Fresh off the back of winning the Scottish Album of the Year Award, Auntie Flo, aka producer Brian d’Souza, descended upon the decks of Sneaky Pete’s to deliver an all-night-long amalgamation of house and melodic world music.
In typical Sneaky’s fashion, the sold-out event quickly became a plethora of sweaty bodies, with the venue’s one air conditioning unit spluttering with the effort of cooling the masses. Positioned within the crowd, a unique feature inside Sneaky Pete’s, Auntie Flo beams from ear to ear whilst delivering his tracks fluently. Those crowded around the decks are at any point either mid-groove, or leaning over to take notes on his current track. The whole room seems to move as one, with African style marimba beats creating a spark of funk amongst the crowd. Even at the bar, it seems everyone is electrified with the groove provided from the dancefloor.
Sneaky Pete’s is the perfect setting; it feels as though anyone lucky enough to be one of its 100 capacity that night is privy to something unique. The next month sees Auntie Flo in London, playing legendary venue The Printworks, which plays host to names such as Patrick Topping and Daniel Avery. To bear witness to such an intimate set is what gives Sneaky Pete’s its charm, and which makes events such as this utterly unmissable. Nowhere else in Edinburgh has the same sense of community, and no venue comes close in terms of the way in which the acts which it hosts are on the same level as their audience.
The set is slick with worldy tunes which are typical of Auntie Flo’s style; a mixing pot of electronic music and influences from across the globe. Fans of Romare, Daphni and Floating Points are bound to be won over by tracks of his such as ‘Kasba’ and ‘Havana Rhythm Dance’. Spectacularly, Auntie Flo’s latest album, Radio Highlife was recently voted Scottish Album of the Year, a surprising celebration of this genre of afro-futurist dance music.
Overall, Auntie Flo flawlessly succeeds in energising every soul inside the tiny venue, and in spite of the heat, as he closes on S-Type’s climactic ‘Fetch’ and the lights come up, the crowd maintains, if not surpasses the levels of vigour seen thus far.
Amidst rowdy shouts of “one more tune”, the crowd slowly starts to dissipate, but it is evident that the elation generated by Auntie Flo’s set is definitely not soon to be forgotten.
Image: Flavien Prioreau
