- It's the third year of XOYO's Residency, a new yet revivalist concept that gives one artist the chance to programme 13 weekly parties. Most recently the honour was bestowed upon Streatham-born DJ Steve Bishop, AKA Oneman. For a chameleonic selector like Oneman, who's made his name playing party-starting sets that move frenetically between a wide range of genres, the offer must have felt like a dream come true—the perfect opportunity to showcase each of the distinct parts that make up his sum.
On Friday, July 22nd, Oneman was joined by Ben UFO and Kode9, a lineup that felt like a nod to the nascent dubstep scene of the mid-'00s. Times have changed, though. These days, Ben UFO holds court as house and techno royalty, Kode9 can typically be found knee-deep in footwork and gqom, and Oneman, as per his recent Essential Mix, has drifted towards more urban, US-centric sounds.
If there's one way to fill a club early, it's to have one of the world's most in-demand DJs warm up. In a smart move, XOYO announced the night before that Ben UFO would play his first track to an empty room, starting at 10 PM and running through until 2 AM. One particularly sozzled raver told me how he and his boyfriend had arrived eagerly at 9:50 PM, only to be told to go and get a drink upstairs because they were too early.
Sure enough, the main room was heaving by 11 PM. The crowd limbered up to chugging industrial workouts and stuttering percussion as Ben UFO gently teased the tempo higher. Aware of not raising the roof too quickly, he rolled out tracks like Hi & Saberhagen's "Wc122," a slow-burning, blues-indebted bubbler that verges on ambient. It felt like a risk for that time of the night, which amplified the beautifully tender moment around it.
For the next 90 minutes, the soundtrack continued its upward trajectory to varying degrees of success. Clamorous, high-octane cuts from Mickey Pearce, Randomer and Pearson Sound (the huge "XLB") solicited rowdy reactions, but these were often intertwined with atmospheric techno—and at one point a cut off Drake's new album—that caused the energy to ebb a little too quickly. Momentum—or lack thereof—seemed to be the issue, and at one point Oneman emerged behind the decks appearing to offer some words of encouragement. The impact was immediate, as Ben UFO drew for bangers like Hardhouse Banton's "Sirens (VIP mix)" and Midland's air-tight summer anthem "Final Credits."
Oneman's rise may have been through dubstep, but UK garage is his bread and butter. (Drudging up slept on Groove Chronicles dubs and mixing them with Digital Mystikz became a motif of his sets.) He was originally billed to go back-to-back with Kode9, but in the end the Hyperdub boss only appeared for the final hour, just as I was heading out the door. On his own, Oneman was only ever a stone's throw away from a 2-step swing, dropping hits like Zed Bias's "Neighbourhood" and Ed Case's remix of Gorillaz's "Clint Eastwood" and skilfully weaving them into Stateside R&B and icy trap instrumentals. Because of the stark contrasts in pace and rhythm, the crowd were occasionally left bobbing about during the transitions, though Oneman's technical prowess meant that these lulls were only ever seconds long. Friday night was evidence of how divergent Oneman and Ben UFO's paths have been since they first converged almost a decade ago. Even so, the fug of nostalgia hung heavy in the air at XOYO, a potent ingredient on any dance floor.