Locked Club
Once you discover Locked Club, they aren’t a group you forget about. After starting to listen to them sometime in 2024 (credit to P.K.), they’ve been a staple in my electronic rotation. In honor of seeing them live this weekend, it feels only fitting to make a post about these underappreciated electro-punk kings.
If you don’t like heavy, then Locked Club probably isn’t for you. But if you like layers of chain clanking, acid, and sweaty up-tempo breakbeat on an industrial techno foundation, then tune in. You can call Locked Club confrontational. You can call Locked Club abrasive. But you can’t call them untalented. Their production - landing them somewhere in between electro-industrial and ghettotech - is raw, solid, and aggressive. It is crisp but not polished, as the vibe of their music is grimey, but the sound itself is not. Their rough edges and distortion is intentional. The builds are generous, juggling countless elements and offering satisfying tempo changes and beat-drops - full of tension, but channeled into a dance floor context. Locked Club’s background in the Russian underground scene comes through in not only their aesthetic, but vocals and samples.
The mysterious duo behind the even more mysterious independent label Private Persons is the definition of quality over quantity. Upon glancing at their discography, you’ll quickly notice the (very disappointing) lack of albums. In the 10 years that Locked Club has been putting out music, releases have been few and far between. Occasional singles, occasional EPs, but no LPs. Despite the struggle of low quantity catalog, I will always appreciate an artist that keeps us hungry for more but consistently delivers high-quality music. I would 100% rather wait than be disappointed. And Locked Club doesn’t tend to disappoint.
Irak is the first EP you should be aware of. The obscenely good EP - Locked Club’s sophomore - was the EP through which I was introduced to the duo, and is probably still my favorite of theirs to this day. If you’re deciding where to start amidst the insanity, start there. Otherwise, Svoboda (2023) is incredible. Panagoi is a favorite track - original, a little haunting, and a lot of fun.
When you find yourself wanting more (because you will), their live sets will come in handy. This is where the duo’s “club as chaos” sound is brought to life. Between the utterly massive group of masked guys they bring on and the jumbo-sized vodka bottles, their sets are where Locked Club shines. The mixing, the length, the energy. The crowd acts like an extension of the music. Locked Club spaces are alive, crawling with disturbed forms of life. Under flickering light, they will make you wait for it, question your sanity at times, and severely please you with a sound unique to the depths of Moscow.
Step into the warehouse. Listen to Locked Club.
