Music Reviews

LIVE: LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad

Audio, 6th September

LTJ Bukem and collaborator MC Conrad are ever-evolving pioneers in the drum & bass field and although always erring on the more chilled, jazzier side, their sets can vary massively. Previous shows seen have ranged from the fully relaxed, atmospheric set in the back room of the Opera House to a deep, rolling four-hour set at Ministry of Sound caused by a Grooverider no-show (he was having to much fun at Homelands apparently).

Playing to a packed Friday night crowd, tonight’s show bordered on the latter with Bukem playing a set that, whether jumpy or throbbing, contained suitable bass that kept the place moving. His technical skill was clearly apparent as he effortlessly chopped beats and tunes in and out occasionally cutting the music entirely to fit around Conrad’s words. A troublesome vinyl that skipped mid-tune was expertly and (ridiculously) quickly mixed out of to avoid further complications.

As always Conrad sang and rapped his way through the set with precision timing, filling the atmospheric breakdowns with soaring vocals that invariably culminated in a dance floor rocking beat. Along with his coherent hip-hop style MCing and awesome singing voice the thing that sets Conrad apart is the effects he adds to his vocals. The delay applied to the last word of a sentence helping the words to appear, even more so than they already did, part of the actual tunes themselves.

Having only attended filthy drum & bass nights these last few years (though based on tonight I do wonder why) the amount of tune recognition was down to a minimum and all though it was a shame not hear any older classic tunes (personal favorite ‘Innerspace’ by Nookie would have sat quite nicely in the set) this was, of course, not surprising. Any music innovator and label boss is going to have an arsenal of new music with which to constantly re-invent their live sets and with tonight’s show Bukem proved that despite over a decade on the scene his style and the genre he spawned is as forward-bound as always.

Words by Chris Leggett