Emma Ents Featuring D/R/U/G/S

Wednesday 30th November, Emma bar, £4

[rating:4/5]

Mentioning drugs and electronic music in the same sentence usually conjures up images of hundreds of people drooling all over themselves and struggling to dance to dubstep and drum & bass. Luckily, D/R/U/G/S is a little different.

Rather than providing euphoria via a crumpled bank note and a toilet seat, D/R/U/G/S delivered flawlessly via sound waves. They brought us up gently and cleanly.

Emma Ents was back in full force on Wednesday, although it was a little slow to start. Nights at Emma are always divided: there are those who treat it as a music venue – spending their time split between dancing and drinking, and there are those who treat it as a bar – standing in the middle of the room, not moving, and trying to talk to one another over the music.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Jsxfe24oE

D/R/U/G/S – Love Lust

But on Wednesday, D/R/U/G/S managed to move even some of the most cemented feet, and the venue seemed more alive than I’ve ever seen it. Somehow, it was simultaneously rather peaceful . D/R/U/G/S provided flawless mixing and a perfect blend of music. They even brought out a MIDI controller to do some cutting up and remixing of a few songs on the spot, which was certainly satisfying to watch and hear.

I spent of lot of time trying to decide quite how you define the style of music that was playing, and it wasn’t until I spoke to a few of the band members that I was able to work this out: atmospheric dance. Apparently they’d heard several people call it that in the past when they too were trying to define it, and thought that it really encapsulated what D/R/U/G/S is all about. He’s right.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvloE71hLHU

D/R/U/G/S – Archipelago

D/R/U/G/S is about creating a sense of immersion – something you can dance to and something that creates an impression and movement around the room. D/R/U/G/S is some serious Class A shit, and I’m addicted.