Photos by Mike Frash // Written by Kevin Quandt //
Disclosure //
The Independent – San Francisco
October 30th, 2012 //
Patient fans of progressive electronic music were rewarded this past week, as the Lawerence brothers brought their up-and-coming act, Disclosure, across the pond. It has been a banner year for Guy, 21 and Howard, 18 with a positively received EP entitled The Face and a handful of blistering singles and remixes. This successful tour is only one brick in the foundation of an act set to make the transition from underground to the mainstream. Sure the progressive blend of UK deep house with two-step garage is not going to reach the disgusting popularity of Avicii or Swedish House Mafia, but their uncanny production of truly forward tracks has gained them accolades beyond the “big guys” of popular electronic music. San Francisco’s The Independent was a lucky recipient of only a handful of dates from the young duo.
The evening’s crowd stacked in early as the traditional venue was transformed into a club atmosphere while local DJ’s set the night’s vibe spinning funky house and left-leaning beats. Sleazemore represented the Lights Down Low crew while promoter/bass producer Dials deviated from his standard wobble to play a quicker tempo set than usual. Dials wrapped up and made way for Disclosure around 11:30 p.m., a risky venture on a school night.
As the Surrey, UK, natives strolled out to their array of Midis, synths and drums you could tell they were enthusiastic about these well attended US dates, their first trek on American soil. They opened the set with “Control,” a track indicative of their two-step garage hybrid, full of blips and chopped up female vocals care of one Ria Ritchie. The underground electronic music fan in me couldn’t help but hear elements of jungle and deep house married with a shuffled two-step beat. From there they cleanly mixed into the tracks “Blue You” and “My Intention is War” offered from the Carnival and I Love…That You Know EPs respectively.
“Boiling Point” came next, which received a nice cheer from the crowd, displaying that they know the nooks and crannies of the limited releases. This track leans closer to the deep UK house sound pioneered by Ministry of Sound and Sonar Kollectiv in the previous decade, with it’s sexy full-vocal stylings of Sinead Hartnett. Standout live track “Tenderly” had the younger Lawerence pounding out drum sequences from a portable pad, while Guy held down the bulk of the keys in a penetrating UK funky mix.
The middle of the set featured a few remixes including a nod to garage pioneers, Artful Dodger, and a tweaked out rendition of Jessie Ware’s “Running.” Throughout the set the brothers utilized a small drum set between their two unique rigs, adding even more to their live delivery. It appeared the younger, and noticeably energetic, Howard took the reigns on the rhythm side of things, while Guy fingered out some serious melodies and leads on keys.
As the set came to a draw with “What’s in Your Head and Flow,” the devote crowd was still in attendance just getting their dance moves honed. Alas, the lads announced the next track would be the encore and launched the into blistering anthem, “Latch.” This searing club banger is a bit of a departure from the past 60 minutes of 2-step garage and UK funky deep house. Sam Smith’s angelic vocals are mainly left intact while the BPM has been slowed to Vegas after-hours pace, perfect for hands in the air and hands on your partner. It’s infectious and catchy tracks like these that will likely catapult these blokes from the UK underground to Ibiza/rave mainstays. Many, like myself, look forward to a banner year for Disclosure with the inevitable release of an LP, international tours and festival gigs.
the crowd was certainly into the show, and i’ve never seen the Indy so clubby…these guys are gonna get huge