Club Review: Layo & Bushwacka! @ Stompa Phunk
Published 5th Mar 2006 by Alex Hammond

Some Brighton residents grumble about the quality of club nights on offer in town at the weekends. They've obviously been nowhere near Audio on a Friday night. Last week's Stompa Phunk was a great party; a full house with soundtrack expertly provided by Layo and Bushwacka!.

Seeing a healthy queue outside a club can mean two things. Either the bouncers are doing that thing where they make people freeze their asses off just to make a night look busy, or the club is rammed. As I arrived just after midnight, a good twenty people were standing out in the cold hoping for people to leave. Audio was rammed - always an encouraging sign.

Another encouraging sign was resident DJ Tula out in the crowd straight after finishing her set, 'having it' to Layo & Bushwacka!'s crisp, dirty beats. Starting off nicely where Tula left off, the boys laid into a four hour set of driving, but never nasty, four to the floor Phunk. Vocals were few and far between as the music did the talking. Well, the music and the lasers: a fairly recent upgrade to the lighting system has taken the Audio experience to another level (for those of us who like something to reach for, anyway).

While great music and reachable lasers go some way to making a good night, it all counts for nothing if the crowd isn't a good one. This will never be a problem at Stompa Phunk. The night has a loyal following of weekend ravers, many of whom have followed it since its formative years at the Funky Buddha. The dancefloor was a sea of grinning faces, proving that a combination of big names DJs and intimate surrounds make for a great Friday night.

As DJs go, there aren't many with a better understanding of music than Bushwacka!. Before wacking! bushes, Matthew Benjamin trained with the London Symphony Orchestra and is an accomplished producer. Along with the electro house which dominated the Stompa Phunk set, this pair have put out some great breaks tunes and album Night Works was about as varied and accomplished an electronic record as you will find. They proved their pedigree once again at Audio on Friday night, holding the dancefloor's attention from start to finish.


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