- The aurally oriented FutureSonic festival was re-branded to the cross-media focused FutureEverything in 2010, but the best-known element remains its music programme. Hence, a Vakant showcase including two hours of live arrangements from Alex Smoke, the Scotsman responsible for the Berlin imprint's first ever release, was always going to be a winner this year. And not least when the night's host was Micron, one of the city's foremost techno parties. Understandably then, it was with weighty expectations that faithful regulars and visiting techno fans alike focused their eyes forward as Smoke took to the equipment on stage.
Photo credit: Nik Torrens
What followed was quite difficult to describe. After all, this booking was about the acclaimed producer making noises people hadn't heard before. Releases like Smoke's 2005 Shwingnut EP give a rough idea of how it went off. Only here, that sound was realised refreshed and revived for 2011, providing an emotive, melodic but gritty minimal tech soundtrack of various sizes, from big room to intimate, deep to jacking.
With occasional future bass accents, dubstep-leaning respites and industrially-edged moments, the set was more advanced than radical. Smoke easily engaged the crowd with a tangible sense of musical purpose, as fists punched the air and tick-tock percussion provided rhythmic relief before heads dropped and the bass rolled again. Scores have jumped on the less is more bandwagon, failing to understand the real idea. Smoke, though, represents an organisation that pre-dates the saturation, and the result on this night was truly box fresh. It was also proof that real tastemakers stay interesting, no matter the trends.