To look back over Aquasky’s twelve year history is to chart the evolution of a style of music that has incorporated everything from drum n’ bass to breaks to electro house, all culminating in the creation of an entirely new genre, in the form of bassline breaks. To say that the trio have carved out a niche for themselves is to understate just how important they are in the breaks scene. It’s one thing to have Adam Freeland get you roped into breaks, it’s quite another to then go out and seemingly work with every big name in the business, producing collaborations that span the length and breadth of the genre, and beyond. Working with the likes of Phil Hartnol, Meat Katie, Elhornet, and Kool Keith certainly gives you an impressive CV, and allows for a campaign of showing just why you’re up there collaborating and producing with the best, all over the world. Which, on Saturday, brought Aquasky to the heart of breaks in Queensland, the Valley’s GPO.
Breaks and Enter has been leading the way in Brisbane for a while now, attracting some impressive names in breakbeat, and so on a night when one of the biggest was due to make an appearance, resident Sangers kicked things off with an hour of chilled out funky breaks before pushing the tempo and coaxing a few early birds onto the seven40 bar dancefloor. Then came Nick Thayer, hailing from Melbourne and with a mixed bag of funky and heavy breaks that picked up perfectly where Sangers left off. The transition from a mashed up sample of Ronnie Hudson’s West Coast Poplock all the way through to a current favourite, and one featured twice during the evening, Plump DJsSystem Addict, assured that the floor would stay well populated by what was gearing up to be a more than up for it crowd.
Verner, lucky enough to be playing in between the two headliners, took over the reigns and maintained a predictable but popular set of heavy beats and rhythms. The combination of KNO screaming out the obligatory “are you ready”s and “everybody screams”s and Verner playing tried and tested tunes given the breaks treatment, ensured there were as few lulls as possible in the crowd’s enthusiasm.
It was impossible not to keep the crowd jumping and the tiny dance floor of downstairs GPO struggling with the heaving capacity in anticipation of what would be (alcohol intake permitting) a set to remember. Sure enough it was difficult for Aquasky (or at least the faction touring down under whilst other members simultaneously tour the UK) to skulk in the shadows any longer. Kieron Bailey took to the stage and from early on his commanding presence at the decks was blatantly evident. He didn’t waste time in opening his set with a lengthy build up or a police-siren fuelled intro as many of his ilk are want to do, but got straight down to business with a reverberating bass that shook walls and people alike. From the outset, Bailey made good use of the extra speakers that BnE put on for the evening and blasted the crowd with a grinding, heavy breaks sound that would define the rest of his set.
As he surveyed the crowd, taking in their enthusiasm, it was clear this was going to be a big one, so when Bailey broke out Far Too Loud’s Play It Loud, the temperature rose and the dirty breaks infected everyone with a sense that you if you weren’t moving, you simply didn’t belong here. It was clear that Bailey was throwing everything in, from the funky to the housey breaks, but it was the dirty, mechanical sound of the Plump DJs’System Addict, getting its second but no less deserved spin for the night, that the DJ really revelled in, gritting his teeth with a look of satisfied relish and surveying the crowd to see if they met with his approval. They responded in kind, shaking the GPO as if they were in an arena and not an intimate club. The recipe of bass shuddering mix-ups wasn’t simply confined to traditional breakbeat artists like the aforementioned though, not by a long shot. Daft Punk made a very welcome appearance over the sound system, with Bailey displaying an enviably seamless mash up of One More Time andAerodynamic. The two funky disco favourites simultaneously complimented each other, all the while maintaining that beautifully sordid Aquasky treatment, and giving the swarm of bodies on the floor something to really get their teeth into.
This reviewer had been waiting for a particular track all night and, assured that it would get an airing tonight, I was pleased to hear Girls & Boys unleashed upon the throng. It got the reaction one would expect from a track that always goes down well with fans. Showing again that a house influence on breaks isn’t a bad thing, Girls & Boys was met with one of the biggest cheers of the night, and rightly so. With the filthy bass turned up, the vocals blasting and the housey layering doing its job, it was hard not to have a good night when your eardrums were subjected to such a welcome pounding.
Even the tinge of bitterness felt when Bailey was seemingly prematurely asked to stand down and make way for resident Devastatin’ Dave, even though it was clear he wasn’t ready to let the crowd unwrap themselves from around his finger, one couldn’t deny that the past hour and an half had been a perfect example of how to enjoy a night of breaks as performed by a master of his craft. Aquasky are on top of their game, and with only bigger and better things to come (a new album is in the pipeline), it’s going to be a long while before we’re given the chance of a comedown.
