- Unaware to the happy snapping tourists of Degraves Street and boutique shoppers of Flinders Lane, lies Melbourne's newest basement venue The Liberty Social, hidden down a graffitied alley like so many other of Melbourne's best kept secrets. In its short and promising existence The Liberty Social has hosted a clutch of high-brow house and techno parties, offering an alternative clubbing experience to the big room layout of Brown Alley and couch-filled Revolver. In its opening seven months Blawan & Pariah, Levon Vincent and Isolée have all played there.
Following on from a lauded Efdemin party, Out Of Focus (OOF) presented their second missive with Sven Wiesemann and Basic Soul Unit. Unlike many of the other parties in Melbourne at the moment—whose flyers read like festival line-ups—OOF gave its local support healthy set-lengths with a centre stage platform. It was around midnight before the club started to fill out and Louis McCoy fulfilled his job as warm up DJ by coaxing an early bevy of dancers from the bar and onto the dance floor. Over the past two years McCoy has slowly worked his way up to become one of Melbourne's more-respected (and regularly playing) DJs and he showcased his canny warm up sensibilities by leaving more than ample headroom in decibels for Weisemann to announce his arrival.
Not only did Weisemann's track selection cater for Melbourne's house music all sorts, he had every other bedroom jock in the room watching in awe as he worked the decks with rugged fader flutters, beat juggling, vocal teasers, filters, EQs and improvisational drum beats made with a CDJ—all done with an obvious excitement which was reciprocated by woots and applause. Donned in a loose-fitting singlet, the German DJ/producer played house music all night long and did so via Pepe Bracdock's "Deep Burnt" and Andrés "New for U," as well as the roof-raising Intellidread remix to DJ Assassin's "A Face in the Crowd." But it was Matthew Herbert's "Tasteful Dub" to Moloko's "Sing It Back" that brought the house down.
Basic Soul Unit had his work cut out for him thanks to Weisemann's three hour set, but the Toronto-based producer used the later set time to his advantage. Equipped with a 707, xoxbox, launch pad and other pieces of kit, BSU opted for a patient and deeper clubbing experience, rewarding repetitious loop sessions with feverous acid licks and busy 707 breakdowns, working his machines with flicked wrists.
Like their previous party, OOF had The Liberty Social busy come six o'clock in the morning, again pushing the party and the club's liquor license to the limit. Bryce Lawrence kept things deep after taking over from BSU by playing Endian's "Two Chords Deep" and was later joined by Louis McCoy's timely mix of Ben Klock's remix of Kerri Chandler's "Pong." Like a mischievous child Weisemann soon popped his head out from backstage and approached the decks for a second time, nodding in appreciation to the local's track selections. Weisemann and Basic Soul Unit both jumped backed on the decks with McCoy and Lawrence and the four closed out the night with a back-to-back-to-back-to-back set.