- Maya Jane Coles' rise within the ranks of the house music scene has been meteoric over the past year or so, thanks to her ultra-slick solo productions and remixes. She's a woman in demand, which means that the majority of her club appearances are now at bigger venues. Sometimes, though, it's far better to see a DJ performing in a more intimate setting, which is why a jaunt to Liverpool for Coles' appearance at Circus was a must.
The organisers of Circus usually hold their event at Liverpool's Masque club, which is a huge venue that stretches across three floors. However, for Coles' appearance, they held a intimate night at The Shipping Forecast, which has a 200 capacity basement area. It made for a perfect setting for the evening's activities—low lighting, low ceilings, a small bar run by attentive staff and, most importantly, well set out Funktion One speakers and a DJ booth right in the centre.
Doors opened just after 11 PM, with resident Lewis Boardman taking charge. Once we were in, Boardman slowly cranked things up from the slightly softer side of house and techno through to KiNK's "Don't Stop" and dOP's hypnotic "Your Sex." A cheeky garage interlude sent the crowd into a frenzy, with the Tale Of Us remix of WhoMadeWho's "Every Minute Alone "and "Entrance Song" by Eats Everything also providing high points during a well put together opening set.
Coles stepped up at half past midnight and immediately the camera phones came out and the DJ booth was surrounded by stargazers. Slight in frame, Coles was barely visible behind the decks to those at the back of the basement, but it was obvious from the first track that she had taken the reins. As expected, her set consisted of a fair few of her own productions, interspersed with plenty of new music from across the board. Around the time The Detlef Botta remix of "Jeebus" came on, the tiny basement had become a slightly uncomfortable sweatbox, but the assembled crowd lapped up the assault, with even the train-spotters taking time to enjoy the music. One reveler summed up Coles' performance in one simple sentence, "She's smashing it!" I couldn't have agreed more.