Elements has become something of an institution for ‘live n’ local’ electronic music and the line up for its fifth instalment certainly hit the mark. The event took place at the before untested (for an electronic event) Globe Theatre a venue more than adequate for the task at hand and a refreshing change from the usual Arena/Shamrock duopoly. For those who haven’t been to The Globe before it is a small venue with a reasonably sized foyer (the bar location of course) downstairs from the entrance well suited to the DJ talent offered within its confines on the night. Joined to the foyer by a short corridor is the theatre itself, an intimate affair with good acoustics and definitely one of the better choices around for presenting bands. The only problem seemed to be the herding of punters towards the back of the room as the sloped floor whilst giving a good bird’s eye view of the stage was a little intimidating for most, who quietly conversed on the less appealing aspects of dancing on it. Proves you can’t please everyone, but it would be nice to see this venue more utilised in the future perhaps for more abstract, ambient electronic excursions; in this function it would certainly hit the mark with all.

I was greeted by the penetrating organo-bass goodness of Leo Hede (Statler & Waldorf) and Dave ‘Dri’ Ryan’s Segue: before I even got down the corridor! Segue benefit from their massive collective production experience and it certainly shows, their sound is nothing if not mind-melting; a perfect collection of snappy snares, Infected Mushroom-esque kick drums, bouncing tribal rhythms, squelchy synth blips and the odd smattering of breaks for good measure. Leo’s prog/trance background and Dri’s breaks create the perfect bed for an interesting fusion of sounds and the two have considerable stage presence with their considerable arsenal of laptops, effects and synths. Make no mistake this is a fully matured group straight off the bat and look set to make quite an impact, the good crowd response for such an early set (10:40pm finish) only cementing this. If you see them on a flyer at any point cancel what ever other plans you had and get down for the show and get set to be impressed.

DJing man of the moment Scott Walker carried the torch sans oft partner in crime Damien Wheeler to keep feet moving in the theatre. Despite his ever increasing local profile his set received a luke warm response early on. His trademark minimal tech seemed initially a little too intimidating and machine like when carried on from the more organic sounds of Segue. True to form though Mr. Walker shifted the music into a quick grind with Terry Grant’s fresh ‘Komputers are the Devil’ and gradually built the crowd back up with a collection of impeccably mixed dark, glitchy sub-bass enhanced tunes.

With the floor well prepared D-Ko arrive on stage to rousing applause and drummer Kris Swales wastes no time making the bands presence known, ripping into the crowd with a salvo of floor-tom rolls that give the impression of being in an African tribal ritual rather than a theatre in Brisbane. The rest of the band quickly joined the fray in their first outing with new member Dave ‘Dri’ Ryan (He should be renamed Mr. Popularity really) and the absence of a guitar didn’t seem so sorely missed as one would have expected with the new textures afforded by a more electronic presence solidifying the hard to pin-down D-Ko sound. More care needs to be taken with vocalist/keyboardist Evelyn Golding’s mix though as her voice was mostly drowned out by the wall of sound for the majority of the set. Being a fan of her vocal style I found it a little disappointing not to be able to appreciate it. What was appreciated though was the track ‘Tribal Gathering’ which set the crowd alight with a lead straight from Underworld’s ‘King of Snake’ it really stands out from the bulk of their other material with energy to lift all but the most jaded. The new D-Ko looks set to refine with age.

Unfortunately the crowd migrated soon after the performance and breaks DJ; The Score, got little more than a few seated punters to entertain and despite an entertaining and flawlessly mixed set never managed to achieve a valid presence. I was told the next day that this may have had something to do with Sy-Fi playing in the foyer and the 1am bar licence drawing people out, I stuck to the breaks though right till the end. Hopefully the management at The Globe will see fit to apply for an extended cabaret licence to better accommodate these types of events.

Relieving The Score from his duties, Dan Hazard stepped up to the skins and thus the Soma Rasa show began. Their first local show since coming back from LA was certainly something to remember, these guys are as tight as a Thai ping pong show (You know what I mean)! From an empty room to chock full in less than thirty seconds, by the time MC Kina took to the stage the theatre was filled with an electric vibe. With Sampology on the decks, snippets of ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi and ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears sit strangely comfortably alongside the recent Soma hit ‘Say What You Say’, bringing in the set with colossal energy to leave not a single set of feet not shuffling away. The Globe was rocked at a cracking pace through a variety of Soma Rasa’s electro/breakbeat tunes right from start to finish where they capped off with not one but four encore tracks, and proving that the best is always kept ‘till last they rocked through the Teschnik remix of ‘Something Wicked’, their remix of Scribe’s ‘Not Many’, ‘’I Like It’ and ‘Flow’. Soma Rasa really know how to work a crowd and did it to full effect at Elements:5, enjoying their performance every bit as much as the crowd which lapped up the experience.

Bring on Elements:6 please!