It’s almost impossible to put into words the event that transpired at Club 120 that night. It was the third time the Toronto Psyfamily had the privilege of experiencing the wonders and magic of the one and only, Talamasca. With the addition of our local heroes Ben Rama, Audi Étoffe, Magic Mushroom and Psyslim to fill in the gaps, the night was looking to be a successful one indeed. Progressive Monkey stepped it up once again with the addition of some new psychedelic art pieces added to their previous catalogue of decorations, provided by Space Tribe.
I entered Club 120 and was surprised by the amount of people that were in attendance at the beginning of the night. It had seemed as though there were more people at this event to start then at previous Prog. Monkey events, which didn’t have as great of turnouts before 12AM. It boggled my mind what had caused this surge of people, and when I first saw who was on the decks I quickly realized why. Audi Étoffe was smashing the dancefloor with groovy funky techno beats, and everyone was loving it. He played track after track of tripadelic techno for about an hour until he proceeded to hit home with some hardcore progressive psy. Luckily for us, Audi posted his full set!
Finishing off in a blast, the Toronto Psyfamily said their fair wells to Audi and welcomed the first main attraction, Ben Rama. Ben decided to bring down the vibe a bit and started his set off with some very spacial and calming psytech, which he maintained for a large portion of his set. Some people felt the transition from hardcore progressive psy to low tempo beat psytech was a little undesirable as they wanted to continue at full force all through the night with no slowing down. Meanwhile, others commented that it was very relaxing and prepared them for the mayhem to be expected with Talamasca. Needles to say, Ben Rama performed an amazing live set for everyone.
1:30AM rolled around and it was time for the legend to make his 3rd appearance. Some of the Toronto Psyfamily had disappeared at this time which confused me quite a bit. I couldn’t figure out if it was because of the sudden change in tempos that occurred or if some were just there to see Ben Rama. None the less, there’s was a big enough crowd for the French wizard to perform his musical magic tricks for the remaining Psyfamily. Talamasca put on a show that blew everyone’s mind straight out the water. He presented his new album “The Time Machine” and performed a remix off the album called Noa by Champa . One track I should mention is called Boom F***ing Boom Man by Talamasca vs. Stryker vs. Lucid. This track had everyone out of control; everyone rushed the dance floor as soon as they heard those 4 words. The only thing I could think of at that moment is, nothing can top this. Talamasca blessed us with such pristine music that night and I’m sure everyone will remember his set for many years.
After such a stunning performance, Talamasca headed off to his after party while Magic Mushroom and Psyslim took over for the remaining 2 hours of the night. For the first hour, Magic Mushroom played a set based off the intensity that Talamsca had left behind, starting off with a new progressive track called Trylodine by Bizzare Contact, Electro Sun and Phanatic and continued to increase the intensity with more aggressive and full-on sounds, leaving room for the psychedelic soundscapes of Psyslim.
Magic Mushroom also posted his full set!
Psyslim brought out some outstanding new music that we had not heard from him before, but his performance was not as good as I have seen him on previous nights. Throughout his set, I noticed some errors; there were a few instances where the music cut out or he would skip a beat. It appeared as if he was having an off-night and wasn’t at his best, so hopefully he steps up his game next time.
It was 5:30AM, the night was a success and the club closed its doors. The remaining survivors lingered outside of the club for about half an hour after this, hanging out and figuring out plans for their after parties. I was fortunate enough to attend the after party that Talamasca was present at and witnessed some magic tricks with some great friends by the French wizard himself. It was truly a magical night full of wonders and dreams come true.
Progressive Monkey is eager to have Talamasca back in the future so don’t worry if you missed this event. He is sure to return next year in 2017 and as for 2016, Prog Monkey will have many more Psytrance headliners coming to town. The next event will be this February with the return of the retired mastermind Vibrasphere, who will be playing an extended down-tempo and progressive set. Tickets for the next event can be found here.
For those of you who would like to experience some of the night at home, you can check out below the sets recorded by Audi Étoffe and Magic Mushroom from that night.
LINKS:
Phillip Pereira – EDMTOR
