- There are few labels in house and techno music with a such a passionate and obsessive following as Innervisions. You could tell by how early Oval Space filled up on the night of their showcase earlier this month: 11 PM. Marcus Worgull was in full swing by the time I stepped inside, though he was careful to pare back his chunky, tribal-tinged sounds to avoid any premature peaking.
Dixon's set plunged us into headier climbs. Sandrino & Frankey's "The Edge" and a new remix of Michael Gracioppo's "Creep" set the tone, with their heavy bottom end and scintillating melodic refrains. His slow-building, haunting tones teed us up for the intensity of Henrik Schwarz's live performance, which predictably set the venue alight. A huge snare roll build-up for opener "Walk Music" combined with rapid-fire strobing got a huge reaction from the crowd, marking the beginning of the most fun, out-and-out hour of the night. His superlative reworking of Raul Midón's "State Of Mind" and the Afro-house warmth of his remix of Emannuel Jal's "Kuar" were just two of the fist-pumping, grin-inducing moments that created one of the best club atmospheres I've experienced in London in a long time.
Kristian from Âme was left with the foreboding task of following Schwarz, and he opted to take things deeper, darker and largely techier by contrast. Dixon, Âme and Marcus Worgull's three-way back-to-back finale was a little lacking in consistency, but it had some fine moments. Agoria's recent Innervisions release "Scala" came to life in incredibly vivid fashion, providing one of the night's most intense moments with swathes of trembling, tense synths. Âme's delicate rework of The xx's "Reunion" made for a fittingly beautiful and emotional end.