After its launch the previous week started with an enormous boom and a massive tick from all in attendance, punters who hadn’t, and some who had, were at Villa to take in the Klub Kids tour 2009. Headlined by Kid Kenobi and MC Shureshock with Brisvegas whiz kid Sampology, a swag of locals provided the very adequate support.

Kicking off proceedings was Blend but having prior engagements, Marty McFly was the first DJ I saw getting busy, spinning a nice blend of slow and funky breaks with a sprinkling of hip hop. The very youthful crowd was probably left a little wanting and the BPMs to be kicked up a percent or 10, but Marty held back and played a perfect warm up set for Sampology, who plays a party mix of a lot of old hip hop and pop. Even though he couldn’t really go all out, Marty really gave the night a perfect atmosphere to make way for the young Queenslander.

To say Sampology plays a party mix would be doing this talented 23 year old a significant disservice. Comparing Sampology to a normal DJ would be like comparing a restaurant chef to a fast food drive through operator. Sure they both serve food but the difference is in the presentation. Sampology uses Serato Video SL which allows him to take in-sync sound and visuals and scratch them using two turntables and a special Rane mixer. Anything from Super Mario Brothers to Australian Idol can find its way into his sets, which refuse to be tied down to any particular genre. Starting with a sci-fi themed intro that then threw to Charlie Sheen and the Beastie Boys, followed by some Mad Max visuals and a bit of the classic horns of DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat. The crowd responded well, but not with any great fervor until the sounds got a little more contemporary with some Dizzee Rascal and MIA moving things up a notch.

One of Sampology’s talents is the mixing of his various audio and visual ideas and not trying to force clashing ideas with such sections as The Notorious BIG rapping over The Bee Gees’ Staying Alive, melding perfectly, even though it is tough to imagine them doing so. Bringing out an MPC for a handmade Baltimore beat during Flight of the Concords was daring but entertaining, as was his mashup of Blondie’s Rapture and Bowie’s Let’s Dance, with its aussie themed film clip always amusing. As to whether the party was really started it was hard to tell with the ol’ skool theme of the set perhaps a little lost on the majority of young clubbers in attendance, who one assumed had come for some pumping electro. Though for those old enough to relate and those who appreciated the technical innovation, the young man’s prowess across the turntables and visual element was something new and fresh that can be sadly lacking in many DJ sets today.

With the steady but significant decline of breakbeat since its heyday through the early noughties, the superstars of the genre have had to diversify their talents into other genres and perhaps the most popular of these has been electro house. Kid Kenobi still demands a reputation and level of attention, even though he has been criticized for leaving breaks behind. One thing he has not left behind is MC Shureshock who typically called out the audience to kick start the Kid’s set. Opening with some fidgety electro, Kenobi was lively in the booth, bopping around while trying to avoid the roaming of Shureshock who is known for his use of all available space to maneuver in. Though Shureshock did seem to struggle a little through the 4/4 beats, rather than being able to flow through the quicker breaks and there isn’t much doubt as to which genre the long-lasting MC would rather be kicking it to. As with any electro set, Canadian hit machine Deadmau5 made an appearance, this time with the instrumental version of Hi Friend with Shureshock adding the vocal spice. The dancefloor had really started to swell at this stage with both levels of the floor heaving. Continuing the same vane but upping the BPMs, Kenobi pushed though his almost hip-house flavoured set to the delight of all in attendance.

Finishing off the night were two of Perth’s hardest working DJs Micah and Philly playing back to back. Kicking things off with the intro from NWA’s Straight Outta Compton and moving straight into some banging electro breaks, the pair lost none of the momentum created by Kenobi. Micah then dropped the Zodiac Cartel mix of Fukkk Offf’s Rave is King with Philly then launching into his and Mono Lisa’s Presets bootleg. The breaks were being served with plenty of distortion and complimented with funky bangers like Bird Peterson’s Don’t Touch Me. Micah finished the evening on the Herve edit of Fake Blood’s Mars and left the track to finish by itself, perhaps he was “erm … faking it” like last week’s headliner Fake Blood supposedly was the previous Thursday. All in all, another stellar night at Villa and it let all know the standard has been set for future big DJ gigs in Perth.