When I got to Kink at around 11pm on Saturday night the first thing I noticed was that the whole of Arthouse was almost full already. The fact that Kink featuring Sharam Jey had so much hype surrounding it was a testament to the German producer/DJ, who has been in the scene for over 10 years but only now is releasing his debut artist album – ‘4 da Lovers’ – on Darren Emerson’s Underwater label.
It was so full in fact, that by 12.30 the security had to stop people from entering the Kink room as it was overcrowded. I went to check out the Broke-N-Beats room and had a few drinks while I listened to MoFunk spinning some groovy breaks tracks. After a short wait, we were allowed back inside to Kink just in time to catch the last ½ hour of Shamus’ set, who already had the whole place bouncing with a floor shaking set. It was hard to even talk in Kink, as every few seconds was a new heavy bassline shaking the whole room. Even though it was full, it was still easy to get a drink at the bar, and the bar staff were friendly as always (thumbs up).
Sharam Jey came on to the decks unannounced at around 1.30, yet everyone knew he was there as soon as he opened with his usual brand of beats and tweaks and squelchy noises, climaxing tunes full of foot-tapping and head-nodding goodness. Although his first couple of tracks were just slow beats, he quickly built up when he started playing tracks like his own ‘Feel nobody’ – the track he is most famous for – mixed with ‘An open letter to NYC’ acapella by the Beastie Boys over the top. From here it seemed as though every track of his set was bigger than the one before it, and it became impossible to do anything but remain on the dancefloor. His fusion of house, breaks, rock and electro was perfect for a Saturday night out, no matter what your personal tastes might be.
I’m sure that everyone who was present during his set will know exactly what I am talking about when I say that Sharam’s tune selection was full of hypnotic beats and electro noises that had my eyes transfixed on his hands as he worked the equipment with more ease than almost every other DJ I’ve seen. Not only this, but I was also amazed at the rate at which he was able to switch beats, with such skill that you could not tell where one track finished and the next began.
Sharam and the guys were working the crowd as well from the DJ stage, jumping up and down as the bass would kick in and firing up all the punters on the floor, something that always makes performances more memorable. I don’t think I have seen more eyes-in-the-back-of-heads and crooked jaws in one room in my life, although it meant that the crowd were a friendly bunch, at least. I got a bit of a shock, however, when a woman who was clearly on another planet came over and would not stop trying to hug my friends and I.
I forgot about this quickly when I heard Sharam mix in Coburn’s ‘We interrupt this program’ – a track that always gets a great response from the crowd. While he had our full attention he started to add a little rock to the program such as Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the name of’ mixed with a little ‘Gechts Noch’ which had the hairs tingling on the back of your neck. He even managed to incorporate a crowd-singalong into his set when he played a remix of ‘Never be Alone’.
As he neared the end of his set, he kept the same quality mix of wobbly synths and 808 kicks playing until he finally left the decks at 4.30. A three hour set (on Sharam’s demands) was perfect as any less would have been far too short for him to really establish himself. Overall I would say that he was even better than I expected and I’m sure the other people present would have agreed with me as all I heard from other people as we were leaving was how much of a great set he had played.
A great night out (although I still haven’t got my hearing back yet!) and one that will keep me going back to Kink for a long time.
