- Afterhours Anonymous celebrated their four-year anniversary in Denver with an extended set from Ben Klock and a fistful of local artists. AA have been steadily growing an audience in the 300-500 capacity range, but there must have been 700 people at Cluster Studios. The decor inside the polished north Denver warehouse was minimal and tasteful, the lighting was thankfully dark and the staff were as friendly and on-point as usual.
On paper, pairing strong, local support acts together looked like a good idea. As it played out, though, the push and pull of each artist meant the night's warm-up sets flowed a little inconsistently. First up were Paul Fleetwood and Doc Noe, who came out of the gates quite fast. Laying down heavy, pitched-up techno as the room slowly filled, the crowd seemed forced to mingle more than they'd have liked to. John Templeton and Lunatik followed and did a better job of glueing the floor together. Eventually they too went the way of serious techno, but by that point the crowd was sufficiently lubricated.
Ben Klock eased into the booth around 1 AM and proceeded to show why he's such a global favourite. The next four hours were an exceptional presentation of technical mastery and depth in track selection—Klock didn't play one bad record all night and was continuously in the mix. His set twisted and turned between subtle melodies, stripped-back house and loopy techno, all sewn together in a way that made you appreciate the current record while gearing up for the next one. "Never has a repetitive beat sounded so sweet," said one reveller, summing up the Ben Klock experience in a nutshell.
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