EVENT REVIEW: Chus & Ceballos at CODA 09-06-14 by Adam Micallef

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It’s 11:30 p.m. and the night had just begun, although you wouldn’t know it from the beats that CODA resident Jonathan Rosa  was throwing down. Like a major league pitcher in mid-season form, he’s bringing the heat. As the club begins to fill up, the music pulls new entrants into the fray of dancing feet that is now stretching nearly three quarters of the way back from the stage.

Shortly before midnight the birthday boy took the beats into high gear as local favorite Addy situated himself behind the decks. If you didn’t know better you would have thought the Toronto birthday boy was the main act of the evening. The crowd began hooting and hollering as soon as he took the stage and the raucous reception continued on throughout his set. With every track he played, the atmosphere inside CODA got a little more intense. I have no idea how Addy did it, playing a birthday set all the while maintaing his cool demeanour. I hope your celebrations at the after-party were rambunctious as any birthday celebration should be! Many more celebrations!

The temperature rose and so did the volume, but there was no rumbling distortions bubbling out of the speakers, like at some venues. CODA has an excellent sound system that was clearly built to withstand the mighty bass punch that’s ever present in the deep/tech house sounds generally hosted at the venue formerly known as the Annex Wreckroom. The sound remained crisp and clear the entire night, never cracking under the weight of increasing decibels.

On a trip to the washroom I hear a group of guys speaking Spanish, their part of the makeup of a fabulously diverse crowd. Toronto is known for its multiculturalism and also has a reputation for being home to some of the most beautiful women in the world. Although the gathering boasted more males then females, Toronto’s finest ladies were out in full force, busting out the type of dance moves that could encourage even the most timid of onlookers to join them on the dance floor. The longevity of the careers of both Addy as well as Chus & Ceballos brought out a mature crowd, which in my opinion always makes for a more pleasurable experience. Most importantly the essential ingredients required for an amazing night, positive vibes, were flowing freely.

It’s now 1 a.m. and Chus & Ceballos are preparing to take over from Addy. I imagined they would play for somewhere in the neighborhood of two hours, but the Spanish duo didn’t concern themselves with time. What was clearly important to them was creating and sustaining the vibe while relishing in the opportunity to party with their true fans as long as possible. They really didn’t have to create the vibe because Addy & Rosa had already done an excellent job of that, what they did do is sustain it. Their set was like a microcosm of their careers, an absolute model of consistency. Track after track, bassline after bassline they kept on chugging along working in perfect symmetry. Exactly what you’d expect from a pair of DJs that have been playing together for well over a decade.

My ears suddenly perked up, surprised to be hearing vocals from Reggae artist Barrington Levy. They were playing their Iberican remix of Luca M & JUST2’s Sweet Love, a track that borrows its vocals from Barrington’s 1997 Dancehall classic Here I Come. Soon after the energy flips from fun to all out frenzy as they drop the Danny Tenaglia & Celeda classic Music Is The Answer (Private Edit). As the night rolled on past 3 a.m. and into 4 a.m., I wondered how long they could possibly maintain this kind of energy. Chus & Ceballos were likely wondering the same (about the crowd) because it seemed as though they had decided not to leave until every last one of their fans had either left or been danced into submission. By this time the club is only half full likely because of the epic after party that had begun down on College Street at Ryze Nightclub. The organizers probably didn’t expect the headlining DJs to play this long. Regardless the vibe inside CODA is still going strong, as the remaining patrons have spread out to take advantage of the extra room to dance.

I can see one of the club staff reminding Ceballos what time it is, the DJ shrugs him off and continues assaulting the room with heavy bass. The entire night could have been billed as a “how to” educational seminar for aspiring DJs to learn how masters play the trade. The education continued as Chus dropped a remix of Blademasterz’s Masterblade which features sinister vocals that describe how a record is made. At 5 a.m. with a small yet enthusiastic group still dancing their hearts out the Iberican experience comes to an end. As the final track fades out Chus plays a preprogrammed sound effect voice that repeats “thank you” several times. Chus & Ceballos mimic the crowd as applause and bows are exchanged, they shake hands with a few fans in the front row in evidence of a supreme and rarely experienced mutual appreciation between artist and fan. After four hours I’m sure there wasn’t a single soul going home unsatisfied.

LINKS:

Chus & Ceballos
Website 
Twitter 
Facebook
YouTube
SoundCloud
Beatport 

Stereo Productions 

Addy
Website
Facebook 

Jonathan Rosa
Website
Facebook 

 

Adam Micallef EDM TOR

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Adele is the owner of Tranceported. She manages and maintains the social media and the photo and video teams, and has been shooting our event photos since 2011. She has been a fan of Trance music since the mid-90s and started this website (formerly called EDM TOR) in 2012.

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