What are the essential ingredients for a Sensei Says party?

Really good electronic or bass music is at the core of Sensei Says. It's a dance party so letting loose and throwing shapes is definitely also part of it. Other important aspects are a big sound system and an open-minded crowd. We try to separate ourselves as much as possible from the Wollongong club scene. A lot of the events we feature on Helter Smelter have a more rock/noise focus (its a default really, as thats the stuff aris and ! know a"out# "ut la"els like $u" onster and the popularity of nights like Sensei Says prove that there is a thriving du"/electronica scene in the !llawarra% &ell us a "it a"out some of the emerging acts to look out for, and what is happening in that scene at the moment? Moonbase ommander is a producer who is doing really well not !ust in Wollongong but also in Sydney. "e produces some really great music and his live show is awesome. "e always plays really banging tunes and moves ma!estically on stage which ma#es everyone all the more #een to shuffle. Reactionary is producing some really beautiful music and !ust to throw a bit of a self plug in$ there is also %his Mess. I bet you've already heard of or seen all of these acts which !ust goes to show that the electronica scene here is really growing. Will the nights continue every month? Who is lined up for your ne't party? &es$ the nights will continue every month at &ours and Owls. We even have plans to e'pand and run a few parties in Sydney at %he World (ar. (oreign $u"$ )lue )(ig *illage Records$ %rue *ibenation+ and &his ess ),- set+ are all playing at our ne't party which is on &hursday *+th of ay at &ours and Owls. ,ou descri"e Sensei Says as a -sound.kaleidoscope / will the nights incorporate visuals as well as aural kaleidoscopy? &es$ we have a pro!ector running on the evenings which casts interesting images onto the stage and generally !ust adds atmosphere. We li#e to try and set it up so it feels a bit different to Owls normally does. *isuals are becoming so intrinsically lin#ed to electronic music. %here are so many acts now that have a *- or visual images as part of their live show so it seemed pretty essential to integrate that into

Sensei Says. ,ou also have a i'crate site that features $0 mi'es "y some of your headlining acts / whats your take on open/free sharing of music? $o you think it prompts people to support the artists they like and go on to "uy their music, or is it undermining the a"ility of artists to make money? .ood /uestions. Many of the songs that are part of the mi'es on our Mi'crate are only played for a minute or so until they are mi'ed with another trac# and become something else so they really only act as a taster. It's not li#e we !ust have other peoples songs up to download for free0 they are inseparable from the mi'. I thin# it definitely acts to promote the artists. We )%his Mess+ find so much new music by hearing an awesome trac# on someone's mi' and then in turn go and buy their music. %hin#ing about the situation in reverse$ if someone used one of our songs in a mi' for download on Mi'crate we would be sto#ed. I thin# Mi'crate is a really healthy way of sharing music.