Wonderland feat. The Potbelleez @ The Met, Brisbane (22/05/09)

You couldn’t have turned on a radio two years ago without hearing a certain little song called Don’t Hold Back. It was arguably the biggest dance track of 2007 and helped fill out dancefloors all over Australia. A certain half Irish, half Australian four-piece were bringing the sounds of their self-titled debut album and more to The Met, and they weren’t leaving until they’d rung the sweat out of everybody in the place. Before they had the chance to, however, Pete Smith had the bass pumping and the strobes working overtime as he worked through some nice house tunes. By the stroke of midnight the floor was full to the brim and the numbers never really dropped the whole night. While about half of those were lit up by the glow of their mobile phones, the rest were getting on with the business of dancing.

It’s always fascinating to stop and take stock of just how far music has come over the decades, which makes it interesting to note that it’s usually reworkings of 80s club hits that never fail to get the best reception when they’re thrown into a set, and tonight was no different. Sweet Dreams went down with much enthusiasm and was the highlight of Smith’s set, with the reverberating electronica of the Eurythmics and Annie Lennox’s commanding vocals inspiring hands in the air all round. For those who’d heard it all before in the plethora of sets where reliable 80s classic are given an airing, well, the dancing girls were always a distraction.

When 1am rolled around it was time for Pete Smith to make way for the main attraction.The Potbelleez, or at least half of them, came out to as good a reception as the Met could muster, which, when packed is quite something. DJs Dave Goodie and Johnny Sonic took to the stage and got straight into it, proclaiming “We have one job tonight – and that is to fuck you up.” With an effects-addled intro to Don’t Hold Back kicking off their set, they came out punching and started out on a high, but the night was young and they had plenty more energy to release on the crowd. With a very welcome divergence into the all-to rarely used Nightmare by Brainbug, the beats were rolling throughout the main room, all the way back to the bar.

Pog Ma Thon (or Kiss My Ass for those not fluent in Gaelic insults) went out to all the Irish revellers in the crowd and there must have been a few as ample cheers sprang up around the room, but it wasn’t just the Irish who grooved to the dancey number. There was certainly no lack of enthusiasm during the set on the part of the duo either, but just to make sure they had the crowd on side, there were plenty of shout outs to Brisbane, and no small number of mentions of its superiority to Sydney. Future DJs take note; if you want to win over a Brisbane Met crowd, just tell them they’re better than Sydneysiders and they’re putty in your hands.

Then to build on this vibe and gee up anybody planning on sitting down or going to the bar any time soon, the most leftfield choice of the set was thrown in. Killing In The Name Of had the Met briefly rocking out and screaming along to Rage’s bawling angry epic. It did its job and picked the people right up again, the ballsy guitar riffs ending to shrieks of applause.

Precisely one hour in the remaining band members, vocalists MC Blu and Ilan Kidron, took to the stage looking pepped and ready to see out the rest of the set with as much energy as the crowd had put into the first hour. As if he was playing to a stadium, Kidron took command of the stage to the sounds of Trouble Trouble. The two were leaping about and thoroughly enjoying it, whipping the crowd up into a frenzy while the DJs laid down some heavy bass before settling behind the mics for Everything.

Some of the stragglers towards the back of the crowd had thought about going back to the bar to refuel but when the unmistakable piano riff of Are You With Me started flowing out of the speakers, there were some literally running back to the stage to catch it. This melodic little track wouldn’t be out of place on a Coldplay album; the recurring piano melody combined with the simple but gratifying lyrics have that same formulaic but successful sound that have made the English U2 wannabes what they are today.

Junkyard soon shook off any sentimentality and upped the tempo, getting the room pumping again to the big club beats. Kidron had already showed off some of his guitar skills, and that combined with Blu’s MCing and the DJs ripping up the decks all solidified to form a pretty tight group that compliment each other well and know where to shift the focus to at any one time. It was time then for this to all culminate in their biggest single to date and the biggest moment of the night when The Potbelleez finally let Don’t Hold Back loose on the masses.

