The Crown & Sceptre Hotel and the Breakdown party series have demonstrated a commitment to high quality live dance music promotion time and time again. From the twisted d’n’b of K’Oscillate to local heroes the Levitators and the Beat Smugglers, live breakbeat acts have proved as popular in Adelaide recently as ever, and on Saturday night, the room was primed for another dose. Winter Breakdown’s headline spot belonged to My Ninja Lover, a three-piece out of Brisbane with a deeply layered electronic sound. Soaring above the breakbeats of varying tempo are the vocals of Manta Ray, at once dripping with sensuality, subtle control and character.

The night started later than I expected, as I rolled in after midnight in time for the closing numbers of local groove outfit, The New White Sneakers. While admittedly I’ve heard this band on more occasions than I can count, I was impressed to see them still filling the cosy pub backroom, to their sunny, light funk grooves. Deciding not to climb into the can of sardines, I spoke to a few of the band members after the set who were all happy with the gig. They were all just as excited by news that the group’s vocalist Leslie will be staying on with them, and that their original drummer, Baldi has also rejoined after some extended overseas travel. As often happens at their gigs, many of the loyal NWS followers left the building after the band’s set, and all I can say is: more fool them.

Taking the night to another dimension of depth and intensity, MNL hit the stage, opening with a bracket of unreleased numbers that worked on a housier tip than their ‘Silk & Daggers’ tracks. More stompin’ than jackin’, these numbers did it for the dancefloor, which had been left to rebuild after the intermission between live acts. Ringing with wah wah guitar, and even sounding like Daft punk at one stage, The MNL crew were pumped for this show and wasted no time showing it. After opening for Artificial Intelligence the night before, the difference in energy on stage and off was palpable. Having seen a few higher profile ‘Live PA’ sets in recent months (Crazy Penis and Kosheen come to mind) I will say now that as an all-round entertainment package, MNL are already on par. Remarkable considering these were their first ‘real’ tour shows outside of their home city of Brisbane.

Even though the crowd had thinned after the Sneakers’ set, the rapture of the reduced late night audience was infectious, and the extra dancing room was boldly taken advantage of. As the band moved into their more familiar breakbeat tracks (think Kosheen meets Nu:breed) the production sound in the venue served remarkable justice to the recordings. While back-liners Porl and Chris swapped freely between bass, guitar and synth, the laptop output was mixed into eight separate channels, giving the sound engineer the control he needed to sweeten the difficult acoustic space. Downbeat numbers like ‘A Day Off’ (which also appears on the Bar Secrets compilation) were beautifully emotive and complete, and Sam’s re-interpretation of the vocal parts (mostly swinging the rhythms) created a welcome feeling of freedom and spontaneity… something often lacking in dance acts working to a backing track. Manta’s performance out the front was appropriately varied and always entertaining- from her focused emotive moments, to others where she stomped around the stage like a malfunctioning android, or lashed out like some wild feline.

In keeping with the group’s approach to the previous night’s show, the radio hit ‘Tin Cat’ was reserved for the closing bracket. Such was the response to the seething bass of the closing d’n’b numbers that the trio were called back for an encore, dropping another new track called ‘Concrete Block’, which pulled the intensity back a bit with a slower break to wrap the night up with. Behind Manta, Porl and Chris were clearly intensely involved with the music; Porl standing with the focus of a martial artists at the keyboard, while Chris bounced freely whilst executing impressive feats of dexterity on the bass. The set ran in a song-by-song structure rather than a mix, and this gave the audience plenty of opportunities to show their overwhelming and rowdy appreciation. The reception in the room transcended the numbers present, and I left the gig with a feeling similar to that which followed my first tastes of The Bird and The Hive (the latter in the very same venue many years prior). While breaks and d’n’b rule in Adelaide, and live acts continue to redefine people’s expectations of a good night out, My Ninja Lover’s energy, originality and positive attitude will always be welcome here.