Ben Sims’ last visit (when he played at Crunch) is the only gig I’ve missed which I wish like hell I hadn’t. That’s because he (apparently) totally killed it on three decks, dropping a barrage of storming techno tracks like a man possessed and also like a man very, very much in control. It must be noted that Ben is as capable in the studio as in the booth and is a highly rated techno producer. Most of his production effort that I’ve heard is storming tribal techno, very loop based and certainly well suited to 3-deck DJing.



We arrived at the laundry to catch the last half hour of Alphatown Collective’s set, which was billed as a live set. The laundry itself was not packed. The $30 sting would have contributed to that, as much as the relatively low profile producer / djs such as headliner Ben often have. Alphatown had a 2-man crew on a “consol” (one of those mixing desks that live performers use, of which I have no knowledge) and another in the booth on 2 decks. They were playing relatively deep, funky techouse, at times a tad dark. I had a hard time figuring out what the guys on “the consol” were actually doing, as everything I heard seemed to relate to the actions of their DJ. The magic and mystery of a live set!! Out on the floor the friendly, cruisey vibe mirrored the tunes.



The man himself came on about 2am to huge applause. Clearly there were a lot of Ben’s fans in the house. I’m guessing too that everyone was more than ready to party after the deepness of the previous set. Ben started deep himself with percussive techouse and let the vibe build slowly through the first tracks before getting on the third deck. At this early stage the set was cruisey but using the extra wheel allowed him to cut in and out of a third track while the other two worked together. Nice shit! Ben built the tempo with increasingly driving and percussive techno, “layer upon layer upon layer”. That was basically the technique for the set, letting tracks work together with minimal intervention.



The sound was smooth and as much as the tempo built, the intensity did not, despite Ben playing some nice driving minimal tracks, a la Ritchie Hawtin and even Jeff Mills. The funk factor was too high for that. More of an observation than a criticism, although personally disappointing after hearing of the intensity of the Crunch gig. The less than massive volume in the laundry was also a factor in dropping the intensity, which is the case quite often at this venue (although word is that the rig is being updated in the near future). Ben kept the soul factor alive by using infrequent tribal vocal tracks, which mixed super well with the more driving percussive tracks. When Ben’s intervention on the mixer came, it was short and hard, usually through working the faders. Scratching and dropping straight in the mix was another technique he utilised and is rarely heard in sets of this flavour. All good!



With those sorts of breaks he kept the party going, although it was a cruisey party. Most people were not dancing too hard and I’ve often seen a laundry crowd go off more to less accomplished DJs. It was still a pleasure to hear Ben work three decks tightly, layering tracks that are often designed to be played in that manner but often aren’t. I’m looking forward to the next visit and hope he’ll play techno of greater intensity.