Live Review: Elderbrook @ 170 Russell

Sister duo Kinder gets the party started and put everyone in a good mood with some huge dance-floor fillers. They set the tone with electro-pop bangers with pulsating primal beats to shake up the club and get people dancing.

Kinder’s energy is infectious and they are really fun to watch as they mix R&B, pop, techno, house and their native Ghanaian rhythms into their set, along with singing and dancing in the most joyful way possible to surge our endorphins.

Their very own hit, Keep Up, from their latest EP Akwaaba, is an addictive electronic house track combining deep bass and synth with sweet pop melodies. To round out the set, they share a crowd-favourite remix of Rüfüs Du Sol’s enigmatic Innerbloom to raise the roof to skyrocketing heights.

British vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter Elderbrook (aka Alexander Kotz) finally returns to our shores after almost five years, and since then, he’s got a whole lot of new material that he’s been waiting to play live for us. It’s one thing to hear his recorded music but seeing him play live is truly phenomenal. With his larger-than-life stage presence and infectious passion for music, it's clear he’s mastered the art of performance. Elderbrook captivates the audience with his mesmerising non-stop set that demonstrates why he’s one of the most talented dual threats in the dance music industry right now.

The stage explodes with an array of hypnotising colours and visuals as Kotz creates a sonic soundscape to uplift the energy and spirit of his crowd. A quick-paced multi-tasker, he works up a sweat to put on an impressive show. He playfully squats down low, shimmy’s from side-to-side and jumps up with high kicks to the change of tempo, all while controlling different sound systems and pounding at his electronic drum set. At the same time, he belts out his huge emotive and soulful vocals with impressive high notes without missing a single beat.

Kotz’s unrelenting energy is a force to be reckoned with as he bursts into dance at the sound of every beat drop, the strobe lights and stage effects amplify his charisma and the crowd quickly becomes hypnotized by his performance. The crowd is hooked from start to finish and dances away their troubles as he progresses through his set that slowly builds with flawless transitions from one hit to the next.

Elderbrook’s electronic music explores an infinite number of sound merging genres and takes us in so many different directions with compelling rhythms and euphoric beats. He shares a new song called Beautiful Morning from his upcoming third album and some of his most popular collaborations including with Diplo (One By One), Hayden James (On Your Own), Rudimental (Something About You) and Louis The Child (Dominoes).

For the encore, Kotz serves up the title track from his Inner Light EP and both of his popular collaborations with CamelPhat (Dancing With My Ghost and Cola) for a climactic ending with a euphoric ascending energy.