SeakeOn Friday night I missioned up to Hillcrest, to what I understood was going to be a debut event for a new group of party animals, “NONONO”. Turns out there's nothing new about them, nor their eager following...

Arriving at the doors of the Glass Magic Castle, with the perception of seeing these “new” promoters in action, I was met by what seemed a hefty cover charge of R40 for a debut gig. Taking a glance at the crowd of about 9 or so inside, I smelt a bit of a dud, thinking I was probably gonna hear good music, but ultimately end up paying just to chat to the small group outside (thinking back to a really dud party at the Willowvale hotel). Well, I wasn't going to let that happen again, so I had a big fat whining session, and we agreed on a better admission fee.

After an hour or so, people started arriving. And arriving. And arriving. And so the icecap of this “dud party” began to melt. As positive as this was, I started to feel my tail creeping between my legs more and more with each person walking inside. When I overheard conversations of previous epic parties and dedicated followers, I suddenly felt horribly uneducated.

Powerful sets by Hedmekanik, Mixen Vixen and Leo packed a responsive dancefloor, ranging from synth pop and old skool rock, to indie, electroclash and even a remix of the Sex Pistols' “God Save The Queen”. By this stage an apology was well overdue, and once delivered, I had the best party I've had this year. But that was only the start...

I'd heard that there was a local live act called Seake causing a bit of a stir, and as an electronic performer myself, I get inspired when I see someone using different methods to produce music. Well, when I saw their table of gear I was like a kid at the ice cream shop.

The foundation of their performance is a music production and recording software package called Ableton Live, which they have running on a laptop connected to VARIOUS hardware controllers, like keyboards, touch screens, velocity pads and even a computer joystick! So they create and control pretty much everything you hear, and they have lots of fun doing it. Their set has quite a minimal/techno feel to it and borders on tech/electro house...if that makes any sense? Basically if you like shaking your ass to 4/4 dance grooves these guys will show you a thing or two.

So I guess the question to ask here, is when you arrive at the door and something tells you you're walking into a dud, what do you do? Do you cut your losses and high tail it outta there, or do you take a chance and see what happens, even if it means potentially sitting outside chatting to the ones and twos?

I'll tell you this much, if I had walked away, not only would I have robbed myself of a refreshing, pounding party, but also I wouldn't have discovered this wild bunch of DJ's and producers. For those uneducated like me, go to the next NONONO party at whatever the cost, because if you don't you'll wish you did...