Has anybody heard of an electronic music genre titled “Psychedelic-Glitch-Hop, Whomp, Bobble”? Well, now you have!

This mind-expanding event at Miss Libertine (and gee – what a brilliant venue it is) featured the extraordinary music of two independent masters, each based on different sides of the Pacific Ocean. Heyoka (California), aka Andrei Olenev, delighted us with his hot-off-the-press-and-hot-from-the-kitchen blurping, blooping, throbbing, even-flow-of-toothpaste-with-steady-hand-of-squeeze-on-the-tube music. Spoonbill (Melbourne), aka Jim Moynihan, hosted the gig. His troupe now heads to Cairns, Tilburg (The Netherlands), and then Berlin, delivering a pocket full of bespoke performances.

The evening was well supported by acts prior and subsequent. Dakini gave one of her characteristically beautifully crafted sets, with depth and flexibility. With Monkeymarc, we became engaged in a bespoke personal journey. The music was very soft, but never lacking in intensity. The almost sub-groove tempos and ambient breaks created a heavy weightlessness. Stylistically, it was anything from jazzy Indian to electro reggae.

Heyoka stepped up, and transition was smooth, but immediate. The international guest felt welcome and relaxed, and so spared us none of his magnificent aura. He brought tight, crisp grooves, with darkened textures, and all the while it oozed slowly out of the speakers, thick, and across the whole venue. Having established a powerful momentum, Heyoka continued to deliver what was, apparently, to this very audience, a truly unique artist not only performing well, by also defining a brand new phenomenon, before our eyes.

The music has predominant reggae ease, but it is perpetually disturbed by edges of broader electronica. The music speaks with conviction and seems to almost come from the consciousness of the solar system itself. And, it is a more scattered form of musical expression, rapidly ‘frightening’ any lightweight ignorant folk.

The set was lush, with elevated acoustic flickers, female vocals and piano tinkling to provide the counterpoise to the computer-game pops. By the time we entered the final third of the set, Heyoka had lifted the gloom. Having been caught in the deliberately oppressive drag of beats, we longed to be delivered to inspiration, hope and celebration.

Flavours sweetened and clarified themselves within the mix, and then the beat dragged even heavier, to 70bpm. Heyoka is said to be ‘the man’, and I certainly don’t doubt it. Hence his presence at this special event built around him, organized by Jim Moynihan. Once Jim took stage, however, with his whole (one man + VJ) routine, we were quickly reminded of the brilliance of Spoonbill.

Spoonbill kicked the walls of the entire venue. The roof was effortlessly lifted completely off. Hard, soft, thick, thin, cranking sound with slick, damn slick visuals. Then came MC Hugo, or rather, Hugo, as he prefers. These guys rocked the house. The versatility of Spoonbill to incorporate new artists shines with each new addition to the repertoire.

I don’t know how long Gettafunkt has been doing her thing, but new or otherwise she is one of the most impressive talents I have seen. Taking the existing thread of the Spoonbill vibe she made it at once more raucous and also sweeter. She continued to drive us through the delightfully grueling half tempo, but started dropping aural hints and indications of choice. I went with it and danced up-tempo pretty much immediately, but could swing in and out of it.
With Bass Bin Laden we were back to grimy politics. He was pumping out strange messages with an almost Kentucky-style patriotic trajectory. Desperate protests sieved through the music and we were asked by it how it felt to enjoy such joyous tunes in the face of such horrors.

In the end, it was a memorable event with all participants joined in universal love, and very much the start of something.