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Andy ups the ante

Saturday night at Andy Poolhall the Fascination guys touched down for their monthly electro-disco-rock-house-whatever party. Found a big lineup when we got there at midnight and a packed club once we got inside.

This month they welcomed as their special guest London (Ontario)-based DJ Andy Capp , who had the dance floor shaking for his eclectic and funky set. Last time I heard him play in Toronto, his sound was more house- and disco-focused, but this kind of open-format DJing is where he really shines. There was a heavy 80s flavour to his sound even though many of his records were recent.

Andy Poolhall is starting to feel a lot more like a dance club than the loungy pool hall they started with when they opened. While the dance floor isn’t huge, the abundance of seating and the large pool hall section of the club means that everyone on the floor is there to dance.

Duplaix gets ’em moving

Friday night at Tangerine , Vikter Duplaix dropped by to play a set, drawing a healthy-sized crowd even though it was a last-minute thing promoted without any flyers or posters. Resident DJ Moreno got the crowd warmed up with some soulful house, disco and dance floor funk. Duplaix didn’t take over the decks until close to 1 am, and dropped the tempo down to R&B speed for a few songs before dropping some of the broken beat rhythms he’s known for in his own productions. Eventually, he made his way up to house speed but kept the vibe pretty mellow.

I wasn’t into everything he played, but it was nice seeing a dance floor actually move to the spastic broken beat tracks. Convincing people to move to unfamiliar rhythms is tough, but he pulled it off.

He’s not really known as a DJ, and at some points you can tell he takes the easy way out of a hard mix. He was playing only CDs, something that’s become increasingly common for touring DJs. While purists might hate this, it makes sense since airlines regularly lose crates of records.

Feelin’ it

After getting my fill of Duplaix Friday, I walked up the street to catch the tail end of Can You Feel It , Roxy Blu ‘s monthly classic house party. Just missed the set by Mitch Winthrop , who apparently destroyed the dance floor, according to some sweaty witnesses. Local legends Peter & Tyrone followed with one of their trademark super-tight mixes. It was all about warehouse classics, which makes sense since they were among the big players in the early-90s T.O. underground scene. Not that they should be considered retro DJs – the night before at Tangerine they played mainly new records at their Thursday residency and pulled it off just as well.

Aki closed down the party, dipping into some vintage underground disco along with some of the expected house classics. Judging from his smile, he was having a great time behind the decks, and the crowd responded in kind.

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