Bingo Beats.

And while he may have almost reached the age where he’d actually prefer a quiet night of bingo to DJing, the queue outside the rammed Roadhouse tonight is a testament to his ongoing credibility; a rare long player in the mercurial world of dance music.

Home advantage

Before the headliner takes to the stage, the residents of each night go toe-to-toe to work the already heaving crowd. Contort Yourself residents Gezmagus and Human Man may have the home advantage, but it’s Murkage Cartel’s female duo of Sapnarella and Natalie Esquire who really shake the foundations. 

Their anything-goes-as-long-as-the-bass-makes-your-chest-hurt policy goes down a storm, whether it’s dubstep, ghetto house or old school garage. Someone even drops a cheeky remix of '90s one-hit-wonder Skee-Lo’s classic I Wish, and I’m sure I notice at least one or two tears of nostalgia welling up behind sunglasses.

Overseeing proceedings all night on the microphone is the Murkage Cartel’s gentle giant of a leader, Murkage Dave.

Whether he’s singing Wonderwall over a garage beat, or simply bemoaning the gender split of the crowd (“we need some more girls in here!”), the man is a natural born entertainer.

Super sharp Shooter

By the time Zinc steps up to the decks, excitement has reached fever point. The volume goes up a couple of notches, and the soundman starts to look nervous. The venue’s old bassbins start to creak ominously (not helped by the fact that Murkage Dave has been dancing on them all night) as Zinc opens with a VIP version of his anthem Super Sharp Shooter.

Those expecting a set consisting solely of old classics are left dissapointed though, as he quickly moves on to tracks so up-to-the-minute the vinyl is probably still warm. Many of the tunes he plays come from the burgeoning UK Funky scene (think of a much darker, offbeat version of funky house but without the cheap shirts and even cheaper champagne).

By the end of his set there seem to be more people dancing on stage than there are in the crowd, the microphone is being passed around like Jordan’s phone number and the soundman will probably have nightmares about red warning lights for weeks.

Zinc is totally in his element, barely visible behind the stage invasion: a fantastic way for Contort Yourself to end the summer.