Kidron played the signature acoustic guitar and the crowd immediately erupted. The beats seeped into the rhythm until that massive club track of 2007 was in full swing and the crowd were soon jumping and waving as one. It eventually slowed its pace until it was just the guitar again, and so the set finished with the crowd belting out the chorus along with the band until both could do no more. Seemingly going against management, they got on with the encore almost immediately and tore straight into Hold On, one of the technically more sophisticated tracks that has a very welcome hint of breaks. It would have been good to get a fuller exposure of it during the set but alas their time was up and they, along with most of the crowd, flooded out into the night.

Junglettes vs Shifty @ The Empire Moonbar, Brisbane (16/05/09)

Primetime Saturday night in the Valley, and the Moonbar was playing host to theJunglettes versus Shifty. It was a night featuring all styles to suit all tastes and certainly delivered a varied mix of old school beats and more current face-melting bass.De la Haye and Syntax were first up battling between early hip hop and the relatively recent, so there was a healthy mix of everything from O.P.P. to ODB. Of course no night of hip hop on display would be complete without Paid In Full getting its turn, and if there had have been more than a few people on the floor, it would have undoubtedly got them moving.

Sadly though, it was taking a while for people to be drawn away from the middle bar and make it to the top floor and so far the bass emanating from downstairs was at times more pronounced than what was pumping out Moonbar’s speakers. For the last half an hour or so the pace was changed as the hip hop gave way to a more dubstep feel, and some of the people who’d been loitering around the fringes edged closer and began to breathe a bit of life into the floor.

Chancing upon this, and with de la Haye nowehere to be seen, Syntax gave way to Dr Dom & Phylum who immediately set upon the crowd with a striking DnB assault onRadiohead’s Creep. The heavy bass and the thick beat of the hardcore rhythm somehow married perfectly with the vocals and really lifted the remix beyond your average DnB track. It certainly inspired a few hands in the air, and more were sure to follow.

It was looking like the packed floor would be there for the night, but the numbers seemed to inexplicably fluctuate, with one minute there being a sea of bodies, and then ten minutes later the floor had the look of closing time with a few stragglers drunkenly bopping as best they could to the beat.

Despite of this, or perhaps because of it, the duo determinedly refused to relent the hardcore pace and only did so to introduce another nice DnB reworking of a recognisable track. They turned their hand to the biggest track for Pharoahe MonchSimon Says, and gave it driven and nicely craft DnB edge, with Monch’s lyrics being amplified by the deep bass. The numbers on the dancefloor had fluctuated in the negative when they blasted out the highlight of their set, namely one of the biggest tracks of 1996, Ready Or Not by you-know-who.

Justus kept the momentum going, and like everyone before him, enjoyed periods of a crammed dancefloor to a dearth of souls reluctant to move their feet to the beats on offer. Following on from his predecessors, Justus threaded some soulful hip hop throughout his set that poured a nice mix of DnB and dubstep into the set, with No Diggity a notable highlight of his hour in the spotlight. He soldiered on and put in a solid hour of some great tunes, accompanied by, it should be mentioned, some great visuals by Dilate that distracted from the frustratingly low turnout.

At 2am it was the turn of Cutloose and he was definitely the highlight of the whole night. Breaking out some of the deepest, darkest dubstep he could find, Cutloose planned to use his hour as fully as possible. Going berserk behind the turntables, he showed off a hefty mixed bag of floor-shakingly loud breaks-laden beats to booming funky electro dubstep.

If the whole night had had the kind of energy that the aptly named Cutloose showed, the people who had come to the floor to pack it out the first time, probably wouldn’t have left. It is always a pleasure to see DJs who take great pleasure in what they do, and the fact that Cutloose had the kind of attitude to his set when the room was hardly bouncing means that his professional approach towards his music means that he’ll go far. He already is, with some dates in California and Vegas over the coming months. Before he sets off for the States he has a few more dates lined up in Brisbane so catch him before he becomes too big for his home city.

Tahuna Breaks National Tour @ Stepp Inn, Brisbane (15/05/09)

Tahuna Breaks have been making waves in New Zealand and emerging as one of the pre-eminent live acts to catch this year. Their Australian commitments mean they’ve been coming back to our shores on a regular basis, which is just as well as they certainly know how to get a party started. The Stepp Inn had already seen a night of some great support with the occasional smattering of live drum and bass, reggae, and ska, so when Tahuna Breaks hit the stage the venue was already packed.

