OSM // Robert Hood / Luke Slater / Jerome Sydenham / Shifted / jozif / Fritz Zander

For the first OSM night of 2014, we show our darker side: our love of stripped back, industrial beats and the importance they have played throughout the years and evolution of electronic music. Read on to find out more about Robert Hood, Luke Slater, Jerome Sydenham, Shifted and our Oval Space Music residents jozif and Fritz Zander. 

ROBERT HOOD
With an instantly recognisable Hood sound of to-the-bone, brutally compressed grooves, Robert Hood has often been named as the pioneer of minimal techno; engulfing crowds with his rough edged, crunching soundscapes before the term ‘minimal’ had even been coined in the early noughties. We first heard him play in Berlin’s kickdrum mecca Berghain and have since been waiting for the right time to invite Robert to fill Oval Space in his irresistible groove-fuelled drive.

LUKE SLATER
Since the 90’s, the UK’s famously controversial Luke Slater has been a permanent fixture on the techno scene. Reclusive at times, and at the forefront at others with five acclaimed albums under his belt since 2002. Taking pockets of acid house, Detroit techno and 80’s nu wave as inspiration within his productions, Slater’s sound is hard to pin down – but perhaps that’s one of the reasons why we love him. After a big room set at ADE 2013 saw us stomping and spellbound, we knew at once that we had to add him to our 2014 opening line up.

JEROME SYDENHAM
Not only is Jerome Sydenham a revered DJ amongst crowd and peers alike; he’s a friend of the Oval Space family. Inspired by Jerome’s sound, we built this line up around him, having known that he would be perfect for our debut techno line up. It’s hard to find flaw in Jerome Sydenham’s taste, having started his career as A&R for Atlantic Records and running his own label Ibadan, on which the likes of Dennis Ferrer, Joe Claussel and Kerri Chandler have all appeared. Sydenham’s record choices for his sets and A&R choices for his label reflect class, exclusivity and downright talent. 

SHIFTED
UK Techno artist Shifted began to filter into our consciousness when his first two EP’s on Luke Slater’s Mote Evolver imprint were released. 2012 saw his debut long player, again on Mote Evolver, receive rave reviews and propel Shifted even further into the techno elite. Shifted’s heavy, muscular and stripped back productions, his hypnotic style and equally alluring DJ sets have since been a staple within our playlists.

JOZIF & FRITZ ZANDER
As we launch the first Chapter of OSM 2014, we welcome our two residents jozif and Fritz Zander. These two artists will spend more time within their newly designed booth than anyone else, so it goes without saying that jozif and Fritz will be the first to fire up the system. One of the things that makes an amazing resident is versatility, the ability to work a room at any time, to play before or after anybody, and both residents have these qualities in abundance. We are very much looking forward to hearing the many sides of their styles and, for this event in particular, perhaps a blunter edge than you may have heard before.