70-74 City Road,
City,
London,
EC1Y 2BJ
(020) 7253 2443
The ViewLondon Review
An artsy, multi-purpose Shoreditch spot, City Arts and Music Project offers a relaxed atmosphere and anything from art exhibitions to comedy, gigs and discerning club nights.
The Venue
A former Chinese restaurant just off Old Street roundabout, City Arts and Music Project (or C.A.M.P for short) is a 400-capacity two-floored space hosting raves, gigs, comedy, poetry, exhibitions, hipster bingo and quizzes and more. Originally it was billed as a temporary project but now it’s very much established itself as a permanent space. Upstairs is a comfy bar, with plenty of seating and a small dancefloor, while downstairs is a no frills basement club with exposed brickwork and a powerful soundsystem.
The Atmosphere
The City Arts and Music Project is frequented by creative, artsy mid-20somethings and upwards. It’s rough round the edges, and attracts a similarly unpretentious, yet clued up crowd, who know what they’re going to, whether gig, rave, or spoken word.
The Music
As James Priestley, one half of the brains behind secretsundaze, which first brought Ibiza-style al fresco deep electronic music Sunday raves to London ten years ago, has been integral in the CAMP’s transformation, its music programming is on point.
Regular monthly nights include leading true school hip hop and R&B night Livin Proof, while Triangle showcases the latest post-dubstep stars such as Ossie and Damu from respected, underground labels like Hyperdub (Burial, Kode 9) and Keysound (Damu, LV). In addition, Hipsters Don’t Dance whip up a sultry, sweaty storm with tropical sounds such as Caribbean soca, Colombian cumbia, Angolan kuduro, Brazilian baile funk, and Jamaican dancehall.
The City Arts and Music Project also hosts gigs spanning New York’s cult dude-rap trio Das Racist to Scandanavian-jazz as part of the London Jazz Festival via Spoek Mathambo’s South African electro rap.
The Food
During the day, food is served on the ground floor, providing local workers with good value lunchtime options. Each day has a different special which include jerk chicken and mac 'n' cheese for just £6.
The Drink
Amstel and Heineken on tap, continental bottled beers plus a small cocktail selection. Like most places, when it’s busy it can take a get-to-know-the-person-next-to-you-chat to get served, so a round of fiddly cocktails could be deemed inconsiderate. The chip and pin machine has been known to malfunction on occasion – but there’s a cash point across the road.
The Last Word
Escape Shoreditch’s maddening weekend crowds traipsing from wannabe-cool-bar to wannabe-cool-bar and head to this arty, laid back space, where the temptation of block party hip hop, 1990s slow jamz (Jodeci/R Kelly) or cutting edge electronic dance music is but a flight of stairs away.