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Published: 15 October 2005

Magneta Lane: Young, talented, and energetic.  These girls really know how to put on a great show, I almost can't believe we still have the luxury of catching their hits in these smaller intimate venues like Main Hall. 

The Decade Dance party at the Main Hall is a monthly event, hosted with the intention of bringing smaller indie bands (with females in the leading roll) into the spotlight.   Already starting to attract quite a following there were over a hundred people in the Main Hall for this Friday night event, and who could go wrong with four awesome bands heading up the show.  An added bonus: girls get a free drink drink at the bar! 

Look for franco-electro rockers Echo Kitty to blast the roof of the venue next month.

Review by Melissa Burton

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Published: 15 October 2005

Downtown Montreal Quebec on a rainy Friday night:  Aria, an after-hours nightclub was hosting the crowning event to a night on the town, Roni Size.  Previous witnesses to a live drum and bass performance by Roni Size have suggested to me that the experience will be nothing short of spiritual.  But now, after seeing this legendary DJ spin live I am left with a void and a feeling of mis-understanding.
Each track spun, on its own, had a quality typical of the excellence traditionally seen from Roni Size, however it seemed as though he was incapable of mixing one track into the next.  I see drum and bass as being a high-end art form in which one elaborate and fluid motion is created, and being that d&b dancing tends to require whole-body flexible movement it becomes extremely difficult to maintain flow if the music stops every three minutes!

Overall I was incredibly impressed with the venue as it possesses a sound system superior to those in most clubs, but I wouldn’t have recommended paying the $15 to see Roni Size live.

Review by Melissa Burton

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Published: 09 October 2005

The latest of HX Production's gay events, China Pride, with three parties (Kickoff on Friday night, Redemption on Saturday Night and T-
Dance on Sunday evening) took place over the weekend of 1st October.  
The main party was Saturday's Redemption, which attracted well over 1,000 partygoers at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre.

First on the decks was DJ Atsushi from Japan, who got the crowd all warmed up, followed by a fashion show of SPY by Henry Lau with lots of gorgeous models, special lighting effects and even artificial snow.  After that, US-based DJ Luke Johnstone, well-known to many in the local scene, came up.  He played a set in his trademark style, mixing uplifting funky house and progressive.  Just 45 minutes into his set, he was unfortunately interrupted by the police, who after first doing a license check, decided it was ‘necessary’ to do an identity check as well.  Most of the people simply took this inconvenience in their stride, and partied on until well after the announced closing time of 5am, to make up for the disruption.

Overall, the event was impeccably organised by the HX Production team, and thanks to them, the DJs, and everyone’s determination to have a good time, the night turned out hot, sweaty and well.

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Published: 26 August 2005

Everyone started flooding in just before 1am.

Before any of us were getting high on our female DJ’s beats, the very enthusiastic, job-loving bartenders were already so hyper that they started doing stunts with not only their cocktail shakers, but also with each other. We couldn’t help but cheer with them as we enjoyed our martinis and get ready for a good time ahead.

Then there she was, putting her headphones on in the DJ booth.
We started to scream, because the very, very slim DJ Nickelle was about to give us some fresher sounds from what we’d normally hear in Lankwaifong, strictly no hip-hop. The crowd was absolutely fantastic and so was the music. Being a regular London clubber, I felt like I was back in clubs in Old Street, which is what I miss the most being here in Hong Kong.

What could have been better than having a good time in one of the most exclusive clubs in the city with a sexy female DJ playing some fine electronic music in her killer heels?

Review by Ophelia

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Published: 26 August 2005

The world-renowned German DJ, Frank Muller was in Hong Kong on the 12th of August, spinning his tunes at the very popular but exclusive venue called Volar.  He has played at numerous places before coming to Hong Kong to make an appearance, and is very affluent amongst the European and Japanese techno scene. 

Although most of his tracks were quite repetitive, it seemed to give the large number of people at Volar what they wanted; a hard techno beat rhythm, quite different to the previous DJ’s who have played at Volar.  DJ Frank came on at around 1.30 and didn’t stop till around 3, as the masses of people at Volar had miraculously disappeared to another hotspot in Lan Kwai Fong.  If an over all rating of his tracks were given, I’d have to say DJ Frank was a 6, on a scale from 1 to 10. 

Even though DJ Frank has played at some of the largest events in the world, such as the Love Parade and Mayday, and is the resident DJ of a club in Japan, I recon he could have done much better that night. 

As DJ Frank was spinning in the main room at Volar, DJ Tynee (Elaine Shin) was working the decks in the second room.  I have always been a big fan of Elaine’s music and in my opinion, she gave the dancers what they wanted; a good mix of trance with some funky beats attached.  DJ Tynee is the resident DJ of Volar, spinning there on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  It is most definitely recommended to go see her play.  I was fortunate enough to sit down with Elaine and ask her a few questions about her DJ-ing experience. 

Review By: Chaand Sujanani

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Published: 26 August 2005

Entering Ice Bar at 2.30am really does make a difference as opposed to walking in at 12am, to an empty venue.  There were a few local DJ’s playing before DJ Santos came to life, however it was worth the wait to see DJ Santos live at Ice Bar this Saturday.  It was a very local Hong Kong based crowd, with a very rave-like atmosphere to the venue.  In addition, Ice Bar is on the 22nd floor and the huge windows made for a great view of the harbour.  The place was packed, and DJ Santos was playing some very extremely intoxicating tracks, as it seemed to get the locals off their feet and into ‘rave-mode’. 

This DJ played some very funky, yet techno-based beats, with a hint of old school trance added to his session.  It was a very good blend and went well with the atmosphere of the place.  All together he put on quite a show, and we will always welcome him back to Hong Kong to spin us into some good moods.

Review by: Chaand Sujanani

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Published: 25 July 2005

The very dynamic DJ David Duriez was in Hong Kong on the 22nd of July, spinning the decks and working his magic at Volar.  This DJ who has almost dominated the French music scene since the early nineties, blew the crowd away on Friday as he mixed some extremely deep house and techno music for the mind, body and soul.  DJ Duriez’s music came with an edge of percussion and funky beats that seemed to get the massive Volar crowd from standing at the bar, to dancing at the floor. 

Getting to Volar a little earlier does have its benefits such as less of a crowd, where you can actually walk from one end to another without spilling your drink.  Another experience getting to Volar earlier, was being able to appreciate the semi-resident DJ’s, as there are no permanent ones as of yet.  DJ Tynee (Elaine Shin) was amongst them, spinning her trance and techno beats, and practically having half of the club addicted to her sessions.  Whilst none of the tracks or sessions coming from DJ David Duriez seemed repetitive, many did however seem familiar. 

The party seemed to last till the better part of the night, (or should I say morning) and it was very obvious, that DJ David Duriez was like no other DJ, and was in a league of his own.  Volar has done it again.

Review by: Chaand

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Published: 24 July 2005

It was almost 2am and Ice Bar was already packed smelling like sweat. Finally the evil boys took over and started the night with Crooked feat. Aesop Rock and that no doubt got the crowd going. I’d say, that was my personal highlight of the show.

I had been looking forward to yesterday and was excited about some good breaks in Hong Kong, but the room was pumped up with more house and trance than I anticipated. What could be blamed on though, is that Hong Kong kids do love their Trance, and those who were there last night certainly did enjoy the gig.

By Ophelia