The warm up was well underway by the time I got to the main room at Zouk thanks to dj B's efforts. He laid on a thick primer of reliable tech house, topped off by Sebo K's "Diva" (still a weekly staple here) and Barfod and Fredski's "March on Swan Lake." Satoshi Tomiie then promptly took over the decks at 1 AM after what appeared to be a wake-up espresso and got stuck into it with some deep techy house. Unfortunately this didn't really seem to tickle the crowd's fancy and they thinned out in the early stages of his set. But soon the caffeine kicked in, as Tomiie dropped a killer groove with tight beats and a vocal that served as a good reminder of his house roots. The floor packed again, and this time they were there to stay.
Time flies quickly when the tunes hit the right spot, and that's precisely what happened for the rest of the night. By the time Tomiie clawed his way back into techno zone and dropped Josh Wink's "Airplane Electronique," the crowd was eating out of his hands. Weaving through Henrik Schwarz's excellent edit of The Detroit Experiment, we eventually found ourselves in the hands of Slam's "Hot Knives" and the timing could not have been better. Zouk's awesome lasers and the ludicrous air gun ensured that the party was on full throttle.
During the mayhem that ensued, I managed to pop up to the DJ console and was pleasantly surprised to find Tomiie in an almost Zen-like state. With calm, calculated moves and his unique in-ear monitoring gear, he gave me a subtle smile and continued on his mission to destroy the floor.
Having flirted with a tribal groove earlier on with Bearweasel's edit of "Aloo Ma Auzi," Tomiie went all out after 4 AM and managed a proper hand raiser with Radio Slave's "Koma Koma." With the lightweights weeded out, the crowd now represented true bass junkies with a relentless thirst for more. Just when we thought we would be led deeper into the annals of darkness and to a wrap up, Tomiie managed another turnaround and took us straight to prog land. It was as if he was testing us. Cheeky bugger. Needless to say, we took a fresh breath, looking up as if it was just the start of the night, and danced away without a care in the world. Only this time, Tomiie busted out a move too!
Tomiie-san, well done.
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