The Bays bring the house down at National Museum

Cameron Bates and Adrian Smith, Contributors, Jakarta

Arriving at the dance party featuring The Bays at the National Museum in Central Jakarta last Friday night, you would not have noticed that the dust had not had enough time to settle.

The London quartet had brought the house down during an earlier sound check, when ceiling panels in the building's new wing crashed to the floor, shaken loose by the vibrating bass.

Rave-goers who were aware of the danger posed by the 45,000- watt sound system cautiously kept one eye on the dance floor and the other fixed firmly skyward during the drum'n bass warmup act -- but all thoughts of personal safety dissipated when The Bays launched, or rather eased, into their act.

The show was an evolving musical journey, its shifting bass lines full of omen, its unsparing intensity interspersed with glimpses of respite resonating from the uplifting original anthems and beats.

The group, whose concerts are 100 percent improvised, explored the whole spectrum of electronic dance music; from trance to trip-hop, from drum'n bass to happy house and deep house.

The beat-line was set by outstanding drummer Andy Gangadeen and bassist Nick Cohen (there were no hard and fast rules here), waiting for the layers of melodic improvisation to follow from the "science department" of synthesizer-whiz Jamie O'Dell and sample-master Simon Smugg.

Then the music was given space to evolve, traveling along a line of abstraction.

If its point of departure was the initial musical theme, the journey toward its destination was based on instinct, carefully crafted to respond to the throbbing atmosphere, altering moods and panting desires of the baying audience.

The 2000-strong crowd formed a cross section of Jakartan society with money to burn. From the proud owners of the gleaming Harley Davidsons on display outside to the outlandish fashion enthusiasts sporting a Punk Valentine theme inside, most people came here to dance and be seen, not heard, as the volume levels were set too high for most forms of oral interaction.

Though The Bays and the crowd took time to adjust -- at least two songs -- to the atmosphere set by the drum'n base sounds prior to the main act, the band rocked and the masses followed for the entire 90-minute performance -- and the encore demanded by The Bays' new-found fans.

The competing act in the wings of the museum was an altogether lighter, more upbeat affair, which climaxed, after The Bays had long finished, with a set by DJ Anton of Future Productions, which cohosted the concert in association with the British Council.

The show ended in the main arena with die-hard dance fans getting their final fix of the sound system and equally impressive (though not as destructive) lighting and laser display.

In Bandung, the following night, The Bays, together for two years, did not have to settle an audience already warmed up on driving drum'n bass, but struck major problems early in the set when the power outed.

If that was not enough of a catastrophe already, the band had only just started reworking the crowd when the power cut a second time. O'Dell, one of the quietest and politest members of the group, admitted he was ready to call it quits at that point and walk off stage.

However, it is a long way to travel to throw a paddy (even if it is warranted), and perform the band did, this time getting deeper, less trance-orientated and more experimental, which was enough to make the usual DJs spinning other people's music look like the fakes that most of them are.

As in Jakarta, it did not take the 500-strong crowd long to be converted to what must surely be the future of dance music.