There’s a wave of diverse European artists who don’t typically make their way to Las Vegas nightclubs doing just that, and the tide is rising.
English underground house DJ and producer Bontan, whose recent Strip experience is limited to a couple of sets at Wynn Nightlife’s elrow parties during Art of the Wild, is taking over the weekly Lowkey in the Library session at Marquee at the Cosmopolitan.
“I think I’ll be back and forth to Vegas throughout the year,” says the Southport, Merseyside, native also known as Andrew Phillips. “It’s only been twice over the past four or five years, but this year I’ll come over a few times. And I’ve gone before not necessarily to work, and I always have a lot of fun. So the chance to come back and DJ more is something I’m looking forward to doing.”
Bontan will kick off February with his first appearance at Marquee, a natural fit for his sound given the club’s longstanding reputation for stretching beyond the dominant Vegas soundtrack of mainstream electronic dance music and hip-hop. “What I’ve noticed is they really push diverse sounds, and there’s not necessarily one genre they try to stick to. Those are the places I look to go around the world,” he says.
The U.S. has increasingly been one of those places in recent years, and not just because, as he explains, “everyone from Europe wants to go to America now because the parties are just so great.” Thanks to easy access online and technology that allows artists across continents to collaborate, North American fans know European dance music better than ever, even if they haven’t seen certain DJs play here yet.
Bontan, who says he has been more influenced by the American music and DJs he discovered as a teenager than the somewhat condensed scene in the U.K., has been working with Diplo lately and hopes the results will be among a busy schedule of releases throughout 2023.
“Mainly the sound I was into was that soulful underground U.S. sound, sort of the origins of house music,” he says. “DJs in the U.K. always did their own thing, but that authentic Chicago sound was the one thing I couldn’t get enough of.”
You can hear those early influences in his most recent work, including last year’s “Gold Teeth,” with its almost tribal groove, and its B-side “Heart Shaped Leaf,” propelled by handclaps, bells and clipped vocal samples. Expect more very soon.
“I’m trying to get some stuff out every couple of months and fit some more studio time between tour dates,” he says. “It’s going to be a busy year for me.”
BONTAN February 1, 10:30 p.m., $20+. Marquee Nightclub, events.taogroup.com.
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