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Dego McFarlane is a true pioneer, who has the astounding knack of virtually creating genres and heavily influencing the evolutionary course of electronic music. He played a vital role in the emergence of both D&B in the early 90’s and the more recent Broken Beat sound of West London. As one half of 4 Hero, Dego has left few musical stones untouched, remixing and producing for the cream of the musical crop. Under countless pseudonyms, he has made genre guidelines obsolete and has given journalists categorical nightmares.
A unique appeal of Phonetics is the exceptionally varied crowd, encompassing people of all creeds and colours, from every walk of life. The range of those attending was probably even more marked for the rare DJing appearance of a man who’s touched so many. Despite transport problems that delayed his arrival, Dego’s set was worth the wait. Uncompromising and energizing, his selection drew heavily on the cascading fractured beats and mind-altering basslines that characterise the West London sound. Atmospherically engaging, Dego occasionally lightened the pitch black soundscapes with brighter melodic moments. Technically breathtaking, a highlight of his set was a rugged re-rub of Neon Phusion’s exasperated “It’s Another.
Latin don and broken beat master Chris Welch provided an extended warm-up, showing the varied musical styles that make him tick. He hyped up the crowd with cuts such as Roni Size’s slick “New Forms”, B Boogie’s pushy “Tell Him” and Osunlade’s spellbinding Yoruba Soul Remix of Roy Ayers’s “Searching”. In a city dominated by nights that focus on tried and tested musical formulae, it’s refreshing to see Phonetics still championing cutting-edge music. Jon Freer