www.inthemix.com.au Review
Pure Pleasure Experience 1st Birthday
22nd September, 2007
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Written by Shannon Scully
The dance music and clubbing scene in Sydney is ever changing. Music trends and club nights coming and going almost as often as some people change their underwear, so for a club night to make it to 12 months is quite a feat and Pure Pleasure Experience has done just that. With electro house blowing up so huge in Sydney these days, finding good, quality funky house night was becoming an extremely difficult task. Then came PPE.
Promoter and resident DJ Ange created this night with the aim to provide Sydney again with some good, energetic, funky house music in a fun, friendly and relaxed environment and 12 months later she has proven that there is still room for funky house in Sydney.
From its launch in September '06 at Bar Broadway, Pure Pleasure Experience has gone from strength to strength, playing host to some of the biggest names in the Sydney house scene, such as Kate Monroe, Matt Roberts, Alex Taylor, Ben Kelly, Random Soul and many more. Over the 12 month span, PPE has moved from its original venue to the lush surroundings of the Trust Lounge at the Equilibrium Bar.
Having only visited this club night once in the past, I only had a little idea of what to truly expect from this night, but from arrival to departure it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Arriving early in order to appreciate the night right from the opening, I was greeted by friendly and inviting door staff. I made my way up the stairs and into the surroundings of the Trust Lounge and was welcomed by the deep and groovy sounds of Disco Lou. Lou did an excellent job of creating a nice relaxed feel from the music as a way to ease into the rest of the evening and help set the mood, playing a mixture of fairly deep, bouncy sounds and nice melodies. Towards the end of her set worked her way into some more soulful sounds, one recognisable track being a Defected classic You Can Make It by Jamie Lewis.
Next up to the decks was SHE promoter and resident Graham Cordery who followed on with the soulful theme Lou had left him with, and took the tempo up gradually as the set went along. Graham did what he does best, he kept the music soulful but with a funky edge, lots of keys and vocals to keep the energy and keep the crowd interested. By this time the night had really started to kick off, the room was gradually filling up with more and more people, happy, friendly faces everywhere and people had started to make their way onto the dance floor for a bit of a boogie.
Following on from Graham was Sydney soulful house duo Random Soul aka Yogi and Husky. Unfortunately, due to illness Yogi, who was going to be providing the vocals and live keys was unable to perform, luckily his partner in crime Husky was still there to hold down the fort and show Sydney just why they're quickly rising to be one of the biggest names in the Sydney soulful house scene and having recently had some of their tracks signed to some huge labels such as Celebrity and Jay J's label Shifted. Taking the place of Yogi for the evening, vocalist Kristen's incredible voice and excellent microphone technique helped provide just that little bit more to the already great sounds being played by Husky.
Husky surprised me this evening as he is usually known for playing the deeper side of soulful house and tonight he really took things up a notch and played some really up tempo funky house filled with loads of energy and by now the dance floor was packed with the crowd loving every minute.
With the night well and truly showing to be a huge success, we were graced by resident DJ Ange who really took the music to another level: the music was big, pumping and definitely very funky. Her set was filled with huge bursts of energy and really had everyone loving it all. The most recognisable tune from Ange's set was a massive funky remix of Born Slippy by Underworld which had everyone in the room cheering. Ange continued on form for the rest of the set before handing the headphones over to Ben Kelly.
It was only a few years ago that Ben Kelly was probably one of the most popular of Sydney's funky house DJs and was seen playing that sound all over the city. As time has progressed, so has Ben's musical tastes and influences. Nowadays, Ben is more widely known for playing electro and tech house as opposed to the funkier sounds he used to play. Tonight, however, we were in for a treat as Ben was back for an exclusive funky house set.
Playing the closing set Ben kept the energy and the tunes pumping right to the end and the crowd showed no signs of slowing down as he kept the dance floor packed right to the end. Leaving the club for the journey home, to me the night was well and truly a huge success.
Overall, if you like your house music big and funky then this is definitely a night you need to visit. Congratulations and Happy 1st Birthday to Pure Pleasure Experience, and here's to many more to come!