The Face of a Killer, The Ass of a 17 Year-Old.

31 October
Pixel Pop Halloween

DJs: Commodore64, Marc Latilla, Data Takashi, Sassquatch, Kidofdoom, ManKaZam
VJs: Chinxxx, Flikerr, Sassquatch

For the past three years, Sovereign Academy has pwned Old Halllow’s Eve with an iron paw. Following July’s graduation, though, this Friday the thirty-first was wet and waiting for something – any dam thing – to sidle in there and spook it up, 2008 style. Other than the house party mayhem of Oh The Horror on Saturday, though, nothing sidled and nothing spooked. Pixel Pop, in fact, is organised by one part of SLY – the boys who brought you Sovereign. After a shitty day (it was a dry, dry weekend) and the customary failure to dress up properly, I was weepy, pissy, amped up on Neurofen – and ready to Get Down with all my might.

I arrived to the chart-topping sounds of Marc Latilla. Familiar favourites are a nice way to ease into a party and a few special tracks lifted the set from its otherwise mediocre fug. There’s not much to say about that kind of music; what’s unfortunate is that there’s not much to say about the way it was DJed either. It was pleasant, professional and fine. I sat at a booth and watched 17 year old asses in glitter and velvet shimmy by.

With a crack and a bounce around 9.30pm, Data Takashi hit the decks and coerced the burgeoning party into fruition. It was an unusually early set for the presiding ruler of the 2am crowd, but he adapted to the earlier slot with class and style – a little more boogy, a little less bass. Airy, sweet electro with more than a twist of disco and dirty swelled up from some fairly harsh opening tracks. As the dance floor (if you can call that space between the pillars a dance floor) gradually filled, the beats got sweeter and juicier, a rival to any one of those 17 year old asses. As well as great track selection, Takashi’s mixing for the most part was smooth, unobstrusive and even.

At the same time, Flikerr’s VJ set began (apologies to Chinxxx for missing hers). With his neons and cartoons and stop motion animations, Flicker’s visuals continue to improve and evolve. This Friday, though, a lack of communication between DJ and VJ left the epilepsy-inducing visuals at odds with the smooth sex of Data Takashi’s music. Luckily Sassquatch was next in line to play, also receiving VJ power from Flikerr. The tried and tested (maybe a little too tried at times) punchy pop made sense with Flikerr’s fine touch for the cute, comical and quirky. He may be the newest kid on the VJ block but he’s fast becoming the slickest too. His regular performances (with brother, Email Checkerr as part of Double Adapter) can’t hurt either, making Flickerr easily the most prominent VJ in the scene at the moment. If he can keep up the evolution and effort, we won’t be seeing Flikerr fade any time soon.

With a few transition tracks from DT while the Sass prepared his visuals, it was on to Kidofdoom, Star Trek style. Of course they were epic and amazing, of course Peter Rodda’s lighting was spectacular, of course Sassquatch’s visuals were a sci-fi wet dream.

After a few songs from ManKaZam and the perilous task of hugging the right zombie good-bye, I headed home with fake blood (which stains) on my favourite jersey and slightly sick feeling in my stomach. The illness, for once, was not gin-related. On this goriest of nights, not a drop of fresh blood was on offer. Data Takashi was the only DJ to explore new ground – even the Doomers disappointed! I wouldn’t give up seeing them all in Star Trek spandex (Spock especially) – but maybe space travel can get boring after all. That said, it was still a great party and the best turn out I’ve seen at The Woods so far. The spirit of the panda, it seems, lives on…