I won’t lie. DJ sets these days bore me. The unending flow of generic EDM beats with the expected bass-drops just doesn’t do it for me. It takes a special kind of sound to get me to a club to see a DJ “perform”. Breakbot is one of those DJs.
Thibaut Berland is Breakbot. A producer/DJ from France, I first caught wind of his music with the release of his first Studio album “By Your Side“. The first single off that album, “Baby I’m Yours” killed it for me. During a time when all of the talk was Daft Punk, 24/7, I opted to groove to the sounds of Breakbot.
Breakout’s sound is what I would consider “old-school”. More disco and funk than drum and bass driven, the music is definitely brighter than the EDM that I’ve been hearing nowadays. It’s the kind of music where you can lose yourself to the beat without having to worry that some douchey frat-bro in a tank top head banging to the beat will be throwing up on, or next, to you (<- This happened to me a few years ago at Coachella for some EDM set that I caught).
The evenings’ early sounds were curated by L.A. native Franki Chan, a “Godfather” of IHEARTCOMIX and a very competent DJ. My favorite part of his set was when he incorporated a mix Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhere” into his playlist (CLICK HERE to see some VIDEO CLIPS from the show)
Though the set times was supposed to have Irfane from 11-12, Breakbot from 12-2 and So Me from 2-3, Irfane and Breakbot took the DJ helms together at 11, with So Me lending a hand here and there, and basically worked a playlist together until the time I had to leave.
For about 2 hours, I heard a mix of original tracks and remixed popular music, which kept the packed crowd, deliriously dancing to the grooves for the entirety of my time there. I was quite impressed with the LA crowd that showed up. There were fans that got to the club right when doors opened to make sure that they were up in front of the stage/DJ booth. One fan was even dressed up in a Breakbot costume.
The fact that there were that many people there to appreciate Breakbot’s style of music gave me hope that perhaps there are some people in Los Angeles with good taste. You don’t need bass drops for good “electronic music”. You just need good music.
I wish I could have stayed until the venue had closed, but an early morning conference call was a few hours away. All I know is that I’ll be keeping an eye (and ear) out for future Breakbot albums and performances.
CLICK HERE to see some VIDEO CLIPS from the show!!
#DKLPHOTOS 