- House music basked in something of a late '00s resurgence, bringing back ghosts of the past and unfurling some new discoveries along the way. It was a fitting close to the year, and decade, then, for Norway's premiere underground house and techno club, The Villa, to lay on something of a 4x4 Christmas treat with a double whammy of international house players on consecutive nights. While the first of those esteemed guests, a certain Seth Troxler, has a fast growing reputation, Friday night's headliner has been there, done it and subsequently gets to wear his own label t-shirt and be laminated with "godfather status" when required.
Jus-Ed has been in the DJ game over 20 years; rocking US crowds regularly with his Underground Quality parties and recently treating Euro-based house lovers with more frequent cross-Atlantic appearances. On this night, resident DJ Electric Lane warmed up for Jus-Ed with aplomb. A composer, promoter and former resident DJ at fabric in London during its early years, Electric Lane sewed together a blend of tunes that were resoundingly deep and driving throughout, but also delicately and finely spaced as well. Tracks by Move D and Basic Channel melted together as Jus-Ed loomed and the crowd grew. Being close to Christmas, this night was unfortunately blessed by a certain quota of drunk office types, unaware where they were and, in some cases, who they were.
The Villa club has built its reputation in Oslo and throughout Norway as an underground electronic music venue for a gay-friendly crowd in a relatively short space of time. However, with the underground tag has come less visual advertising (posters and flyers) of parties which has meant that you often get a strange mix. Drunk office partiers or not, though, DJ Jus-Ed was an absolute professional, and as he took to the mic to address those who remained in the club, there was a resounding feeling that it was all good.
As the dance floor cleared of hangers-on and became a focused and tight-knit group, the atmosphere grew. For those left on the floor, smiles were shared and some technical hitches such as a dirty stylus brought charm to the set and drew the crowd closer together. About one-third of the way into his set, a stylus skipped right across the record playing. Any other night and this could have invoked some sort of negative reaction, but by this point most were under Ed's spell. He led the crowd back into the groove with the introduction of a tune by ''some French guy, maybe you know him, Pépé.'' In other words, it was a night of quality house music provided by two excellent DJs, deserving of more than just the few committed followers who braved the sub zero temperatures outside. Hopefully they let a few more people know the next time Ed is in town.