Nero 'Promises'

I love dubstep tag-team Nero. Like really, really love them.

A friend of mine started working with the duo recently and confirms that they're great lads. Which leaves me all the more heartbroken to have had marriage proposals refused and my underwear returned, still used, in the post. 

I managed to sneak onto the list for Chase & Status at Roundhouse for the iTunes festival which, according to the Gravity Skank survey, seems the only way of getting in these days - competition tickets are like gold dust, whereas the guestlist queue stretched way back up to where that glorious Banksy used to be. Corporate, much?

Having been to the Chase & Status album launch many moons ago and listened to 'No More Idols' a gazillion times, and, being familiar with the typical lethargy of a Roundhouse crowd, I thought I knew what to expect.

But badda bing! I was totally blown away. It seems the boys have taken a leaf out of the Chemical Brothers bible and invested in some cracking production. And Nero, oh, lights of my life, how you looked so handsome atop those massive speakers. If only that injunction didn't keep me at least 50 metres away at all times.

I jest. In seriousness those boys smashed it: I've never seen Roundhouse go so nuts. And I've gotten so used to dance music being treated as an underground phenomenon that it's good to see live performances being turned up to the max, a feast for the eyes as well as the ears.

So to celebrate, let's look at their latest video, for the anthem 'Promises'. The superb production on this tells a story somewhere between Big Brother and Brave New World.

The album, 'Welcome Reality', is due out tomorrow and I'm so excited about hearing it I might just wet myself.   

Blow at Egg, Friday 8 October

Egg club has never been well known for its awesome lineups or excellent promotions. Instead, the notorious Kings Cross venue has kept going for seven years on the back of its reputation as a solid after-party spot, the place that's guaranteed to be open at 10am, full of London's messiest.

With events like Breakfast at Egg playing techno, minimal, house and electroey stuff until 2pm on a Sunday, it's the sort of gaff you end up in, as my housemate likes to say, 'When things have gone very wrong indeed'. Which sometimes can be quite funny.

So it's good to see Egg's new Friday night shindig, Blow, taking things down a more drum n bass and dubsteppy route with some top names. This week, STUN hosts room one with Nero and MC AD. Also on the bill is Chug, a London-based DJ you should definitely seek out if you like eclectic urban riddims - for some dope mixes, check out his Soundcloud page.

Friday 8 October
Blow @ Egg, Kings Cross
£10 adv, £13 otd
10pm - 6am
Lineup:  Nero, Macpherson, V Dubz, Matt Carpenter, DJ Chug

Click here for more info.

Pendulum take the controls at Matter

Friday night I moseyed on down to Earstorm, the first in a series of nights curated by DnB-slash-rock badboys Pendulum. (No info on the next events as yet, but Matter assure me there'll be two more this year).

I love Matter, I really do - despite the fact it's full of home counties girls in party dresses and strappy heels; despite the fact it's in the arse-end of nowhere; and despite the fact that the top floor could do with turning the volume up... a lot. I still traipse there all the time because it pulls these ridiculously sick lineups out the bag.

Nero's dubstep and DnB set in the main room was a total stormer, and proved the duo are as natty on the decks as they are in the studio. I think I'm in love.

In room two, scratch master DJ Craze - the proud owner of six gold Technics decks, the lucky bastard, having won the World DMC Championships three times - also smashed it. He's obviously cottoned on to dubstep, but we caught some trademark hip hop and jungle styles too, which rocked.

Sinden dropped a mix of tech and tribal house, electro, two-step swagger and booty bumpin' riddims. It was good, fun, catch-all - but not enough to keep me going for a whole hour, especially when competing against Pendulum, who were giving a taster of their new album on the main stage.

Next, DnB man-of-the-moment Sub Focus tore it up, but sadly his set featured the low point of the night: an MC with 'Put your hands in the air' tourettes, which was super, mega, utterly annoying.

Talking of annoying, I'm thinking of starting a petition for a ban on mosh-pits at DnB nights. Where the hell did that trend start? I'm showing my age when I say, it wouldn't have happened in my day...