[photo by dave/ObsceneNYC]

Matthew Dear spun for four hours last week at Été D’amour Thursdays. The set started off kind of slow and mellow, but by 2:30am Matt was dropping some pretty nasty techno tracks.

This was our first time at Santos Party House and overall, we were very impressed. At times, the venue felt a little too bright for Matthew Dear’s set but perhaps it wouldn’t feel so out of place for less aggressive dance music. The crowd was an odd mix of downtown kids, clubbers, Europeans, and Asians. The bar was a bit tough to get to at the beginning of the night, but it wasn’t impossible. The soundsystem was solid, if a little loud.

To us, Santos Playhouse feels like a smaller, better execution of what Studio B was trying to be in terms of music programming when it first opened. We’re happy the Été D’amour nights are around. They fill a big void for dance music on Thursday nights that we haven’t felt happy with since GBH’s Thursdays at Hiro two years ago.

There are a couple of good Thursdays lined up. We’re really looking forward to the September 25th night with Kompakt’s Micheal Mayer and Superpitcher.