B.A.D pres. Mashed 4 CD Launch @ The Academy, Canberra (16/05/08)
The next big thing: Aston Shuffle, The next big thing: Aston Shuffle, The next big thing: Aston Shuffle, The next big thing: As-As-As-As…
The Aston Shuffle is the next big thing, if not the current big thing dominating dance floors around Australia. Their remixes of Green Velvet’s Shake and Pop and PNAU’s Baby have both topped the Aria Club Charts and at the end of last year, they released their first single For Everyone which rocketed up the charts and pleased audiences around the country at the various summer festivals. A re-rub of that original was the Shuffle’s opening song for their launch of Mashed 4 at Back Alley Disco (B.A.D) at The Academy. That track, layered with an urban accapella, made everyone aware that The Aston Shuffle AKA Mikah Freeman and Vance Musgrove was behind the decks and were ready to party.
The loyal following that Sean Kelly had built up in his set prior rapidly increased as The Shuffle mixed samples from classics like Michael Jackson’s I’m Back and Justin Timberlakes’ Sexyback together with thumping electro beats. The Aston Shuffle pulled out all their chart topping songs early in the set, and followed up with their new remix of Terry Poison’s 24 Hrs which made its debut on Mashed 4. Around a quarter of the way through the set The Shuffle eased off on sampling and playing favourites and descended into a sequence of less familiar, yet awesome bouncing electro tunes that dominated the rest of the set. Although it was a cold, foggy and rainy Canberra Friday the club continued to fill. Crooker’s remix of ACDC’s Thunderstruck was dropped in the latter half of the set; expect to hear a lot more of this electro take on pub rock classic in commercial venues over the coming months. The set was closed with Rage Against The Machine Killing In The Name Of which went down well.
Both Mikah and Vance were very energetic behind the decks as they took turns dropping tracks. The set was structured very well with more commercial sounds early on to build a loyal crowd, followed up by a tight mix of lesser known banging tunes. Somewhat surprisingly, few songs from the Mashed CD were played which was a little unusual for a CD launch. I was hoping to hear Aston Shuffle’s new collaboration with Tommie Sunshine played on the night, but it looks like I’m going to have wait untill the next Warehouse Winter Music Festival to hear that one.
DJ Kiz was up last and he did very well to retain the dance floor that The Aston Shuffle had built by laying down some harder beats. I was actually very surprised at the amount of people, especially ladies that stuck it out for his set considering how many gigs I’ve seen in Canberra where a temperamental crowd vanishes for the closing set; no matter how good it is. Kiz’s set was noticeably louder than the Shuffle’s; ear-ringingly loud for me, but that did not deter the punters. Expect to see DJ Kiz appearing on more B.A.D line-ups in the future.
Vj Jims visuals performance has further improved since the opening of B.A.D, as he was using the LED panels much more effectively to create mood and colour in the club. A highlight was when DJ Kiz was playing the Put Your Hands Up For Detroit Accapella and VJ Jim was immediately all over it cracking out a variation of his ‘hands in the air’ animation that was used for Fedde Le Grand’s tour last year. Overall the night was a solid showcase of local talent. The weather was poor on the night; but the turnout for B.A.D was much better than for international acts playing in previous weeks.