From the outset they had some funky grooves to ease everybody into their set with help from the likes of tracks such as Empower Me (the first single from the new album) reflecting how frontman Marty Greentree feel about fatherhood. A feel-good reggae track with some nice rhythm guitars that flowed into elements of rock, all proficiently carried out by guitarist Tom Charleson, this had heads moving, and feet were sure to follow. Following on from this, Jonny on sax and Tim on trumpets provided some smokin’ horns to the funky number that evidences its roots in blues, with Marty’s gravelled voice thrown in a few Brownesque “WAOW”s along the way.

You don’t often get a sombre sounding reggae tune but Tahuna have achieved a soft and contemplative number with Real Life that, whilst retaining some funky elements, especially from James Winkle’s bass, convey a theme of going through hard times from the heartrending lyrics and longing sax. An upbeat, effects-driven ska number that made the people go from swaying to bouncing promptly followed. The momentum was kept up with debut album title track Reflections, a fast-paced bouncy reggae number that, after an atmospheric and soft bassy intro, really got going with Tim Gemmell’s drums really going for it and Tom’s guitar adding some smooth reverb to his soaring guitar.

Casually Acquainted really let the band cut loose with everyone giving it their all in possibly the funkiest big band track on the album. It could have been an early incarnation of James Brown and The JBs on stage, with Marty really exercising his vocal chords and the band swaying and grooving as one. The biggest single on the record, Voodoo, sounds like a modern reggae classic and gained a big cheer from the crowd. It’s a short, very tight little track with a great rhythm section reminiscent of some of Marley’s best, adding a fresh approach with uplifting drums and accompanying horns. If it wasn’t obvious who influenced this track, the band flowed directly and seamlessly into _Could You Be Loved? With Tom being dead on the money with the instantly recognisable riff and the rest of the band following suit.

After that they owned the crowd and so finished by milking the funk for all it was worth. There was real groove you could get your teeth into, with some juicy fat funk inspiring curious disco moves by some of the crowd on the floor. They’re possibly one of the largest bands to fit on the Stepp Inn stage, but they made a sound much bigger than their seven-strong turnout let on. With Adam Fuhr really letting fly on the keys, and James’s bass in full swing, all of the band were really giving it to the crowd and going out with a bang.

After a brief disappearance they wanted to get straight back into it and were eager to get into their encore, which went off with a screaming funk climax. The band jammed together and were obviously comfortable in each other’s abilities, flowing nicely from all out funk to some more laidback grooves and then back into it again. The Sex Machinewas a fitting homage to the Godfather of Soul and the perfect way to end the night.

Tiki Taane @ The HiFi, Brisbane (07/05/09)

The debut solo album from ex Salmonella Dub frontman Tiki Taane was released in late 2007, and to celebrate with his Australian fans he played a number of dates this side of the Tasman including Brisbane’s newly opened venue The HiFi. Looking like a stylishly converted corporate cinema, the West End hotspot had friendly door and bar staff, a very clean-cut finish in the main room, and a simple but effective layout that slopped progressively down to the stage, which (height permitting) is easy to see from almost anywhere in the room. All it needs now is to feel somewhat more “lived in” and it will be one of the premium locations in Brisbane to spend your weekly pay packet when the weekend rolls around. If their upcoming rundown of artists they’ve got coming up is anything to go by, it won’t take long for business to be booming.

Touring with Tiki on his Past, Present, Future LP tour were the Dub Soldiers in the form of a select group of Shapeshifter regulars making up the live accompaniment. Two of those members, DJs Sambora and Reno started the night off with a healthy plethora of industrial dubstep rhythms and smoothly paced reggae beats that mixed perfectly with the laidback but eager atmosphere permeating throughout the crowd. Some climactic DnB that simmered with the faintest hints of the Shapeshifter sound had the packed house moving and turned peoples’ attention to the stage almost immediately. It was the perfect warming up they would need for what would turn out to be an exhausting and uplifting performance. Sambora’s set finished with the kind of aplomb and expertise you’d expect from a Shapeshifter co-founder who is a triumvirate of ‘ists’; guitarist, keyboardist, and percussionist.

