If anyone can warm up a winter-sick crowd of House and Techno fans it’d be a DJ producer from Spain, and John Talabot came in Hot and only turnt things up Saturday night at Coda. The new Footwork, located in the old Annex Wreck Room, is flashy and accommodating, with spiffy new lights and a dance floor as wide as a basketball court is long, and did we mention the sound-system? It’s devastating! let’s never say the words Annex and Wreckroom in that order ever again. Talabot came through and blessed the room well into the early hours of the morning, and a deliriously happy crowd stayed right there with him, championing in daybreak with eager jest.
Talabot’s DJ-Kicks mix is an ode’ to music fervent in Barcelona’s history as well as his own, from obscure house 90’s house tracks (I mean obscure) to deep exclusives; a celebration of life and its musical riches. The full track listing can be found online, for all you diggers, but the road show is really where a mix of this caliber can find the room to stretch its routes. Talabot was playful and precise; folding funk-driven distorted melodies into dance-heavy breaks like he was adding salt to his Huevos, unifying depth and mystique with the uncomplicated rhythm of dance.
The (extended) DJ set brought enough punch to keep fans on their toes without a lull. Don’t just take our word for it, check out photos form the night:
Talabot’s Saturday night at Coda is an example of exactly the kind of party Toronto needs more often, the kind that doesn’t start until midnight and is still going strong at four in the morning, just enough of a time gap to satisfy that deep-winter nocturne.
