Louche Presents Apollonia
Dyed Soundorom, Dan Ghenacia, Shonky
Mint
Saturday 20th October

Entering their 5th year in the Leeds music scene (and in recent times; London), Louche welcomed an Apollonia Records showcase from Frenchmen Shonky, Dan Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom. Louche’s monthly jaunt at Mint Club has become a perennial favourite for students and locals alike, with events also stretching further in the form of festival appearances and collaborations with partners in the field. With an archive of acts ranging from Moodymann (circa April 2012; a personal highlight for the writer) to Nicolas Jaar, there was yet again much intrigue about Saturday’s offering.

The Apollonia Records story is an admirable one. In short, it is one which stems from not only a strong sense of community in the French scene but a real positive drive towards placing their sound at the forefront of contemporary house music. Having been down to their mid-afternoon in store at Waxwerks earlier on in the day, there was much promise for their following performance after dark. With the label very much in its infancy, it is testament to the Louche crew for managing to consistently bring notable and trendy acts centre stage, without ever seeming contrived in the process. It was often difficult to follow exactly who was DJing at any one time due to the nature of their back-to-back-to-back set up and the somewhat irrepressible crowd that covered every inch of the Mint dance floor. However with fresh cuts of their own, such as Shonky & Ghenacia’s ‘Close to the Edge’, the disco-infused deep house sailed through the partygoers in an awesome wave that one could simply not resist maintaining an insistent groove for much of their 6 hour set.

The trio’s mixing style was not wholly axiomatic times, which ostensibly lay in the fact there was constant change in who was controlling the decks. Albeit a rather insignificant criticism and not at all pernicious to the night, the beauty of the threesome’s set up is that it allows for a unique performative element which only adds to their increasing list of credentials. Whilst these boys’ sexy Parisian beats continue to gain popularity, there is likely to be a global ‘coup d’Etat’ of the dance music scene. For now, as was played out so forcefully in the latter stages of the night, they’re happy to echo the words of Mike Dunn; ‘So Let it Be House’.

words: Chris Mclachlan
photo: Ian G. Ramsey