LOU GORBEA
Finally, after what seemed an eternity the door slid open to reveal Tambor’s splendor. Those rich house sounds trapped in the basement were allowed to escape captivity. A warm instrumental house track welcomed the small gatherers that made them feel right at home in the dimly lit club. The familiar empty room, that felt like the company of a long lost friend, revealed its spacious dance and foot mobility interior. Filter was a real intimate dance club not one of those trendy restaurant/lounge/bars that pretentiously pretended to be only to have a foldable dance floor stuffed in a back dark corner near the emergency exit.
Peeking atop the DJ equipment in the kiddy-sized box labeled a DJ booth, perched four feet off the ground, was New Jersey’s native Lou Gorbea’s head hidden underneath the shadow of a black baseball cap. Lou, a former dancer, possessed a construction worker’s frame that was all the more pronounced with bulging biceps protruding from a tight plain-white tee neatly tucked in grey camouflage pants that was totally obstructed behind the DJ equipment.
Amazingly, the party was off to a great start as the crowd thickened on the dance floor. The vibe of the room reached heated temperatures as many joined the group of dancers in the basement. Sometime after midnight the floor contained pockets of mass bodies scattered about. Smiles were seen as happy feet pranced to and fro. Even the air smelled fresh, like aqua musk coming from some guy in the room’s corner near the bathroom.
The thick tenor’s voice singing opera style over thick house beats fixated the crowd. House meets opera was a rarity but this collaboration worked. Thank God for the 3 Amigos, Jellybean Benitez, Marlon D, Mena Keys’, “Opera House” who conceived the vision to execute such a hefty interpretation. The exclusive song caused a roar of screams that made feet dance at rates unseen that night.
Unlike most DJ’s who play music for large crowds, Lou had danced with a world renowned New York City dance company. Therefore, his knowledgeable mindset knew what music to play and how to play the music in order to evoke passionate praises from the army of dancers worshipping on the dance floor below. Lou’s musical arsenal contained old school house tunes built around heavy drums and straight up four counts, classic Paradise Garage disco meets new minimalistic synths, driven deep tech house. Where most DJ’s failed by communicating one genre, Lou intertwined all genres to create the night’s musical collage. The play set contained every mind blowing anthem that exploded on the dance floor like brimstone from the heavens. But no one took cover or escaped the downpour. All were too busy enjoying the musical cleansing.
Photography by Carlos J. Bell
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Tags: Atlanta Georgia, deep house music, DJ Stanzeff, house music, Louie Lou Gorbea, Tambor