An excited tension descended on the crowd as they awaited the arrival of the Kiwi dubster, and so it was interesting just how discreetly Tiki made his way to the stage, surprising everyone. But this didn’t mean a less rapturous applause when he began, conch in hand, with the smoothly restructured dudstep prologue of Whakapuaki. The conch produced a beautifully haunting lilt that permeated throughout the room and soared far beyond it. Then, along with his live support, Tiki was joined onstage by his father Uekaha, who spoke the ethereal Māori chant of Whakapuaki and complimented the conch with what looked to be a Kōauau flute. With the combination of the synths and auxiliary percussion, this powerful incantation transported all the ex-pats home, and invited everyone else to sample the beauty of an Aotearoa Awakening.

Then the lights exploded into life and the people followed suit when Now This Is It hit. It was time to build on the atmosphere that had been created, but at a totally different pace, and the Hifi was exposed to some bass-heavy dubbed out hip hop beats. A perfect opening to a live set, this track turns up the energy levels, not to mention the sound levels, so it was satisfying to hear the venue’s sound system more than cope. Another of the Shapeshifter crew, Paora ‘P Digsss’ Apera’s vocal talents were brought to the fore on his and Tiki’s collaborative track Faded. This uplifting funky track is sure to be a dub classic in a few short years, and did its job of inspiring smiles all round. The duo certainly seemed to particularly enjoy performing it, along with the rest of the band.

The dial was then turned up to 11 when Wotcha Got followed on from the upped pace that had been set. Merging an almost jazzy percussion with an industrial DnB backing, fast-paced lyrics and a metal undercurrent, as the opening lines explained, it had a “little bit of this, a little bit of that.” Not only did it have the people at the stage really going for it, but the ripples from the combination of all these styles were spreading all the way back to the bar as the people danced waiting for their drinks and loose change to arrive. The crowd were then treated to a track not on the album that, on the night, was calledClayt Dog. An effects-infused blend of reggae harmonies and chilled out beats, it was a suitable follow-up to Faded and served nicely as a segue to Music Has Saved Me. The good feeling that had been generated from the set so far was built upon when Tiki asked, “who loves guitars?” He certainly does, and his love of balls to the wall heavy metal was plain to see on this amped up version of his most personal track on the LP. Indeed Sam Trevethick, AKA the aforementioned Sambora, looked like he was enjoying himself as he was given free reign to let loose on the guitar and rock out along with the crowd.

From such a heightened peak, the mood was vastly changed and the crowd, aside from the odd holler of appreciation, were reverently hushed to the sound of the eponymousPast, Present, Future. Dedicated to loved ones who have passed, it afforded the crowd a solemn moment of reflection rarely expressed in live music, and when Uekaha reappeared to provide some superbly poignant falsetto vocals, the atmosphere created was positively touching. Easing out of the title track was a toned down but sleek reworking of Saviour Dub that, on the album has its roots very much in the origins of jungle and DnB but here was given a more laidback reggae twist.

No Tiki Live show would be complete without the gathered masses being given possibly the most evocative track on the album, Tangaroa. This tribute to the Māori god of the sea is a terrific track on the album, but is something else to behold in a live setting. Combining a thundering drum, with razor sharp synth effects, this stirring haka epic being bellowed out by P Diggs, Uekaha and Tiki literally shook the freshly made construction dust of the new venue from the ceiling. It is one of those tracks that you can really relish when playing live as the beat is just irresistible not to move to and its fluidity means it can be forever improvised and played with depending on the crowd. The crowd on this particular Thursday night were very much up for it and bounced enthusiastically to the tribal-inspired beats that rumbled and cracked over their heads. The coming together of such primal rhythms and electronically enhanced effects really amplified the vibe in the room and got to the heart of everyone on the floor.

