EVENT REVIEW: Love Hangover with Blond:ish @ CODA 16-02-18

It was about 10PM and doors had just opened when I entered CODA. Except for some staff, the place was practically empty. Gabriel Belmudes was laying down some chill deep house so I decided to take a seat on one of the cushioned benches located down the side of the club. One of the first things I noticed was that CODA had changed its decor since my last visit.  There were a several mannequin arms descending from the ceiling directing attention to one of the main features – the disco ball.  Sitting adjacent to the DJ booth were two mannequins holding little plush hearts and a several long purple and pink feathers between them. The booth was also adorned with neon sings the read “love” as well as neon lips. The deco was all designed to highlighted the post-Valentine’s “love hangover” theme of the night.

The club started fill up around 11 o’clock which is when I decided to head for the dance floor with the rest of the crowd. Gabriel had moved into more moving house at this point. Tracks like Tushpa by Supacooks and a remix of Balaka‘s Boghosian by his good Brazilian friend and fellow Torontonian Hauy really kept me moving. Gabriel also dropped a new release on the DELYSID label by DAVI called Boarding Call. This track is groovy as hell!

Gabriel kept the crowd moving and by midnight the club was properly warmed up – in more ways than one! He played for another half and hour before the next artist transitioned in. I had a chance to catch up with Gabriel after his set.  Although I am not the best at identifying specific tracks, especially outside of the trance genre, Gabriel was super friendly and very helpful; I will definitely have to catch him again next time he is in town.

Borzoo was next on the decks. He brought the energy back down low for some deep house.  Initio by Yarosslav really set the deeper chill mood, and then he continued with some more tribally influenced house. Now the club was in full sweaty swing. For the second half of his set Borzoo ramped up with more techy vibes. I remember the crowd going nuts for Pink Panther by Solee. The hour set went by in a flash and next thing I knew it was time for the headliner.

At 1:30AM with CODA packed to bursting, Blond:ish switched off with Borzoo and everyone started making their way to the front to be as close to the two lovely ladies as possible. I headed towards the back where I had more room to dance because straight out of the gate they were laying it down!  Beginning with this four on the floor house with indie and tribal influences, they followed by dropping the Matador Remix of Domino by Oxia and the crowd went wild – including myself. If that wasn’t enough, they continued with a house remix of Bang Bang from Nancy Sinatra. It was nearly 2:30AM when the music took an even deeper and darker turn with a heavier techno vibe. Blond:ish laid down a really techy version of Behind the Wheel by Depeche Mode that was utterly fantastic.

Since last call was long gone and the clock read 3:30AM the crowd began to thin, leaving a little wiggle room to dance nearer the front, which was nice because nothing throws your vibe like being pushed and shoved when you just want to move to the music. After another half an hour, things swung into a more melodic techno groove and stayed there until Blond:ish handed the decks back over to Borzoo for his closing set.

At 4:30AM Borzoo came in swinging with techy tracks like Dimitri Nakov & BVision ‘s Phat Tom, but he had to start ramping it down soon for closing. However, this didn’t stop him from moving into some killer emotional deep house that spread all the feels and completely caught me by surprise. Borzoo then capped off this love hangover with the Danny Howells remix of Donna Summers’ I feel Love. It was a phenomenal ending to an amazing night. It’s not often that 7 hours can fly by so quickly, but it was an amazing show and the couple dozen people who stayed right till the end with me would definitely agree. Good show, CODA and partners. Good show.

LINKS:

BLOND:ISH | Abracadabra | Get Physical Music

Originally hatched in Montreal, but currently based in Barcelona, DJ’s Anstascia and Vivie-Ann have established their love child globally by proving that they don’t fit the quintessential stereotype.

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BORZOO

Spinning records, making failed attempts at communicating with aliens, and dropping beats since 2001.

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GABRIEL BELMUDES

A Brazilian Pirate madly in love with touching melodies and tribal beats who has been on the rise sharing exotic sets around the globe with sincerity and flavour.

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Ryan Gentry – EDM TOR