It was a fricken chilly Friday night and just felt like it was going to be one of those nights where all the clubs in town would be absolutely baron. I was thinking, this gig may struggle to get a crowd due to the morbid weather forecast. I arrived fashionably late and walked in an alley which lead me to the rear entrances of the down stairs section at Bar Open. As I was walking towards the room I heard something I haven’t heard in a long time, deep melodic bass lines. Yeah it’s a cliché, but it was music to my ears, I knew straight away that this was to be a classy set.

As I arrived at about 1 am, Âme was already on and spinning the wheels of steel. Behind the decks, or dare I say on the “grand piano” was Frank, one half of Âme. The group’s other half Kristian Beyer, and no, not brother of Tech DJ Adam Beyer; was away in London Dj-ing at some super club. Frank did not disappoint me or the punters even though he was flying solo. He perfectly blurred the lines between progressive and tech creating a sense of atmosphere and sounds which can not be mimicked by any other DJ.

Frank played on and when he dropped Âme’s 2006 hit Rej the crowd immediately recognised the cleverly layered bass lines, the artificial maracas and random popping synths. It was a case of reaching for the lasers, minus the lasers. The reaching gradually turned into a couple of claps then it was back to stomping. There was an immediate “hell yeah” buzz in the room with heads nodding and punters looking around making eye contact with one another to cross check whether the groover next to them is reading the same book and on the right page.

He dropped tracks that I couldn’t honestly name myself so I took the initiative to PM Frank on ye ole My Space with which he promptly and kindly responded to my request. He dropped a track by fellow German Conrad, Marcus Worgull, the tune is known as “Spellboud” Featuring Mr. White. Another composition that he presented to the crowd was a collaboration track produced by Kenny Dope and Terry Hunter known as “Monopoly” under the house label Ill Friction. Adding to his the cocktail of underground tracks was a flawless Âme remix of Emille Jarmet’s track “Repeat again, after me”

Throughout the night the continuation of melodic bass lines, superficial beats, tingy synths and deep tracks, with just a hint of groove, were revolved by Frank. I must say it was a good crowd of about 150 people down stairs at Bar Open. We all had our own territories and weren’t all packed in like tomato flavoured sardines. Most of the people knew what they were in for and the crowd seemed to be quite familiar with one another. I saw some folks there who are quite le critique de la musique; they did have grins on their faces and nodded to the tempo that were emitted from the speakers above and below.

Âme went a little over time but no one was complaining, their dance continued on for the next man in line who played behind the grand piano. His name was Danny Vid and he was fully imported by Democracy all the way from Melbourne. Minimal Tech was his game and he played it well, a little bit too well. As I was leaving to go out for some “fresh air” AKA a cigarette, Vid drops a dirty minimal remix of the 2002 classic “Dark Beat”, produced by Oscar G and Ralph Falcon. I paused to enjoy the dark beat and as the track mixed out I was straight out.

Overall I must admit it was a very classy gig. It was a first for Democracy and I managed to catch up with Chach to congratulate him and give him a high five for his efforts. Âme and the crew did not disappoint and they managed to keep people in the club, dancing on a cold fricken Friday night till wee hours of the morning, now that’s what I call an achievement!