- Fusion is a word you'll hear often in Singapore. The Southeast Asian city-state is home to five million people, around 40% of whom are foreign born. The impact this has on its culture is apparent on arrival. As an ex-British colony, Singapore is soaked with Western influences, but it's neighbours to the west and north—India, Malaysia, China—are just as present in its outlook. The diversity of the city's population is reflected in its approach to cuisine, which is also true of the way people expect DJs in Singapore's clubs to play. According to Kavan Spruyt, who looks after music and marketing at the recently opened kyō venue in downtown Singapore, the DJs who fare best at the club are those who mix things up. The crowds in Singapore can have a short attention span, and more challenging styles of dance music often fall flat.
Kyō is the city's only dedicated house and techno venue. In March 2013 it joined a clubbing landscape that included the long running super-club Zouk, which has been bringing big name talent to Singapore since 1991, but is primarily pushing EDM these days, and Home, a much smaller venue that books drum & bass and some bass music. Kyō itself holds around 250 people. Its interior is a blend of dark wood panelling, soft seating and low-level lighting. The overall production values, including its soundsystem, are noticeably superior to many Berlin or London clubs I go to.
The occasion for my trip to kyō was a headlining set from Ben UFO, a DJ whose famously diverse approach to selection would appear to make sense in Singapore. Kiat, the local guest who warmed up, certainly made true on the necessity for variation. His set, which was based largely at the intersection between house and techno, got people excited, although dropping classics like "Plastic Dreams" and "Gypsy Women" felt like a bad precedent to set considering what was to follow. (The music he played by the likes of Jam City also worked well, and was much more in keeping with the tone of the night.)
The club's dance floor, which occupies about 40% of kyō's overall space, was pretty much full by the time Ben Thomson took over. He started with an ambient intro, and before long dropped a killer new Pearson Sound track that featured fits of acid. The dance floor, meanwhile, felt fragile. It was obvious Thomson's rhythmically broken style was being lost on sections of the audience ("Can you ask the DJ to play something we can dance to?") but equally that enough people understood what was happening to make a decent party.
The bumpy, Chicago-influenced music of Thomson's early exchanges gave way to straighter techno tracks (relatively speaking). Joe's "Slope," Floorplan's "Ride" and the Serge & Tyrell remix of Roman Flügel's "More&More&More" were particularly memorable, and Blawan's "Freestyle" was possibly the best-received tune of the party. Considering the mini exodus earlier in the night, it was pleasing that a healthy number of people lasted until the 4 AM finish to hear Larry Heard's "Sun Can't Compare" and the encore, Fuse Vs. LFO's "Loop."
When the lights came up, I drunkenly told Spruyt that what he and the club were doing for the global scene was extremely important. I cringed when I remembered it the next day, but on reflection this might have some truth. Clubs like kyō battle against tough market forces, in places where exposure to anything but mainstream music is very limited. To book a risk-taking DJ like Ben UFO in this climate, spreading a message of credible, forward-thinking dance music, is an achievement in itself.