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Molek FMFuture presents Basement Jaxx @ KL Live
We conjectured with the New Year madness of Bloody Beetroots dispensed with much of KL’s party set would be praying at the porcelain altar, the rest …Â a too young to appreciate Generation Y. As in “Y Basement Jaxx?” “Y are they here?” Prognosis: the average age of punters at Future Sound Asia’s follow up knees up – 30, if they weren’t at home with the kids or on family hols. It didn’t help that the cover was a pricey RM98 at the door. Not unreasonable for New Years Eve but murderously expensive for the weekend. Hah! Did we know shit!
Images Future Sound Asia
Don’t get us wrong – having waited 10 years to see Jaxx in KL it would have taken an albino gorilla to beat us back or stop us from spreading the word. It was still sparse when we got there but Azran and later Victor G were working some serious juju on the decks, and inch by inch the sprawling dancefloor filled as surely as the bar did orders with precision orderliness.
Owl eyes from latest album Scars stared back from the behind the decks when Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe stepped out onto the stage to massive whoops and whistles – and then pulled the breaks. Tipped by Felix in his December issue interview with JUICE, Emalkay’s squelchy dubstep blinder ‘When I Look At You’ divided the floor (with JUICE firmly down with dubstep) which was too damn bad, because it could have taken the party an other dark, dirty place entirely.
No time to loose, the Brixton duo dialed it back, and before you could say ‘Warp 1.9’ and Let ‘The Bass Kick In Miami’ we were riding the big choon wave. But the real madness was saved for Jaxx own material. As ‘Rendez-Vu’ dropped and the dancefloor exploded in a frenzied sea of arms it was clear that all loyalties lay with the Rooty boys. From ‘Jump N Shout’ to latest single ‘Raindrops’ by way off ‘Romeo’, it was as if the Brit’s had brought the sun as the young, fun and beautiful crowd got hot, sweaty and happy. We couldn’t be sure if it was that 2010 post-new year, new decade optimism but there was nothing but love going on. Still, it isn’t Jaxx without the eccentricity and pinballing and pirouetting between Judy Garland’s ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ to Major Lazer’s ‘Pon De Floor’, La Roux to Robyn S, the vibe was akin to a Basement Jaxx big house party than a club gig.
With immaculate British timekeeping, just before 3am the final bouncy refrains of ‘Where’s Your Head’ faded into a cacophony of thanks yous and cries of encore before the last track of the night was cued up – a sonorous oompah-pah tuba-driven ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ tribute to Queen set against Uncle’s aka Callen Tham’s Victoriana visuals. Weird yes, eclectic for sure, envelope-pushing always, entertaining forever. Jaxx we love you. The Future is bright!
Future presents Basement Jaxx was held at KL Live on Saturday 2 January 2010. Jack into the Jaxx at www.basementjaxx.net and www.myspace.com/basementjaxx. The album Scars is out now at all good record stores.
