Mix of the Week 4/12: Tara Bloom @ Bohemian Beatfreaks 2019
Photography Storm Gale
Over the 22nd – 24th November, all kinds of artists, dancers, gypsies, soul searchers, students and dreamers made their way to the Bohemian Beatfreaks festival in Queensland for a lineup of bass, trance, house and techno music. Brisbane’s own Tara Bloom made an appearance, along with her unique fusion of techno basslines and acid house synths. With her set now live on Soundcloud, listeners at home can experience the mesmerising one hour set.
The set manages to capture the free spirit of the Bohemian Beatfreaks festival. There is wild variation, eclectic influences and a creative freedom in the mix, catering to the free expressionist community that attends the festival. Overall the tone is light and exciting, but not too bass or trance heavy. There is a clear brightness that Bloom has taken from her deep house influences, with a solid kick and snare progression throughout the set providing a steady rhythmic base. Some of the acid house and techno influences come in during the drops, with heavy low ends and simple, repeated beats being layered under strange digital sounds and dubbing effects that shimmer in the high end. As a result, it maintains the hypnotic pace of a bush festival but with enough pop elements to brighten the sound into a more accessible house style. The track list has a lot of variation, with different songs melting into each other through the quieter trance transitions. Beats from one song are combined with syncopated samples from another to create a unique layer over a complete separate song. A great example of this comes in Bloom’s sampling of Britney Spears’ “Toxic”, which adds an exciting and recognisable musical motif over one of Bloom’s own creations. With seamless transitions and expert layering, the mix is constantly shifting between different tracks, mimicking the fluid movement through musical genres.
Tara Bloom is able to capture the atmosphere of a bohemian bush festival while making the musical elements exciting and accessible for listeners outside of that space. The resulting mix is a fun, dance-ready hour of genre fluid music
