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[ BOTCHIT BREAKS @ MANNING BAR,
SYDNEY: 1ST SEPT, 2001 ]
by TwoUp
The first glimpse I got of the Botchit Breaks tour
sent tingles down my spine, this was a label which had pushed breakbeat for
almost a decade, and not in a super commercial sense either, they just find
the freshest artists making new sounds and quietly offer them to the market
place. There is not a huge amount of hype around the Botchit Label in Sydney,
that honour seems to belong to Finger Lickin' produced material who
constantly deliver tunes that have a great cross over success. So it takes a
real breaks fiend or quality music lover to scratch below the surface a
little to unearth what is arguably the breakbeat label that constantly sets
trends, and when those trends are followed, they set new ones.
Botchit Breaks was established and run by the late Vini Medley who
unfortunately passed away last year, leaving behind a whole new sound and
scene. Without Vini's vision and dedication, breaks might still be the weird
music played by a few DJs in the side rooms of larger clubs, but thankfully it
has made it's way to the bigger sound systems, bigger clubs, and bigger
audiences.
The dirty, bass heavy breaks of Botchit had landed at the Manning Bar in
Sydney via DJing Duo SOTO and this was something I wasn't going to miss. I
arrived to the Manning and headed to the upstairs area where two rooms were
operating, the first a more tech influenced one where Blaze, a DJ more known
for his hip hop and turntablist skills was slapping all sorts of tasty techy
tunes down, but unfortunately to a very empty room. I walked into the main
room where I expected to see a full house, but again, the crowd was rather
thin and the energetic vibe I was expecting just wasn't there. The projects
onto the stage were good and the sound for the most part was fine, a few more
subs wouldn't have gone astray but the sound that was there was crisp and
clean.
The music all night was fantastic, with the likes of Defcon1 playing a nice
warm up for SOTO - dark tunes with melodic vocals seemed to be the deal which
set the tone nicely for the dark duo to unleash the rumblings of the Botchit
brand. The selection of tracks was a great representation of the labels
sounds, with a number of tunes from the latest "Botchit Breaks 4"
release. The standout being the wobbly sounds of Atomic Hooligan's "In
It Together" which caused quite a ruckus amongst the dancers. I got the
impression that a lot of people there were expecting more hands in the air
kind of breaks, which is simply not what this was about. And this expectation
left a sense that people were waiting for something else to suddenly happen -
it didn't. This style is a dark, brooding one, sometimes even compared to
'the sounds of rave' but on a slower, more rolling tip. There were a lot of
punters loving it and soaking up the sounds, and one keen lad even went as
far as doing the full monty on stage to show his appreciation... bizarre !
Kid Kenobi followed SOTO and took the sound sideways with a mixed offering of
less aggressive beats and a few more well known ones like Timo Maas' remix of
Spice 69's "Overdrive" and a nice remix of Missy Misdemeanor
Elliot's "Get your freak on" which had more than one spin during
the night. But by this time, the ones who wanted that 'something else' had
either left of dispersed to the balcony for the 'fresh' air. It was here I
had a philosophical discussion with someone about nu-school breaks and
whether there is such thing as 'too much of a good thing'. We came to the agreement,
being the oh so educated ones we are;), that the rough sounds of nu-school
need to be mixed with the beats of 4/4 and more energetic sounds to gain
maximum effect. These deep sounds are the ones that when dropped mid set for
a few tracks have that "wooaaahhh" effect on the dance floor which
causes you to get a little dirty with your dancing. Eight or so hours of this
sound continually seems to lose the effect somewhat. These tunes work because
they are so different and unexpected, but when they become the same and
expected, the punch is no longer there - but I guess that could be said for
any style.
Finishing up in the tech room, Ajax, yet again, played a standout set which
had the floor holding more feet than it had over the course of the entire
night. This man never ceases to amaze me with his versatility. Be it breaks,
beats, bleeps or bangs, he has got the know how to please any dance floor.
Anyone who stuck around for his set couldn't have possibly walked out
anything but happy.
Overall a great night of music that was a little bit out of the norm, which
is quite refreshing in a city where it has become safe to follow suite and
risky to do something different. The promoters had delivered all the right
ingredients, yet that elusive thing called "vibe" seemed to be
lacking a little at times, I guess there are just some things you cannot
capture no matter what you do. I enjoyed the party on more of a listening and
education level and in the end I guess I wasn't that surprised it wasn't a
huge turnout. perhaps in another 12 months as the new wave of breakbeat fans
search for something with a little more substance, this style will find it's
feet in Sydney on a larger scale, but for now, I am happy to soak it up in
the smaller rooms and smaller clubs surrounded by those who have found and
aren't in any rush to let everyone else know about it.
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