Tiki and the Dub Soldiers left the stage to the applause of all and as an encore, Tiki returned with his most recognisable release Always On My Mind. Showing off a love of the acoustic as well as the electric he closed (or so we thought) the night with the popular love song that you could just as easily hear being sung round a campfire as you could in an arena. Audience participation was actively encouraged, with Tiki getting all the boys to sing the chorus to the girls, and then the girls to respond in kind. With time to spare, a mini impromptu acoustic Salmonella Dub set consisting of Love Your Wayswas instantly recognised and sung along to. The rest of the band got in on the act when Tiki started up Longtime, which this time was the last track of the night. The crowd were reluctant to leave, lingering to savour the waning moments of the positive energy that had filled the room, before going out into the night to finish off the working week.

Empire & Shifty pres. The Nextmen @ The Empire, Brisbane (02/05/2009)

As we entered the Moonbar, Cornershop greeted us with A Brimful of Asha care ofSlynk. It’s a crime that this was the first time I’d caught the local funkster as his set was filled with a confident mixing of funky beats and chilled out grooves. Sadly the number of souls on the floor at the time didn’t reflect the attention this set deserved, but by 11.30pm the floor had filled up a bit as it was becoming difficult to not get your groove on to the skills on display.

Those skills really came to the fore just as Sampology was preparing to take over. The two briefly played back and forth with beats and pieces of their own styles, with Slynk showing that he can scratch it with the best of them. When the Butter Beats golden boy took over proper, he didn’t waste any time in getting the floor bouncing and the room reverberating to Ol’ Faithful soul classic California Soul. The combination of the liquid gold vocals of Marlena Shaw and Sampology’s chilled out but stirring bass had done their job, but it was time to turn it up a little bit.

The driving funky beats came in the form of everything from FAZE-O’s Ya-Ba-Da-Ba-Duzie to some more recent funky breaks of True Skool by Coldcut. One shot from leftfield had this reviewer pleasantly floored with a perfectly paced groovy reworking of I Can’t Go For That. An already skilfully proficient set that showed Sampology’s technical skills in his mixing and scratching was topped off with a nice liquid dnb inclusion of The Specials classic Ghost Town, a possible hint at the kind of set we’d be treated to by the main event?

Starting a little later than billed, the laptops were switched over and the extra two decks were employed to begin what was billed as a four-turntable two-hour extravaganza by the Nextmen. The set began with quick breaks cutting from Head Over Heels overlaid with Michael Jackson vocals to Superstitious, which would have gone down really well if the sound hadn’t suddenly cut out…

...but they were soon back on track moments later when a bass-heavy funky edit ofBittersweet Symphony limply resurrected the set back to life. The Dizee Rascal debutFix Up Look Sharp was a popular, if brief choice, and really stepped up the movers and shakers, but it was all too suddenly cut into by the increasingly overused 99 Problems. Thankfully, due to the nature of the Nextmen set, it didn’t last long and we were quickly on to the most popular inclusion of the night.

They’ve been known to do some tasty remixes of New Zealand dub, most notable among them the great job they did with Shapeshifter’s New Day Come, but I’d never heard Fat Freddy’s Drop sound so good during a set, at least not since they played the Tivoli recently. The Nextmen’s 2-step remixing of Roady got the biggest cheer of the night. All arms were in the air and feet were pounding the floor as this live classic was rejigged to great effect.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes though when Welcome to Jamrock started to impede on the previous excellent blending of liquid dub and garage 2-step (possibly only 99 Problems being more overused in funky breaks sets), but when it was shifted to bring a booming drum n bass to the fore all fears were allayed. There was a noticeable release in the room as everyone really let loose and stomped the floor with delight as the wall-shockingly loud DnB bombarded the crowd with superb beats. In fact, it was only when the set descended (or should that be ascended?) into dnb, was everyone at their most enthusiastic.

Sadly, as was now to be expected, this didn’t last long, and we had shifted genres once again, being subjected to INXS staple Need You Tonight, with an admittedly smooth sounding and perfectly matching bassline from Bob Marley & The Wailersmasterpiece Could you Be Loved. Certainly a replay of Hall & Oates lost its sheen with Sampology having already skilfully included it in his own set. It was beginning to feel like student night at the local dive when Kiss came on and sealed the deal, and by this stage the MC’s often misplaced and all-too frequent chants of “making some fucking noise!” and “oh shit!” were beginning to really grate.

