A review by special show correspondent Ginevra.

If you'd been listening on Friday night, you'd have heard the sounds of two drum kits, funky bass, plenty of moogs and DJ's to scramble the sound, and one helluva show. Amon Tobin, Roots of Orchis, Tussle, and TelephoneJimJesus played at Bimbo's 365 for the Noise Pop festival.

In the thick of Amon Tobin's set, in the middle towards the back of the crowd, it sounded like everything we love about Brazilian music. Hip-hop infused with samba, baked with drum and bass and given a good shake. People were dancing in San Francisco. Anyone who has been to Bimbo's knows how rare this is.

We missed TelephoneJimJesus after a dispute with the cab driver, but came in time to catch Roots of Orchis, who were set up slightly skewed to the left of the stage, with the wall behind them padded in orange foam. They played a midtempo set of bass-driven lushness, reminicient of M83 with the weirdness dialed down and the crunch firmly in place. This was probably the most impressive set of the night, as all members were completely in tune with one another, and no one in the audience knew whether to dance, sit down, or smoke a little more.

Tussle faced off with two drum kits facing each other and a bass player who seemed giddy to be up on stage after what they said was 8 months off the road. Hearing live drummers of that caliber always sends a little shiver up the spine - how, exactly, do two skinny white boys crank out beats that fast, and by hand?

Shows like this breathe tunefulness back into the all-too-constrictive moniker "drum and bass," and re-create it as a living form of music that's still making strides.

Photo of Amon Tobin from Exclaim.ca.