Eris Drew & Octo Octa @ Planeta Manas (08/06/22)
Planeta Manas here in Lisbon has been coming into its own these past few months and unfortunately I have not been around to make the most of it. I managed to catch Roska last month, but I missed Objekt and CCL (apparently an incredible night) and will be away for Jamal Moss this weekend. Luckily for me the Manas crew came up with a last-minute idea for a midweek party last night with Eris Drew and Octo Octa, so I got a taste of how things have been going there recently.
The answer is: really well. The space was already the coolest new thing to happen to this city in years, and it feels like each time I visit there’s an improvement, be it in the layout, the decorations and lights, or the sound. The latter point - and the DJ booth/equipment - is probably the one area that could be improved a lot more, but they get a lot out of what they’ve got. Last night even technical issues with the decks couldn’t interfere with the pure joy of seeing the T4TLUVNRG duo doing their thing on a Wednesday evening.
I saw Octo Octa play solo last year when the clubs reopened (I wrote about that here), and I knew that the main difference this night - aside from her playing B2B with Eris Drew - would be the setting and crowd. In November I didn’t make it far into her set primarily because the Lux dancefloor got crowded and pushy and lost its intimate early-doors appeal just as she came on. Planeta Manas is basically the diametric opposite of Lux in all respects. (In a sense it was set up as such and is happily performing that function.) So what you had last night was a core mass of young queer people accompanied by some of the scenesters you’d also see at Lux (I include myself in this category), and none of the random footfall or people drawn by the expensiveness of the big club. Everyone was there specifically to see the DJs and have a good dance: no standing to the side watching each other, no milling around in front of the booth. It was fantastic.
Then there was the music. When I left Lux in November I think Octo Octa was playing ‘Glammer Girl’ or some version/sample of it, and that was the energy with which the two started their set last night. Dials set to 10, and remaining there til midnight. There were a few tunes I recognised (among them Metro’s ‘Here For The Love’, Revoked’s ‘Pieces’, ‘Star Guitar’) but generally the impression on me was of a wonderful swirling mix of basslines, empowering vocals, rave elements and - above all - BIG PERCUSSION. Sometimes tribal, sometimes blunt, sometimes reverberating wildly, always thudding, driving forwards. As my only time seeing Eris Drew play, this felt like an introduction to her concept of Motherbeat that I’ve read about. It was utterly compelling even on a small system like at Manas - I can only imagine what it must sound like coming out of some of the huge systems they’ve played on.
I got a bit obsessed about what the venn diagram of my personal references would look like for what I heard last night. I got as far as two of the three components, but every time I try and add a third it strikes me as already covered by the first two:
Another fascinating thing about last night was the variety of mixing, which is something both DJs have talked about in interviews and in their Hot n’ Ready DJ Tips. Longer fades, short cuts, dropping in the new track with a scratch, crossfader tricks in the break - sometimes clean, sometimes a bit rough, but all the more energy-giving for it. That spontaneity even translated into a moment where Eris seemed to be riding the feedback on one deck in harmony. What I really liked about the tricks was that they didn’t ever seem gratuitous, which they definitely can do with some DJs who are purely trying to manipulate the crowd. Last night it felt like they were playing with these techniques primarily for the creative challenge and the personal enjoyment of it. The boost it gave to us the dancers was a happy bonus. (Read Eris’s The Art of DJing interview for more on this.)
I left feeling inspired, which for me is rare on a night out in Lisbon, least of all on a Wednesday. I know that this event came about serendipitously so we can’t necessarily expect the matinée to become a regular thing, but knowing the Manas crew’s network and the fact that they now seem to have a more dependable crowd, it’s exciting to know that these kind of one-offs may realistically pop up again in future when friends of theirs are passing through Portugal.
One final note.
Over dinner with friends before the party, my inability to say the name ‘Octo Octa’ without stumbling over the second word (“Otca”) led us to an idea for a new collaboration: Octo Octa x Dr Oetker = Octo Oetker! Everyone knows that ravers are one of Dr Oetker’s most loyal market segments thanks to the tasty and nutritious (?) boost his products can give to an afterparty. Whether Octo Octa herself would be interested in a frozen pizza brand partnership, or whether Dr Oetker wants to admit that fuelling the rave is one of the principal (only?) uses for his lovingly developed wares, is, of course, another matter. But the idea is out there now should either party want to pick it up.