Against the Grain feat. Skool Of Thought @ Brown Alley, Melbourne (27/06/08)
Courtesy of Rock Like This and Darkbeat Productions, a collective sigh of relief hit up Brown Alley on Friday for a brand new club night for Melbourne with label boss and breakbeat heavyweight Skool Of Thought from the UK, headlining as resident DJ. The Melbourne launch Party for Against the Grain showcased a top night of break beats, savvy bass line mixes and underground credibility to suit most punters who are into the traditional breaks and the up-and-coming ‘nu skool breaks’ being pioneered by Skool of Thought.
The first ever breaks night, which is actually run and backed by one of the scene’s top record labels, drew in the crowd despite the 2am lockout being in full force. I got in early to get stamped as I knew it was going to be a big night. It was all flowing from 11pm onwards with Citizen in the main room and the side room picking up with Catalyst. The venue started to get heated with the crowds packed in for a serve of electro and breaks mash up from Nick Thayer; he was giving the crowd what they wanted to hear and that was my cue to hit up the side room with Stray and MiSbreaks Vs Ides.
The ever increasing flow of patrons moving between the main room and outside smoking area made it a hard ask to keep to the beat in the side room. It was times like this after intense dance off sessions that more chairs were needed from the venue to provide a breath of fresh air for tired patrons. Throughout the night the sound was crisp and was well put together for the chilled crowd to get comfy on the couches with. The cross over from room to room did not disturb the balance of sound quality between the various sets; kudos to the venue set up in this regard. My only down point regarding the venue was the non-existent light show and the excessive sticky floor syndrome that made it hard to rip up the floor in certain parts.
No matter what the venue, when you hear Kid Kenobi drop the beats, nothing else really matters. You just have to dance it up and let him mix it up with the likes of tracks like Drop the Pressure and Bushmasta. Backing up the DJ sets on stage was a multimedia slide show in the main room that served more as a distraction for the chemically altered punters than a quality addition. Eventually 2am rolled around for the extensive 3 hour set and Skool of Thought started to mix it up with dubstep, Baltimore breaks and bassline house giving the late of hours of Friday night a twist and keeping the sound system shaking until dawn.
Funky Town and Hold Up along with tracks from the latest release Random Acts of Kindness were featured through out the set to keep the crowd awake and pumping to some decent breaks. It really was a quality set and for those on a messy state, it was made even better as the general crowd was left smiling after a decent dance session or way too many drinks.
Closing for the night with various break beats tinged with electro mash up with the likes of Deviant and Snowie, the launch was a fun time for all. I and other punters I spoke with were particularly entertained by Andy Hoffman where the side-room show cased more traditional breaks to ease the hyped up feel from the main room. When the mash up was well and truly flowing, I got rolling and was overall impressed with the beats that were dropped at Against the Grain.
Masimo says...
I have to say I was expecting alot better things from this night. Really thrashy breaks, not too many melodic riffs, or even a funkier edge to mix it up a little. The fact that the Breaks genre is having a tough time at the moment, this night certainly didnt help the cause. Theres no doubt in my mind that the Kid isnt what he used to be, and hes first 3 tracks were a mashup of some of my most hated commercial trash. eh im bored at work, so i thought I might as well vent. Could be so much better. I spose theres always a next time