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Osunlade’s soulful Therapy
Fans of deep house DJ/producer Osunlade got a special treat Saturday at the Therapy party when jojoflores decided to bring him in for a surprise late-night warehouse set at 99 Sudbury. Despite very little promotion, the place was so packed it literally felt like a sauna, forcing many fans to wait out peak time on the patio. Eventually, it cleared out enough to dance, but by then Osunlade had turned over the mixer to jojoflores, who proceeded to destroy the crowd (in a good way). Though many club events these days lack energy and urgency, some late-night warehouse jams like Therapy still have that magical quality. There’s something about a raw space that makes an event seem special.
A few local DJs have to be miffed that a Montreal DJ like jojoflores consistently pulls off the more exciting deep house and garage parties, but at least someone’s keeping us busy with good parties. Hopefully, he’ll convince Osunlade to bless us again with another appearance before he retires from DJing this fall – a true class act.
Roots Movement
Osunlade also made a surprise appearance at Roxy Blu on Friday, and could be found hanging out and vibing later to the sets by Movement residents Aki , Jason Palma , John Kong and Dee Jay Nav . Over the past year, Movement have stopped bringing in headliners. Although the nights might not be as packed as they were during their heyday, the vibe has returned to what made their parties memorable. As Palma said toward the end of the night, “We might not be making any money off of this any more, but we don’t care – this is how we like it!”
Geometry angle
Hung out at Element for a while Saturday for the monthly Geometry party, which concentrates on tech house and related forms. Lee Osbourne and Mike D did the tag-team thing downstairs, banging out bass-heavy minimal house for a half-full room. Some partiers went nuts, but the repetitive nature of many of the tracks kept others lurking around the back waiting to get their groove on.
Thankfully, Ian Guthrie came on next and balanced out the night with a quirkier set that featured plenty of brand new records and many Toronto productions, which got great reactions from the floor. Too bad most of those producers have left the city for the summer and weren’t around to see it.
benjaminb@nowtoronto.com
