It was the 1st birthday of Tru Thoughts’ night Sonic Switch, and the Brighton label’s co-founder played a marathon 5 hour set. We were fortunate enough to stumble across it.

Robert Luis knows music, which isn’t a great surprise from a guy whose label has put out albums by the likes of Bonobo, Quantic and Zed Bias. Not only does he know music it’s soon evident he knows how to work a crowd. The Green Door Store has an awesome warehouse party vibe, there’s no entrance fee and the drinks are reasonably priced. As a result it’s a club we often end up in over the weekend. However we haven’t seen it like this since Go Bang last year, a proper rave.

The deep rumbling bass of Serial Killaz’ ‘Killa Clash’ draws us into the main room and a hurtling jungle amen break propels the crowd into jumping, lurching and thrusting in all directions. A lot of nights boast an eclectic music policy but many fail to deliver selections that are both varied and entertaining. Sonic Switch has no such problem. The styles and tempos, from house and garage to hip hop and grime, are married together by deft mixing and a creative tracklist. There’s Mosca’s remix of Vybz Kartel, ‘Nasty’ by Nas and the helium vocals of 16 Bit’s ‘In The Death Car’. Even Talking Head’s ‘Once In A Lifetime’ is dropped to a rapturous reception.

The diversity of Robert Luis’ set reflects the range of artists at Tru Thoughts. Sonic Switch promotes this variety and proves that, in the right hands, it can be mixed into a killer set bubbling with energy. The ravers are sweaty and exhausted with appreciation. We’ll see you at the next one.

Green Door Store, Saturday 7th April 2012
Words and photos by Zac Colbert