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.