- Most of a party's organizational details should go unnoticed. A quick trip from the dance floor to the bar is a fairly basic concept, but being able to do so with ease, without even missing a track, is often the result of careful planning and tweaking. Brunch Electronik Lisboa, the sister series of the Barcelona institution Brunch In The Park, had many impressive touches. The well-staffed childcare center and the waste-reducing reusable cup return system (return your cup, get €1 back) were two of several surprising features.
Perhaps more amazing was the staff noticing and fixing structural issues while the party was in motion. As guests began to arrive, I watched the queue for the narrow toilet area become unruly. But within an hour, the staff had brought in metal barriers to demarcate coming and going lanes, as well as an express lane for those who wished to use the urinals. By the time the event had reached its peak, no one was waiting more than a couple minutes.
The DJs also played their part, giving folks plenty of reasons to stay on the dance floor. Ramboiage had most people swaying as he closed his warm-up set with Henrik Schwarz's remix of Code 718's "Equinox" and Pépé Bradock's "Deep Burnt." Wolf Müller and Samo DJ loosened things up from there, the former contributing kraut-synth jams while the latter added in breakbeat house. At around 7:30 PM, the first noticeable whoops of approval rose from the floor. The duo covered loads of ground, moving cannily over the course of three hours from Axel Boman's "Bottoms Up" and Arrow's "O' La Soca" to Yta Jourias's coveted "Adome Nyueto." They faltered, though, where many back-to-back pairings do—sometimes cutting tracks short before they have time to develop. Kevin Reynolds' "Liaisons" had the air sucked out of it just as its sweet tones were overtaking its industrial drums.
Axel Boman and John Talabot, playing together as Talaboman, were more practiced in this regard. Each allowed the other's tracks plenty of space, and when the mixes did come in, they were long and unobtrusive. Early in their set, they bobbed about in sinister Italo territory, dropping cuts like Lake Haze's recent acid trip "Apollonia." Talabot stuck to these more steely, straightforward sounds, while Boman balanced him out with typically odd selections, adding a disgruntled monologue here and a choppy hand drum loop there. By the end, polyrhythms had taken over—there was barely a seated person as Akiyo's "Déboulé" and the theme from the 1988 anime film Akira boomed out.
My friend and I had attempted a couple other musical outings in Lisbon before attending Brunch Electronik. We'd seen great DJs play to rather unresponsive audiences. I won't generalize about the scene based on this, but suffice to say it was great to be part of a fun crowd who were into the music. Good on Brunch Electronik for providing the right environment.