[Editor's Note: We were asked by the band to not take pictures]
It’s pronounced “subtract,” as in subtract the vowels from any English word to see how important they are for pronunciation. If the act of subtracting is a comment on DJ and producer Aaron Jerome’s sound, then I applaud him for taking the ‘less is more’ approach in more ways than one. The idea here is modification. Take something familiar; inflate it, remove “critical” elements, misspell it, and mask its maker. The end result will take some decoding, but isn’t glory more satisfying after a little pain?
When he’s not remixing for UK big-shots like M.I.A, Bassment Jaxx, Radiohead, and Franz Ferdinand, Jerome works on solo 2-step, garage, soul, R&B, and dubstep under said moniker. To keep things reciprocal, SBTRKT’s tracks have been remixed by Drake, Machinedrum, and likely more in the future. The style moves between trip-hop-chill-out music, bass-heavy walls of sound, sparse plains of bells and percussion, and near-standard R&B ballads like “Hold On” and “Something Goes Right.” The R&B element, however, comes exclusively from vocalist and collaborator Sampha’s soulful croons.
Celoso and Machinedrum, respectively, offered a fitting opening act with lengthy sets packed with bass, samples, loops, build-ups, dub, breakbeats and the odd familiar hip-hop jam. If I had to explain the sound to a group of six-year-olds I’d promptly demonstrate by asking them all to make various “keyboard” sounds in rhythm with my palm thumping against a hollow wall. Celoso has a solid style, mixing breakbeats with atmospheric instrumentals. The combination hardly stirred anyone, making it passable background music. Mr. Travis Stewart AKA Machinedrum turned the volume up considerably during his set. An unlikely character in un-trendy glasses, a matching un-trendy haircut, a cut-off white teeshirt, and a slew of mediocre dance moves (read: head-bangs) that served well in expressing his enthusiasm but not so much his visual appeal. Perhaps this is precisely the shallow criticism and bias that SBTRKT wishes to avoid by wearing tribal masks during every live performance. Machinedrum knew his stuff, though. He kept the mood consistently easy-going and sexy, throwing in new sounds frequently enough to keep us piqued and dancing, but only enough to keep from spilling our drinks. Stewart garnished the last dregs of the set with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy,” stating that we were about to be taken “back to the 90’s for a second.” “Electric word life…and that’s a mighty long time” echoed over and over before he bid adieu.
The floor was full of excitable boys and girls, but not so many that things got out of hand. Many of us watched comfortably from the balcony while SBTRKT and Sampha appeared under the blue-lit stage while therapeutic levels of bass rattled everything from the metal banister at my waist to the air floating through my lungs. "SBTRKT" was stenciled in white light against the curtain behind the stage. SBTRKT, predictably, donned a tribal mask and situated himself in the center of a collection of music equipment. Computers, a couple drum sets, hand-percussion instruments, and soundboards surrounded them as they let the music do the entertaining. Breaks between each song gave Jerome a chance to chat at the crowd, introduce tracks, and let everyone cool off a bit. Not that it was rowdy, but it certainly got steamy, as I noticed there was more making-out than dancing... and sometimes both at once! It was tasteful, however. No obvious stags turned one-night-lovers on the dance floor or anything raunchy. Just boyfriend-girlfriend types enjoying each other's company under the blanket of SBTRKT's sonic equivalent of erotic massage. The people were peaceful and diverse; bros, hos, old, young, hip, square, dark, light, gay, straight, urban, country... It's a great thing about electronic music shows.
While the kids got their groove on, Jerome exhibited his halcyon genius behind the soundboard and Sampha bounced around between a microphone, drumset, hand-percussion instrument, and keyboard. Anything Sampha sang was an obvious hit, especially "Hold On" and "Something Goes Right" (complete with a clap-along session). Towards the end the music got a bit more aggressive, which is completely appropriate for a live performance, but I would have traded it to see Jessie Ware or Little Dragon's Yukimi Nagano make an appearance for "Right Thing To Do" or "Wildfire", but in the spirit of subtracting, one should always leave wanting more.