The launch of Baby Beats open decks night at Heat boasted an all female DJ line-up with some more experienced artists being paired with the fresh faces on the local scene. I was really excited to get down and see what this new event would offer the Perth dance music scene.

Being a school night, the event kicked off early at 8pm with Mono Lisa and Angel being the first pair behind the decks. I arrived to find them spinning some breaks tracks for the crowd, including the General Midi remix of ‘Breathe’. Mono Lisa was her usual smiling self and doing a great job of getting the crowd warmed up for the evening. I understand it was Angel’s first time performing in public and I only heard one little messy bit which, to her credit, she quickly rectified. I thought the ladies delivered a great opening set.

The upstairs bar at Heat was a fantastic setting for this event, and lent an intimate feel to the proceedings. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people turn out for the launch night, particularly when it was being held on a Wednesday evening. There seemed to be a steady crowd of people at the venue all night.

It was clear that the ladies involved in organising Baby Beats had gone to a lot of effort and as the theme of the night was “girls come out to play” it was a nice touch to have a couple of buff guys handing out mini pink champagnes bottles to the ladies in the crowd. Some eye candy for the ladies and free drinks always gets two thumbs up from me. Unfortunately I have yet to master the art of drinking champagne through a straw and I managed to spill more than I got to drink.

Mali and Carla came on at 9pm and cranked things up with some heavier beats but still managed to vary the tempo a bit too. A personal highlight from their set was the Audio Jack remix of ‘The Idiots.’ I thought that these two ladies appeared to be very relaxed, smiling and having a great time behind the decks. Everybody that I spoke to in the crowd agreed that they were doing a fantastic job. The night was rapidly taking on one of those infectious party tones where everyone throws out their plans to leave early because they’re too busy having a good time.

I had noticed the Artful G in the corner busily working away on one of his creations and I only found out afterwards that this evening’s masterpiece was being raffled off. I’m spewing that I didn’t get a chance to buy a ticket!

The next pairing on the line-up were Endeva & Jaz and I was overjoyed to discover that they were drum & bass DJs. These ladies played an awesome set and were without a doubt my personal favourites of the evening. I think it took about 2 minutes before the drum & bass aficionados in the crowd took over the space in front of the decks and were merrily dancing away, myself included.

MC Hyclass also featured on a couple of tracks during their set. I should confess that I’m not normally the biggest fan of MCs but I found it a refreshing change to see someone using their rapping skills rather than their ability to swear to impress the crowd.

The final set of the evening was an all girl mash-up and while the crowd numbers had thinned out a bit by 11pm, there were still a few of us who managed to hang around until close. By this stage any first performance/opening night jitters had worn off and the girls were looking completely at home behind the decks. The night ended on a high note for me when Angel dropped the Drumattic Twins ‘Feelin Kinda Strange.’ I had one final dance and then made my way home.

Congratulations to all the ladies involved in the Baby Beats launch, both behind the decks and behind the scenes. I think everybody that came down agreed that it was a great night and a fantastic effort. Many people I spoke to were really excited about the all female DJ line-up and would like to see this format repeated again at a future Baby Beats event. I’m really looking forward to the next one!