Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The bpm, or beats per minute, of clubland are threatened by other units of measurement. One is abv — alcohol by volume — of which there is diminishing appetite among clubbers, with knock-on effects for revenue. Another is psm — price by square metre — which property developers use to calculate their increased return if some luckless club is demolished in order to make way for flats.These are among the reasons for the closure of nightclubs in recent years. Others include cost of living and Covid. According to a recent BBC television documentary, Nightclubs: Is the Party Over?, a third of the UK’s clubs have shut since the start of the pandemic in 2020. At the present rate of decline, there will be none left by the end of 2029.“Clubbing is becoming a luxury, and that’s just crazy,” Sherelle Thomas says on the BBC programme. The London DJ, who goes by her first name, is trying to turn the clock back by putting on cut-price club nights. She has also surprise-released a debut album that flies the flag for the so-called 160 scene — the number being a bpm value denoting various fast-paced genres such as footwork and jungle.With a Vengeance sets out its stall with “Enter the Void”. Rapid but coherent drum patterns are combined with distorted whispers and electronic tones, a raver’s composite of limb movement and limbic disorientation. “Don’t Want U” is an abrasive message of independence hammered home by a set of hard-boiled rhythmic repetitions. The title track’s air raid sirens and subwoofer-wobbling bass evoke a wartime bunker repurposed for an illegal rave. The mood lifts on “Freaky (Just My Type)”, featuring George Riley on vocals, a breezily sung message of infatuation that sinuously unites hip-hop/R&B with drum and bass. Then Sherelle puts her foot to the floor again with “Ready, Steady, Go!”, a stripped-back techno affair, and “Speed (Endurance)”, which is powered by the nervous energy of scissoring hi-hats and acid house synthesiser riffs.There is a deliberate intent behind the references to the late 1980s and early 1990s. With a Vengeance invokes the spirit of UK dance music at a point when it was about to go mainstream. That process now seems to have gone into reverse. The album proposes a defiant response. Back to the underground if need be, but the beat will go on.★★★★☆‘With a Vengeance’ is released by Method 808
