This is only the second Blowpop party at Bohem and I have to say they picked an excellent space. The wonderful high vaulted ceiling with majestic columns surrounding the domed dance floor makes for a grand experience. The abundance of comfortable lounges and seating is a big plus too.  

Moreover someone has recently put a lot of effort into the sound and lighting setup. The DJ booth was on a high platform with a royal view of the dance floor flanked on both sides by massive speaker stacks and as if this wasn’t enough they were complemented by an additional two speaker stacks opposite the booth combining to form a massive ring of speakers surrounding the dancers. The downside of this is that from anywhere outside the dance floor the music sounds like crap unfortunate for those who didn’t feel like dancing but rewarding for those who do.

The only problem with a large space is that unless there are a lot of people the place will feel kind of empty. Unfortunately there were not many people, enough that in a smaller venue it might not have made a difference but here it was enough to seriously impact the vibe and the whole night felt more like a casual gathering. Although to be fair the people that were there were certainly up for it, including one guy who was evidently trying to chat up one of the speaker stacks spending most of the night with his face 5cm away from it.

I arrived to the sounds of Jessica Joy, a little disappointed at having just missed the Audiophilez I was glad to be handed a free mix cd of their making at the entrance, always a nice touch. Jessica Joy played a good funky set and when she finished around 1am to my surprise she rolled out of the DJ booth on roller skates. I don’t know if she played her whole set thus attired but she could certainly dance in them.

Bass Kleph was up next opening his set with a couple of custom samples and a few 4/4 tracks before ironically flipping over with a breakbeat mix of a famous house track, Daft Punk’s Around the World. He followed this theme for a little while with breaks mixes of Stardust – The Music Sounds Better With You and then Deep Dish – Flashdance with the “I’ll House You” acapella thrown over the top. There’s always more to Bass Kleph’s sets than mixing one song into the next and his efforts payed off managing to attract a decent number of people to the dance floor. Tight mixing, lots of hiphop acapellas and some cool tracks (including his new one Fucking the Groove) made for a solid party vibe.

Klaus was up next with a big heavy set for a big heavy man. Never one to disappoint Klaus brought the intensity up a notch making himself worthy of the moniker “Heavyweight”. He was accompanied by MC Losty who despite being a little sparse with his vocals was top notch laying down a very nice rhyme over Plump DJs - Bullet Train. One track later due to the lack of people Klaus was cut short halfway through his billed set time (about 3.15) to allow Whomp! to take to the stage.

I’ve been looking forward to seeing these guys and was especially keen after casting a longing eye over the table next to the decks adorned with all manner of tasty gear. Whomp! consists of 3 members, Dopamine and Dirty D manning a pair of RS7000’s amongst other bits and pieces and Dr Benwahh on guitar.

Live electronica is a rare sight in the clubs usually being reserved for major acts at big festivals and it’s a real shame. In every other genre of music jazz, folk, rock or latin you can be assured of finding numerous local live performances every week, dance music is the only notable exception and this despite the scene being larger than many of the aforementioned examples. These days with the advent of streamlined and easy to use technology electronic music no longer has an excuse. Despite the extra hassles in setting up it really is worth the extra effort and Whomp! are proof of this.

We were treated to an original and pumping hour of bassdriven sonic mayhem. Crunchy analog (sounding) bass lines, neatly spliced vocal samples and some awesome guitar work all combined with an elegance and fluidity that is simply unattainable on a DJ rig make for an experience worthy of a far larger crowd and venue (by this time there were barely half a dozen people dancing). I would love to see Whomp! rip up the Boiler Room at BDO or at least get a set at one of the big Fuzzy Breaks events.

I left at the end of their set and seeing as the promoter got up and thanked everyone for coming I am pretty sure that the event finished early. Despite this a great night was had by all with solid music and production values let down only by a lack of punters. Seeing as this is a fortnightly event now I’m sure Blowpop will not be discouraged by the turnout and eagerly await the next installment.