Live Review: Ian Pooley, The House Cats, Matt Abstrax & Virgil Reality, Travis Bell

Trick or treaters knocking on SoundPond’s Blue Door were in for an absolute treat in the form of an exclusive house party fronted by Berlin-based techno wizard, Ian Pooley.


The TechPhonics “Haunted Haus Party” promised to be something different and on that front, it certainly did deliver. SoundPond had all the essential elements needed for a kick-arse event including its usual decor - scattered candles and fairy lights – which help set the dark, eerie “Halloween” atmosphere, if you like. The venue played host to an event that screamed impromptu college-style house party, overflowing with booze, friendly people and even better music. 

First up were local supports Travis Bell and then Matt Abstrax and Virgil Reality, whose sets inspired plenty of awkward shuffling and/or head-banging amongst the crowd. Some had chosen to take the back seat and enjoy the music from the couches, no doubt saving their clandestine dance moves for later in the evening. The vibe had a real dormant feel about it and showed no sign of peaking. Nevertheless, The House Cats played an hour set of jaunty electronic music before Ian Pooley got behind the decks at the stroke of midnight. Pooley’s presence immediately injected a dose of much-needed vitality into the whole house and by now, everyone was up and raring to welcome the internationally-renowned artist. His two-hour DJ set started off with down-tempo, club-friendly and a few original tunes thrown in for good measure. After 1am, there was a stronger focus on deep house as well as smatterings of progressive house. It was evident that Pooley is very serious when it comes to selecting tunes, cautiously trawling through his CD cases to find the next track to mix in, even if this meant sampling the end of a track on loop for an extended period of time. Though the audience was having a ball and didn’t really mind. 

Apart from the loud music, this was a very quiet night in terms of the number of attendees. This unfortunately was not a sold-out event and it would have been off the charts had it been packed to the brim with people. Pooley played passionately to an audience of 30 people, all of whom treated this like it was an exclusive listening party. It’s high time the people of Adelaide started embracing spaces committed to underground scenes or continue to risk missing out on these really cool boutique events.