Last Friday night at Ambar saw the return to Perth of much loved Aussie breaks and tech hero, Dopamine. Although a regular visitor to our city, there’s always a great sense of anticipation when Dopamine is in town so I was really looking forward to seeing what he would do behind the decks. He’s been a very busy man of late, what with helping run two record labels ( Title Fight and Fight Club, with Klaus ‘Heavyweight’ Hill), writing, remixing and producing new tracks and constantly hitting the live scene, it’s a wonder he gets time to sleep. But, luckily for us, Dopamine made the time to serve us up another dose of massive squelchy beats in his own, very unique, style.

I arrived at the club at about 11.30pm and the place was already filling up nicely. First up we were treated to a great, solid warm-up set from local favourite Philly. This early in the night the dance floor was nearly empty, but as the beats got fatter and Phil upped the intensity of the tunes people’s feet started movin’. There were some nice amping tracks here, including Cocked Loaded from Monosurround, featuring some nasty screaming vocals, as well as the Break the Box remix of Walk Out Laughin.

It was a well balanced set with some nice heavy drops and plenty of bass. By 1am it was tough to find space to dance, the vibe was buzzing, and everywhere you looked there were whistling, cheering patrons. The mood was high spirited and Philly was in his element, mixing party-starting breaks and electro. It’s not hard to see why he’s become so popular on the local scene, dishing up crowd pleasing gems like set closer Daft Phunk’s Coley’s Pleasure.

It was now time for the main man to take to the stage and take it he did; right from the start of the set you knew this was going to be something special. Opener 30hz by Daddio (the Miles Dyson remix), was a blistering inferno of supersonic bass overlayed with some great vocals – and this was just the start. Over the next 2 hours we were taken on a journey from tech funk, through some more housey stuff, and back to the funk again.

The set worked well, always keeping the crowd at fever pitch, with the hands-in-the-air moments too many to count. Dopamine’s remix of Basskleph’s Bump Uglies was one standout track; another was the awesome Letters by Koma and Bones. This one has an eerie Depeche Mode vocal over sledgehammer bass, and was a personal favourite for me. Despite the relentless aural assault the room was screaming for more, and Dopamine was more than ready to deliver.

At times it was a wonder that the speakers were able to handle the sheer intensity of sound we were hearing, such was the massive nature of the tunes. There was a great feeling of connection between listeners and DJ too, with Dopamine seemingly enjoying every moment on stage, boogying and jumping around almost as much as us at times. There was a lot of love and a lot of energy in that room!

Every tune seemed to be picked well, dropping down the intensity to create a mood, and then moving us insistently up again, holding and holding the breakdown to screaming point, before letting it all go in a thundering drop that had the place exploding. Dopamine’s own track with Maddox Ballistic was another driving techy number that started off nice and slow then burst into a twitchy, snarly barbed wire fence of sound.

Call of the Crow by Frew (Dopamine remix), a bleep laden bass monster, was another good example of the tech funk flavour of the night, as was the Zodiac Cartel remix of Used and Abused from the brilliant Elite Force. For someone who spends much of their time listening to electro house, the night’s set was an absolute treat. It’s a pleasure to realise that there are still vibrant, growing new genres out there that remain to be discovered.

Although Dopamine found fame in 2006 as a breaks DJ with the sublime Hold You, it is worth remembering that he was playing tech and house long before his breaks days. This was very evident on Friday night, with a set that previewed all that’s new and exciting on the tech funk scene. Talking to Dopamine after the show he was keen to stress that this is the direction he’s moving in now. Title Fight recordings is set to handle a more diverse range of sounds than the more breaks-based sister label Fight Club.

All too soon it was over though, and Dopamine took his leave of us once more – sigh. After this brilliant set you could be forgiven for being a little daunted to be the next DJ on stage, but never fear, Nyquist Freak was here to save us from post-Dopamine depression. The Ambar regular took things in a more electro and breaks direction, but never once did he drop either the beat or the energy, keeping the vibe on the dance floor alive and kicking.

All in all it was another fantastic night at the Ambar. Dopamine exceeded my expectations and gave us all a great taste of some really exciting, funky new beats, performed with professionalism and enthusiasm. Our local lads too, were as good as ever, proving that you don’t have to be a superstar DJ to rock the crowd with skill and imagination. 5 stars – can’t wait until next time!