Relief came when he didn’t stick around for the finale, and while some thinly veiled disappointment from the duo due to the fact the crowd didn’t make as much “fucking noise” as required, it was sufficient to warrant a Nextmen encore filled with blaring trumpets and big band funk with a Sexual Healing flavour. The crowd promptly dissipated, and no doubt those seeking a night of recognisable intros to tracks they could sing along to whilst chasing tail, were the happiest of the lot.

Acts that can skip effortlessly from one genre to the next show off great skill and proficiency with their equipment, but rarely the intuition for gauging the mood of the night. Sadly this is how the Nextmen gig can be summed up. They are technically brilliant at what they do, but to deliver about ten seconds of a hip hop classic and make it judder into an 80s poptacular tune makes it difficult to really get into any one song. The Nextmen skipped from hip hop to jungle to 2-step to garage to dnb to indie inspired breaks with the deftness and skill of some of the best, but spreading yourself too thin in the space of what turned out to be just over an hour and a half denotes quantity over quality.

A deaf preschooler could have noticed that when they dropped the drum and bass the crowd went ballistic, but this good work was undone when they continued on in their journey of an extensive genre-spanning track list, and betrayed a lack of precision in catering to the mood. Sometimes it seems that, sadly, international acts that haven’t played in Australia very often feel the need to play to the commercial masses. What needs to be realised is that to work your way through a set of less popular but far superior gems until you hit that sweet spot where the crowd reacts, and reacting in kind, is much more rewarding.

Drop feat. Jody Wisternoff @ The Moonbar, Brisbane (21/08/09)

Many people will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Way Out West release, and for those lucky enough to spend Friday night in Brisbane, they managed to experience one half of the talent that has brought us such classic anthems as Ajare, Domination, and The Gift. Jody Wisternoff, not one to sit around on his hands between WOW releases, has been stamping his own mark of authority as a solo DJ in his own right.

Drop were lucky enough to be hosting him at the Moonbar, and needless to say, this was one of the biggest names they’d managed to nab since Scott Walker and mag00started out six years ago. The boys were doing themselves justice and showing just why they were at the forefront of hosting one of the most consistently top-notch house nights in Brisbane.

Never ones to shy away from dropping the kind of techno that shakes your bones, the Drop helmsmen had the floor filling up nicely for the duration of their set. So when Jody came out to cheers that shook almost as loud as the bass, the floor was nigh on at capacity and up for the mammoth three hour set that he had planned.

If you’d been listening to any of Wisternoff’s Way Out There or Intensified mixes then you would have gone in expecting a healthy dose of older school house psychedelia mixed with more progressive electronic. But nothing could have prepared you for just how seamlessly this man manages to marry the two.

Wisternoff’s signature sound was, although very much his own, still reflective of his WOW origins, albeit with a more electronica feel. His own work seems to be more about pumping out a hard and heavy bassline than revelling in the intricately technical brilliance of when the duo are together.

This is no way to diminish his technical ability in his solo work, as his wizardry in balancing the powerful bass with some finely diced riffs elevated you out of the realms of a small 21st century club, and into the better days of the 90s (and even 80s) warehouse superclubs. The aptly named Nostalgia is a track that encapsulates this mood precisely and gives you that perfect escapism that only the highest form of house music can.

At some point the lights and visuals gave out and we were left to see out the rest of the night in the dark but it certainly didn’t dissuade those who’d been waiting a long time to watch a master at work. Sadly though, Brisbane being Brisbane, the floor had largely dissipated far too early and it was only the bare bones of what had been a full club merely an hour before that remained to see Wisternoff end the night having fun with some real old school techno magic. Those of us who did stay however were treated to the kind of DJ that doesn’t come along very often; the kind of DJ that really can make you lose yourself in the music.

