Ram – Fabric

Ram at Matter. Life changing? Probably. How could such a popular and successful night become no more? These are questions that I am not going to answer. Instead, I’ll talk about Ram at Fabric on 10th December 2010. That night is still going, thankfully.

Fabric has long been home to Ram’s iconic drum and bass nights, and after the demise of Matter where it briefly moved for a honeymoon fling, it has again returned to its natural habitat in Farringdon. I for one was pleased to see shed loads of people there. By 11.30pm, DC Breaks were in Room 2 and an already large crowd were jumping around to the biggest prime time bangers of the past couple of years. Perhaps a bit too early to be playing the likes of Callide ‘Supreme’ and double dropping ‘Timewarp’ with ‘Mr Happy’ but their skills on the decks were unquestionable.

Culture Shock to follow in Room 2 was one of the main reasons for my attendance. One of Ram’s hugely talented artists with his distinctive brand of techno influenced rhythms and tuneful melodies injected into the well known drum and bass frame. With an album in development and many of his tunes constantly played in Andy C’s sets, I was happy to see the room packed out for his performance, and it didn’t disappoint. Great variation and effortless mixing meant the only thing that let him down was the slightly boomy sound of Room 2. This became more apparent when hearing Andy C play Culture Shock’s ‘I Remember’ in the haven of Room 1. The sound much cleaner and crisper, highlighting the intricacies of the tune that were lost in Room 2.

There was a noticeable decrease in numbers for the last half hour of Culture Shock as Andy C fired up in Room 1. This exodus was however, much smaller than expected, a testament to his great tunes and solid DJing skills. His finale involved a seamless switch to a much slower techno tune, offering the crowd some variation to the bpm which went down a treat.

If you hadn’t ever witnessed one of Andy C’s two hour sets, and wondered why two hours was much better than one,this night was a perfect demonstration of why. Shorter set times usually restrict DJ’s to play only new or well known tunes with little time to explore across genres and sub-genres. Armed with 2 hours, Andy was exploring with effortless ability. Greeted by the sound of classic jungle hammered out of the giant Martin Audio speakers, he slowly built up the crowd, waving his hand through the air like a conductor of the bass before letting loose some of Ram Records’ finest. Big, newer records such as Wilkinson ‘Moonwalker’ interjected with early Ram and established classics like ‘Be True’ and ‘Low Down’ pleased the energetic crowd. Everybody was feeding off Andy’s never-ending grin and there were smiles and attempted smiles all around the vibrating floor.

Annoyingly, work all weekend meant missing The Others’ late set in Room 2 but if their previous performances are to go by, it would have been a refreshing, upbeat, dubstep-orientated variation from Ram’s drum and bass. The Dub Police artists are pioneers of the industry and their current musical interests are always explored with devastating fashion on the dance-floor.

Night over. Ram Records still undisputed champions of drum and bass. Fabric still a metropolis for big tunes and big nights.