- With the Berlin duo Pan-Pot causing a stir with their visit to Sub Club on the same night in Glasgow, new promoter Pyramatrix was up against the odds on how many clubbers would step into the one-year-old Chambre 69 venue it had teamed up with to host minimal heavyweight Heartthrob. Yet Pyramatrix's niche slant on bringing minimal techno to the city proved popular, with over 350 through Chambre 69's doors, not a remorseful face in sight and proof that word-of-mouth not only attracts the top listings of the local press, but its fair share of keen and loyal punters too.
Despite the high profile of its latest headliner, Pyramatrix's focus was not purely on a protagonist as such, having enlisted a small batch of local DJs to open and close the night. Resident Ewan Storie and Eddie Wagner from AV were charged with the warm-up, playing for the growing numbers entering the Funktion One-kitted basement venue.
Photo credit: Alan Morgan
The Michigan-born Heartthrob—signed to Richie Hawtin's Minus label—opened his set with Subb-an's "What I Do," shining like a lava lamp with his luminous green t-shirt. As he moved from his left to his right, swaying on his feet in the DJ booth, his attention was fixed on touching the screen of his iPad, and then to scrolling down the brightly coloured chunks of digital diatonics on his laptop until he was satisfied. While he looked over to the stomping crowd whenever they gave a typical Glaswegian cheer of support, he rarely gave distraction an opportunity to surface, even when enthusiasts from the crowd waved their hands in his vicinity.
Once Heartthrob stepped away from his equipment, it was Johnny Allen from Hectors Discoteque who played for the last quarter of a four-hour night. Deep, roaring vocal samples along with uninhibited dark techno sounds were lashed out in translation as space-like shapes on AV's visual screen to Justin James' "Can't Handle It."