Boiler Room Make Session 008

The Boiler Room sessions are always a treat. When Make Session 008 descended on Hoxton I was sure to get in the queue to get a space. Red Stripe had teamed up with long term friends T-Shirt Party. You have to love a brand whose vision is “REAL G’s WEAR WHITE T’s”. Inside an art gallery next to Hoxton Overground, the walls were decked out with hundreds of different simple, yet creative t-shirts, making the night look more like someone’s Tumblr feed than a club. Portico Quartet, Stubborn Heart, Factory Floor, Anushka, Eaux and CKTRL had teamed up for a night of artful beats and groove.

This was my first Boiler Room session so I was unsure of what to expect. With Portico Quartet requiring a large area to set up the crowd were confined to a ring around the gallery which I found rather strange. It made the atmosphere feel rather muted although you got so close to the acts that you couldn’t help feel the rhythms.

Portico Quartet were the main draw of the night for me although Stubborn Heart pleasantly surprised me. Their synth pop washed over me and it had a real futuristic edge, showing their real potential. A real let down, however, was the Factory Floor DJ set. I have been to a few of their live shows and the deafening, thunderous racket which they concoct is so alive and so vital that I was expecting great things. The DJ set however, felt too contrived, and lacked urgency. It didn’t help that most of the crowd in the room were talking amongst themselves, or was that because of the set? Chicken and egg I suppose. CKTRL provided some swagger to the evening. A singer joined for the beginning of the set and her honey tones mixed well with the slow, sparse beats.

Portico Quartet smashed the evening apart with their rendition of ‘Window Seat’ really hitting the spot. They rounded off the night with flair their niche mix of ambient electro jazz. They are fresh, forward thinking and absorbing.

For more information on boiler room sets visit www.boilerroom.tv/live