‘Twas the Saturday night of Queens B’Day long weekend and if any were to be found stirring then stir quite slowly they would for it was a cold cold evening by Brisbane standards. The weather and high ticket prices combined to keep most punters away, but a door list longer than a b-double somewhat salvaged We Love Sounds and made a good bit of fun for those willing to brave it.

The main room and two side rooms were opened up in the Arena to cater for different tastes, the main sporting the hip hop acts on the bill and some of the electro house. While the far side room housed all the deep and progressive house and the room closest to the stair case for the electro house. It was a shame that upstairs closed for the night, as despite it often becoming hot as Hades, it would have been a better choice than one of the side rooms for the sake of a little more space to breathe.

One of the major highlights of the evening with an early slot in the main room was Melbourne hip hop sextet True Live with a vibrant and highly original classical infused set. As a band they certainly embody their name, a group of highly skilled musicians with a bare minimum of sample playback and not a turntablist in sight. Rather unusually True Live’s signature sound comes courtesy of the combination of live electric violin, upright bass and acoustic double bass for a very warm organic feel. None of this should lead to an assumption of the band being anything short of energetic, on the contrary they proved to get the scant few people in the main room at the time moving like the four horseman were knocking on the front door. True Live’s play list spanned from party pleasing covers (Whole Lotta Love, Drop it Like it’s Hot) to politically and social diatribes punctuated with heartfelt string solos. Hip hop may not be every music fans cup of tea but any ought to appreciate skill when they see it and this is a band on the way up.

In contrast the most hyped act of the night was somewhat lacklustre. DJ Shadow whilst undoubtedly a competent musician and DJ was both unspectacular to watch and frustrating to attempt dancing to. For a peak hour set in the main room it would be expected to hear a more energetic set yet Shadow made little effort to pick up the tempo or reinterpret his material to suit the environment. Yes his albums are great and yes the addition of Gift of Gab from Blackalicious was a clever move but it was a thousand times more entertaining to sit back and watch the visuals his VJ was putting out. Make no mistake, the visuals were of the highest quality, so good in fact that it’s doubtful that anything of that calibre has been in the Arena or Brisbane thus far. If considering going to a DJ Shadow show it would be a good idea to simply forgo the seeing him at a festival and pay for a side show preferably held outdoors where that sound and vibe would be perhaps better suited.

Upstairs meanwhile, the side room was heaving with punters all dancing the carpet threadbare to the sounds of 2020 Vision Recordings artists’ Spirit Catcher. Not having previous knowledge of their sound yet understanding 2020’s reputation for quality house should have been enough for anyone and Spirit Catcher certainly cut a fearsome impression upon those in attendance with a fantastic display of skill and ingenuity. With one artist on the decks with Serato Scratch Live and the other behind a laptop with keyboard and a rather obscene amount of software synths cranked out a smooth and warm yet surprisingly up tempo house set. At times deeply melodic and others totally banging not a tune failed to ignite the senses of the open crowd.

With a tough act to follow Everything But the Girl member and boss of Buzzin’ Fly Records Ben Watt had his work cut out for him. Stripping the right back to melodic, atmospheric deep house Watt reconstructed the mood of the room at a whim harmonically mixing a set to surely remember. His legendary reputation is certainly warranted by the amazing quality of his hook driven epic house sound which bears more in common with the progressive house of yore than one would be lead to believe yet does so with the quality of all the might that modern production techniques and gear can muster. His fairly regular tours of Australia mean that you’ll not have long to wait before the chance arises to catch a highly recommended set. Provided you like your house a favour to self is in order!

Next up in the same room and next up on the hype roster were One + One aka James Zabiela and Nic Faniculli, two DJs becoming increasingly popular and recently founded a label by the same name. Their touring has bought much dance media hype and fantastic reviews. The duo have been individually pushing fresh house sounds forward for some time now yet it seems that together their sound leans more towards Zabiela and his bionic beats which could be easily mistaken as a choir of robots in rhythmic chant. Whilst fresh and not disappointing One + One never seemed to entirely or consistently engage their audience due perhaps to the competition in the main room of Tiga. For all the skill and inventiveness of they collectively possess it may be sometime before we see them fully reach their potential as a DJ duo, but they will no doubt reach epic room slamming proportions before long with further refinement.

A note for next year – don’t hold your breath for another We Love Sounds in Brisbane, but the concept is a worthy one considering the general lack of big events on the winter calendar for dance. So hope for the best and pray for cheaper tickets because ninety odd dollars is agreeably obscene.