After putting on one of the biggest parties of the year with Pendulum, the Broken Beat Assault (BBA) crew were backing things up with some heavyweights of the ‘liquid’ drum and bass sub genre-Artificial Intelligence.

The last BBA party at the Hi-Fi bar (also venue of choice for this gig) had featured the dark tech sounds of Calyx, and the place had been done up impressively for this gig, with netting and Terminator style busts. It was then quite a surprise upon entry to see that the Hi Fi bar was looking quite bare, except for a massive banner advertising the next BBA party featuring the legendary Randall. Instead of being up on the stage the decks were this time occupying part of the small square dance floor putting the DJs right in amongst things.

When I arrived it was to the sounds of WA’s Rommell who was getting into the things, pumping out the smoother sounds as was to be the vibe of the night. Rommell was backed on vocal detail by MC Armani (another Western Australian) someone whom I’d head great reports of. Although it was a little quiet in the venue to be asking for some noise from the crowd (it was before 12!) her vocal style sat nicely with the tunes.
Following on from these two was local legend Sean. Sean as usual crafted his set to the night including some Marcus Intalex, Calibre to name but a few of his choice selections.

Up on after Sean was Beatski. Sadly, he’s no longer doing his dedicated drum and bass show on PBS (Better by the Pound) so it was an opportunity to catch up with his top work. By this stage the crowd was growing and definitely warming to the tunes including an all time fave of mine, Matrix’s remix of Nu:tone’s “Seven Years.” After a fairly upbeat set it was quite a contrast to finish with the driving sounds of Photek’s “Age of Empires.”
Artificial Intelligence (Glenn Herweijer & Zula Warner) started things off with an irresistible selection of dance floor tunes, the kind of stuff that it’s impossible to stand still too. Highlights were definitely my most loved AI tune, “Desperado” (and a reworking of the b-side of that tune “Movin Up”) as well as a number of AI classics as expected. Another couple of highlights were Total Science’s “Soul Patrol” (catch these guys in town soon!) and undoubtedly a white label featuring the Gorillaz track “Dirty Harry.”

While the set was solid dance floor vibing stuff and kept the bodies moving it did loose my interest just a little towards the end. However, I certainly spend the majority of the time on the dance floor!

Faced with the tough ask of keeping those punters on the dance floor after the main act was Motive. Motive started with some more subtle sounds and then livened things up, and a healthy amount of people stayed on to catch his set.

Although not rammed to the rafters as the Pendulum gig, there were certainly enough people inside the place to create a happy and vibing party. Once again well done and thanks to the BBA crew!