ED RUSH AND OPTICAL
Clubs and dance editor, Mark, reviews some
of the finest drum & bass live at Newcastle Uni

I like my drum and bass dark and dirty. Thick beats, hard bass lines, and plenty of edge. Dark and dirty. And they don't come much dark and dirtier than Ed Rush and Optical. Ed Rush is king of the beats, and he's able to roll them out with an ease that would put others to shame. Add Optical, a man who sits at the top of a pile marked mental sounds, throw in MC Rhyme Tyme, and you're in for some serious dark, dirty drum and bass.

For a number of years now Ben Settle and Matt Quinn (Ed Rush and Optical to me and you) have been at the forefront of drum and bass production, recording for No U Turn, 31, Prototype and Metalheadz amongst others, as well as establishing their own Virus recordings. If you have anything more than a passing interest in drum and bass, then catching them live is a must. While a lot of drum and bass DJs have moved towards the more real funk and jazz type sounds, Ed Rush and Optical have distanced themselves from that and have managed to find a sound, and totally exploit it, indulging themselves (and their crowd) in thick, dark beats.

As always, the queue to get in was massive, and was made up of big coats, big hair and even bigger trousers (there's something about these type of nights that brings out some of the most crustiest of crusties. It seemed almost standard attire for every girl there to wear trousers the size of a small airport). Once, finally near the front of the queue, there's this mental, distorted noise of deep, thick bass trying to escape up through the basement, which acts as a sort of welcome to the evening. After negotiating the brain dead door security, it's down into the basement, only to find the queue for the bar's bigger than the one to get in. Small blips in an otherwise top night. The dance floor was full, but not uncomfortably so (the bar was still attracting just as many people at this stage), and the warm (sweat?) up DJ's Piper and Phobia were playing some nice sounds, Piper in particular impressing.

Twelve thirty, and on walked Rhyme Tyme, and with a 'Helllooo Noooocarrrstle!" The place went up. Ed Rush hit the decks, and from the first tune on it was deep, dark and dirty. The man is THE most evil drum and bass DJ. Fantastic. I wasn't sure if Ed Rush would play so long, and then Optical would come on and do his set, but, in fact, they took turns, Rush playing his dark tunes and then the mental sounds of Optical would boom out. By now buying a drink was easy as the dance floor was rammed, everyone losing it big style. There's something mad about the dance floor of a drum and bass night, everyone just sort of goes mental, throwing arms and legs anywhere and everywhere in an attempt to keep up with the rhythm, with more than a few actually managing to do it too.

Rhyme Tyme's MCing was spot on, and he had the dance floor eating out of his hand. The tunes were evil, with one of two from their 'Wormhole' album making an appearance, as well as more than a few from 'Creeps'. Once or twice I had my pedantic DJ head on when I noticed Rush's mixing slipped, but nobody else seemed to either notice or care, the tunes were so spot on. They played on to well after two thirty, and by then I was ready to collapse. Deep, dark and dirty. Just like it should be.