- The last time I remember chalk making any funky noises for me was back in high school where we'd take a piece of chalk and scratch it on the blackboard making a horrible screechy noise to the dismay of everyone (especially the teachers) in the classroom. Those were the days... fast forward to 2002 and we see that Chalk provides some really funky ass beats and basslines without all the screechiness of chalk on blackboard.
The ad for Chalk states that it is a tech-house night so how do we describe what tech house is? After attending the event, a few elements of the music came into the fore. The beats are 4 to the floor (oh dah.... it's house!), however it is a lot harder than the house you would normally hear at clubs like Yu and Tank. The bass is a lot louder and more prominent and the tempo is a lot faster - almost going into techno BPM's. It really doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Tech-House is basically named that because it is a combination of house and techno.
Upon walking into the Dendy, the place really feels like a lounge, not really good if you want to get people to dance plus the sound system in the lounge room was broadcast from the dancefloor through 2 enthusiastic speakers, which was not enough to fill the soundspace inside the lounge. Oh well they should be learning from their mistakes as the system and sound was absolutely pumping on the dance floor!
DJ's Phil Smart, Ajax and Clint Hargreaves were the featured guests for the night along with promoters, James Atkinson, Dave Robertson and John Rhodes all taking their turns behind the decks. Ajax knows his music and whether it be breaks, techno, hiphop or house, he knows how to rip up a set. Put Fingers on percussion alongside him and you've got some tribal madness - conga drums have a strange effect on people. If you think techhouse was the only sound going to played all night then be prepared to be smacked in the face with a breaks track here and there. The crowd absolutely loved it however the same thing doesn't seem to win many favours when it's done the other way around. A tech house remix of Felix Da Housecat's Silver Screen also got thrown into the mix also to the delight of the crowds.
Clint Hargreaves from Brisbane was up next and he still kept it fast and funky. Another thing about tech house is that it uses a lot of latin elements in it so it has quite a fiesta kind of vibe, so if one track doesn't do it for ya just wait for the next one and you are sure to be dragged back by the ears to the dancefloor. Pretty impressive track was the one which had a sample of the Jungle Brothers "I'll House You" which should now be renamed "I'll Tech House You" as it seems to get the people on the dancefloor shaking their asses like never before.
The DJ's certainly kept the sound underground and so did the crowd - all glowsticks and raver fashions were left at home. This was a night for dancing and bad ass tunes and what better way to keep it underground than by holding it at the Dendy?