Subtrakt is one of Brisbane’s newest club nights and as the brain child of Family resident Rikki Newton, the idea is to bring the hottest underground house music to an up for it audience in one of the nicest venues around. As much as the event name may imply an evening of pure minimal house, punters can expect a good deal more different variations of house from the rotation of local DJs in residence, and indeed the occasional international booking, the first of which was Will Saul.

Beginning the evening booth side was local house stalwart Mark Brias bringing the deep house sound for which he has become renowned. The opening time slot is often an uninviting and thankless task, yet rather than treat it in the work horse like manner it usually elicits from some less experienced DJs, Brias took to it with determined focus and aptly set the mood for the evening in rolling out some sleek languid tunage. Next off the ranks was event promoter Rikki Newton who seems to go from strength to strength with each subsequent event, his appointed warm up slot for Will Saul being no exception. Despite some problems with disagreeable CDJ-1000s and allegedly a few CD-Rs also, perseverance proved the better part of valour as the dance floor reached a comfortable fervour. An upcoming Roland Appel (He of Dark Soldier fame) remix on Saul’s Simple recordings which got a play somewhere half way through Rikki’s set, proving a tune well worth looking out for as more than a few grins attested.

As proved by both he and Will Saul however, it was the sounds of Sebo K which are causing the greater swell, with Rikki putting Far Out in to bat and Saul no less than three Sebo K remixes, including Radio Slave’s awesome Bell Clap Dance, King Roc’s Welcome To Zion and Martin Landsky’s Let Me Dance. The clean lines of every single mix placed Saul well with a highly active dance floor, who took well to his own tunes also; the Konrad Black remix of Sequential Circus and his highly original Jen sitting comfortably alongside he and Tam Cooper’s remix of Phonique’s Bang and coming Bar Soma visitor Joris Voorn’s Blank. Saul was never once compelled to stray beyond the borders of house sounds; those not so well accustomed such a full approach to the genre would find the slightly static nature of it somewhat disconcerting, but despite this he did manage to keep people interested well beyond expectation and in finishing his set with Dennis Ferrer’s Black Man In Space and working in Cobblestone Jazz’ W, cementing in an already solid position.

Subtrakt is quickly reaching a greater audience, and with the consistent quality entertainment that the event produces it’s only likely to grow. As independent promoters like Rikki Newton continue to make use of Bar Soma as an event venue, some of our city’s larger clubs will likely find themselves a worthy adversary for the attentions of the more educated night life.