The pre-drinks meant getting out this Saturday was an epic adventure in and of itself. Before we even left the building to go out, tired and lame friends were dropping like flies. Damn you goon, damn you! After an unimaginable number of disconnects, delays, and distractions the troops were finally marshaled and we were off. Luckily, we got to Transit Bar just in time to hear all of Alex Smoke’s set. Totally worth the effort.

Big props to Effigy and Lollygag for bringing out yet another international act to spice up the otherwise lacklustre Canberra house and techno scene. Alex put together an excellent set without even a single technical error, but admittedly between my sozzled state of mind and other diversions I might have missed them if there were any.

Transit Bar was a perfectly sized venue for the event: plenty of seating, navigable dance floor, and bar line never excessively long. The line up for the boys bathroom was unexpected however; totally sympathise with you ladies for having to put up with that more frequently!

I love the minimal, and the minimal loves me. It takes up a good portion of my music collection. So the chance to hear a live set from Alex was an enjoyable diversion from the often conformist music overplayed elsewhere. One of the more intriguing aspects of Alex’s live performance was the use of his own voice sampled and layered into the set (as if structuring and creating an entirely original set on the fly wasn’t enough).

After listening to some of Alex’s tracks in prior weeks, trying to get a feel of what to expect, in all honesty I thought it was going to be too minimalistic for me. In some of the tracks he has produced, it feels like a couple more layers would be welcome. I was pleasantly surprised by his performance however, and had a great time dancing and listening to the live session. Many others seemed to be enjoying themselves as well, since the dancefloor was comfortably bumping the entire time we were there.