Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics, Jimi Tenor and Little Dragon have ensured Karen P’s Broad Casting sessions at Cargo got off to a great start, now well established as one of the London live nights to look for. October’s session saw a triple bill of three contrasting acts with a shared passion for basslines and getting crowds moving.

First came Soundspecies, an act built around four multi-instrumentalist brothers. The Keens –Henry, Olly, Barney and Nathanial– dominated the stage, joined by Ben Hadwen (flute and baritone sax), Adam Hughes on Moog and Rhodes and Adam Betts drumming. Collectively they could hold the record for the longest legs in musical history, however such trivialities distract from the amazing music. The ease with which they coherently express their influences –dub, techno, jazz and all kinds of African rhythms– is staggering. No element is watered down in order to work as a whole; each makes the complete compositions enhanced. Two instrumental openers (including the cracking ‘Star Wars’) generated movement and applause from the growing numbers, brother Barney’s vocals then spruced up their set showing some psychedelic innards. For their final song, Ayanna Witter-Johnson joined the gents harmonising with Barney supremely in ‘Waiting for the Sun’. A wonderful song, Deborah Jordan provides the female tones to the version on the Soundspecies LP (coming soon on Burnt Progress), this rendition with Ayanna worked awesomely and will hopefully make it onto the RBMA archives as previous Broad Casting sessions have done.

Bass Clef was the second live act: bushy-bearded and wearing a lovely t-shirt symbolically showing his name. A unique combination of CDJ, mixing desk, theramin, whistle, mic and trombone (!), he continuously filled silences using one of the array of items to hand. Remarkably engaging his one-man show generated some ridiculous low-end surges to test the Cargo speaker cones and provoked plenty of dancing.

Headlining, Buraka Som Sistema took their place, initially as a 3-piece with Lil’ John flanked by DJ Riot (drums & laptop) & Fred (kit drums). Emcees, Kalaf & Conductor, entered to assist in hyping up the now rammed room. The final member, Blaya appeared sporadically to display her first-rate dancing, emphatically shaking her rump. Buraka’s mixture of Kuduro, electro and dub-stepping heaviness was terrific, appreciated by the large number of lusophones in the crowd and excitable locals. In the many times I’ve been to Cargo, I’ve never seen the place with such a rave atmosphere. Buraka’s energy and party songs caused sweaty mayhem and smiles galore. And what an ovation! An encore was inevitable and amusingly came swiftly due to the locked dressing room. Some “new shit” from their forthcoming Black Diamond album was the reward with ‘Te Ro Za’ furthering the excitement with another unprecedented moment whereby Kalaf instructed the crowd to “get low down” and so we did. The entire room kneeled or squatted awaiting the countdown. 1,2,3,4 and up we all leapt, roaring to the banging track. My sore knees were soon forgotten. Having first heard of Buraka via Lusofonia: a (R)Evolução, the dancefloor hysteria shown in that RBMA-funded documentary seems to occur when and wherever they perform. Definitely an act to check live, they’re back in the UK later in the year.

Whispers of pre-show doubt on the lack ‘big-names’ in the line-up were put to bed. The buzzing atmosphere and quality of performances is further evidence of Karen P’s willingness to support all kind of artists, looking outside set scenes for new music. Broad Casting is filling the gap left by the excellently curated and highly-memorable Independent Mix nights, who’ll be next on the bill?

Thanks to Gawain Hewitt for the photos.