Nysa Speakeasy – 1920s nostalgia fused with house

The start of this blog has coincided quite nicely (not entirely by accident) with my venturing out into the London club scene to sample some of the electro-swing nights that are on offer. Until this month there was just the one offering, the Electro-Swing Club at the Book Club, but now we have at least three monthly events.

Nysa is the smallest and the newest of these (White Mink’s new London night is the other, which I will review in the next post) and is in many ways the most ambitious. The promoter is Barry Madej, house DJ and electro-swing fan, who decided to try his hand at putting on a night – a brave move considering the size and ubiquity of the other two promoters, and their ability to attract big name acts.

Rather cleverly, this night doesn’t really attempt to compete with the all-singing, all-dancing immersive experiences offered by White Mink et al., but instead focuses on the music. The venue is in part the cause, as Nysa takes place in a bar with a capacity of about 100.

Baz maintains an air of mystery – his events are held at a ‘secret location’ in Notting Hill and operate on a strict guestlist only policy and it is only once you have applied to be on the guestlist is you are informed of the address. This helps to create a sense of exclusivity and justifies the ‘Speakeasy’ in the name of the night.

As the subtitle suggests, the music owes more to house than any other genre. Chatting to Baz at the afterparty, I learnt that he has been DJing on the house scene for many years, so this is perhaps not all that surprising. There were some garage tunes, so for the odd ten minute period we were denied electro-swing, but my friends and I were glad of the respite from dancing. Having said that, the electro-swing sections were very good indeed, with some well-known staples of the genre and one or two tunes that were new to me. Another nice touch was the video projection of original artwork from L.A based artist Anja van Herle.

Overall, it was fairly clear that many of the attendees had never come across electro-swing before, and that the party I was in was the only one there specifically for the music. When we arrived most of the guests were milling around, chatting and drinking, but pretty soon my chums and I had taken to the floor and the atmosphere changed quickly.

One member of our party, The Hon. Rumple Fuddly developed quite a following and cleared quite a circle on the floor with his dancing. He was even asked if he had had ‘electro-swing lessons’, which I am pretty sure do not exist.

A good litmus test for any genre-specific event is what someone new to the music makes of the event. To this end I took along a lady known as Sweetness, who, I am happy to say, fell in love. Sadly she has now moved back to her native South Africa, but hopefully this just means she will start flying the flag for electro-swing south of the Sahara. (Actually, the seeds have been sown)

The next event from Nysa is on Friday 23^rd March. To apply for a guestlist place and to find out the location, click here.

What is Electro-swing and who makes the stuff?

Electro-swing is an umbrella term for a style of music typified by the fusion of modern electronic dance music with the popular music of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. The style only really became recognised as a new genre in its own right in 2009, with the release of a number of compilation albums. The one you are likely to have come across is “White Mink vs. Black Cotton”  (Electro-Swing versus Speakeasy Jazz), from the Brighton-based label Freshly Squeezed Music.

Having said this, there are a number of tracks that were made before this  that one could retrospectively classify as electro-swing. Mr. Scruff’s “Get a move on” is a one such track.

My first contact with electro-swing came via the Fabulous Miss Fox, who played me this by the Correspondents, a DJ/MC duo. Shortly after that I attended one of their gigs in a tiny room in Southampton. I was addicted – the energy in the room was astonishing, and never have I danced so hard in my life. I emerged blinking onto the street some time after, drenched in sweat and buzzing. I will not dwell on the Correspondents too much, as I plan to write a whole post about them at a later date, but so far as I am concerned, it is largely down to that one energetic and frantic performance that I find myself typing this blog.

As I stated at the beginning, electro-swing is a broad church – The Correspondents use a great deal of drum n bass, jungle and “a little thing [they] like to call dubstep”, but others owe more to house music, like DJ Typoboy. The genre has diversified and spread, so that now DJs and producers from other genres are starting to add some swing elements into their music, giving birth to sub-genres like swingstep. Swing-hop has been around for some time now in various forms, usually as an experiment for a hip-hop/rap artist, such as Nas or Jurrasic 5, but in recent times the growth of electro-swing has spawned groups such as the Swedish trio Movits.

There are also a number of groups making live electro-swing – these groups, like French outfit Caravan Palace, usually have a live singer and brass sections, as well as synthesisers and other electronic equipment. Many of these groups have roots in gypsy swing, Balkan house and people like Django Reinhardt.

One man who leads the field in the electro-swing world is Parov Stellar – some even describe him as a founder of the genre. Certainly he is responsible for several of the most well known tracks, especially with in continental Europe, where the genre is as strong as anywhere.

As is the case with a lot of house/dance music, many of the producers and DJs are originally from Europe – France and Italy being particularly well represented, by people like the Swingrowers (Italy) and incontrol (France) flying the flag.

Another great way to sample some of the finest electro-swing is to listen to this special feature that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1, on Rob da Bank's show. 

Hopefully this has given a decent overview and showcased some of the better known or more popular electro-swing producers, DJs and bands. I will regularly be blogging about new tracks and artists I have come across, as well as announcements about and reviews of electro-swing events. Watch this space, and remember: "It don't mean a thing..."