NEWS
EVENTS
Isaac Tichauer and Hackman prove deep house isn’t all shit
Friday’s lineup at the Nest was a heady combination of Hackman, Lancelot and the reliably trance-inducing Isaac Tichauer. Despite claims that deep house, French Express and the kind of party these artists create lack street credibility because there are generally no shankings at their events, it can’t be claimed that there’s not something happening in this music genre.
Hackman is irresistible, representing the kind of R&B-tinged, sensual house jams which started Majestic Casual and long ago left it in the dust for greater, more sincere production. Now he switches up dubstep for witch house with the kind of confidence that moves deep house further away from casual sexism, towards genuine creativity.
Australian Lancelot showed promise and style behind the decks as purveyor of sunny house and flowing locks. Tichauer played the perfect set to point Londoners towards his quietly released debut album, Devotion, spinning hypnotic grooves with a dark edge.
Depending on your generation, the Nest could seem like a painful symbol of Dalston’s dubious regeneration, although I was unsure of whether this comment was going a bit far: ‘You know a place is becoming gentrified when they start putting doors on the loo cubicles’.
However, if you ditch studenty Thursdays at the Nest for the arguably populist yet undeniably tempting lineups of Nest Fridays, it’s a pretty convincing addition to Kingsland High Street.
I'm speaking in defence of the genre many call ‘deep house’ and of the Nest, but equally, the following are all minefields of music-wrecking, money-grabbing, capitalist, bullshit bombs: the UK top 40 and the pop giving deep house a bad name, labelling music with abandon (as I'm trying not to), and Kingsland High Street.
To get it right, listen to Isaac Tichauer, 'Devotion', here. Book £5 advance tickets for the Nest here.