Spoonbill 'Zoomorphic' CD Launch @ The Step Inn, Brisbane (25/04/09)

Showing up at the Stepp Inn early in the night there looked to be more security personnel than punters. As Simulcast looked to be enjoying himself in the main room with some booming dub-orientated beats that was impossible not to bop your head to,Victor X-Ray was playing to a near empty Corner Bar with darker bass-driven dubstep.

By 11pm the place was still very sparsely populated, so many people missed Dank Morass play a nice augmented bassy set that at one stage incorporated a very dark and big beat reworking of *Thom Yorke*’s solo release Harrowdown Hill. Skipping back and forth between the main room and the corner bar, half an hour before the main man’s album launch was due to hit, Blunt Instrument had filled up the floor somewhat but it still could have done with a lot more souls and it was beginning to look like many Brisbanites had made other plans for their weekend.

Perhaps they had been wracking up their quota of cigarettes in one go outside, or hiding out under the pool tables, but like Zombies towards a shopping mall theSpoonbill fans seemed to come from nowhere and filled up the main room in moments. After a mini epic intro with as many effects and samples as you would expect from this avian maestro, the first track Woodenspoon, from the now-launched album Zoomorphic, had everyone jiving along to the unlikely but perfect blend of cartoonish kazoosynth (yes I just made that up) and slide guitar.

Spoonbill, aka Jim Moynihan’s didactic ear for producing wonderful sounds that warm the heart and move the shoulders is a criminally unrecognised and underappreciated genius that really deserves a bigger stage. Speaking of bigger stages, as finely as the Stepp Inn managed to put on such a fantastic night, Spoonbill really needs to be playing bigger venues in Brisbane. Revelers at his recent Melbourne gig were treated to the full show of visuals, live instruments and even foam props, and there’s no reason, with the right promotion, he couldn’t do the same up here. If the Über Bar couldn’t contain him over a year ago when he had both audio and visuals at his fingertips, then Stepp Inn would definitely struggle to encapsulate just how much fun you can have at a Spoonbill gig.

This, however, certainly didn’t dampen the fun that Spoonbill was evidently having armed with his mac, and so it went on with the endlessly entertaining Wonkball. It is almost impossible to dissect the technical wizardry that goes into such sample-driven songs as these. Besides, you’re too busy having fun to bother trying to figure out if you just heard a game of ping pong being used as part of the rhythm section, or from what 50s cartoons that lip-smack sample is from.

Bunkerfunk (another great name for a song) is another funky little number that was received well by the crowd, combining lyrebird melodies with a heavy bass riff, and (I’m almost positive) a nicely distorted David Byrne vocal. The skill with which such songs go from a dark and intricate brooding piece to a lilting and lazy acoustic rhythm never fails to astound, and is a joy to listen to. At the end of the set the energetic applause was well deserves, and the encore was well appreciated.

If I could describe Spoonbill’s music in one word it would have to be ‘bouncy’. Perhaps it’s the particularly cold and flu medication I’m on but I saw armies of space hoppers bopping and caroming rhythmically into each other on a bouncy castle in flashes of vibrant colours when I first heard the album, which is why it helps to have his signature visual parade during a live set. He combines the fun Mr Scruff has with his music, with the sample skills so prevalent in Coldcut’s work, with the technical superiority in an album like Amon Tobin’s Foley Room, all with a uniquely Australian feel.

Some thought went into the set times as Dank Morass had a thorough hour of bending peoples’ ears before Moynihan was due to start, and Fingerprint was billed to end half an hour after his set, to give the corner bar inhabitant some time to persuade people back to his arena after the CD launch. To their loss, unfortunately after Spoonbill had given up the reigns to Shards, most people piled out of the venue to satisfy their nicotine craving and go home. They missed a tight set by the aforementioned, who dropped some old school arcade classics as well as an appropriate and skilful use of some classic War Games samples, all layered with a healthy smattering of funky beats.

Moving back into the corner bar for the final time afforded some time to listen to the cracking sounds coming from Crooked Sound System. The emerging rare talent who dodge effortlessly between dubstep and drum n’ bass, unsurprisingly leaned towards the former and were personal corner bar highlights. Those who stayed behind to catch them certainly left feeling very thankful that they had lasted this long.