Futureboogie @ Inmotion

The received wisdom is that Bristol is sashaying way out in front when it comes to the genesis of enlivening underground music. But the city that has been a hotbed for so much of Britain’s greatest genres is also home to a vivacious party crew and influential label imprint called Futureboogie, who brought a line up of such cataclysmic brilliance to Motion – a venue I had never been to before in a city I had yet to visit – that I had to transplant my birthday celebrations to this unexplored territory. And what a bloody good night we ended up having.

In a ten-year metamorphosis from renowned club night to the future-thinking record label, management and booking agency that looks after Julio Bashmore, Waif & Strays and Eats Everything, Futureboogie brought an incredible selection of artists to the capacious, hangar-like confines of Motion. The Saturday night collaboration with the Red Bull Music Academy was one of the most clamoured for tickets of In:Motion, a sprawling network of bang on the money events across Bristol known as its very own “Underground Music Season”. The former skate park played the perfect host with colourful, edgy lighting and crisp and consistent sound rigs caressing every ear. And let’s face it, when Bonobo is in room 2 (alongside the distinctive funk offered by Appleblim and Behling & Simpson) you know this is a line up you need to hear at full capacity.

Kicking off the main room frivolities, Maya Jane Coles astonished an already exuberant crowd with a masterful arrangement of subterranean house, and Julio Bashmore accelerated proceedings with garrulous and rowdy two-step. Live band Crazy P have amassed a strong reputation with their work on Paper Recordings, but a jarring set sapped the pace out of the tangibly mounting excitement of the night, thankfully remedied by the interplanetary force for good that was Henrik Schwarz’s powerful live set, drawing on his love of soul-infused funk and calypso to restore the party vibes in full.

Anna Herber: What was In:Motion like last year?
Appleblim: In:Motion did extremely well in its first year, they introduced people to the idea of doing these massive line ups in Bristol and still selling it out every weekend. I remember when they first took the plunge to do it, they managed to bring quite a few different promoters together from the Bristol scene which is a great thing really. They’ve just absolutely smashed it, they managed to corner the new students, and the events were a massive success.

AH: Bristol is the only city in the country to have a whole season for underground music, what is it about the place that inspired In:Motion?
AB: Well Bristol is small enough that people who are involved in the music scene round here know each other well. It means mutual projects can happen that bring promoters together to do something bigger and better. In other middle-sized cities there is less competition, but when you have a scene where competition is healthy and inspires promoters to actually work together, then it brings about a unique environment for events.

AH: Futureboogie have gone from running a club night to releasing big records for new house, how would you describe the Futureboogie lot and their parties?
AB: Well I’m relatively late coming to Futureboogie parties as I studied in Bath. I saw their broken beat night called Scene which was all broken beat and jazz and new house. I was more involved in my dubstep thing at the time so didn’t have time to see that, but now I’ve definitely seen what the Futureboogie vibe is about and they are part of a massive crew of very nice people in Bristol. Futureboogie are really well organised with their booking agency, and their label has just rolled off of that with their work with Julio Bashmore. They push things that I love to give DJ support. They don’t ignore other styles but they push a slower, deeper, funky bass-led vibe, which I like. They’ve had a strong first few releases and it only can get bigger for them from here.

AH: What did you make of the In:Motion & Red Bull Academy Futureboogie XL event?
AB: The In:Motion event was incredible, I’m only gutted that I didn’t get to see Henrik Schwarz because I was on at the same time, I heard his live set was incredible! The Futureboogie guys always smash out a good set too, and it was great to see Bonobo as well! I did a remix for him last year, he was in the second room called The Tunnel, its got a lovely sound and is a really nice space.

Anna Herber