Cryptic and
subterranean

By JACK OATMON

I got a chance to scout out new nightclub Bassment last weekend, which is just over a month into its existence. To really understand the vibe of this place, the entrance has to be described. It’s located at 990 St-Antoine W. in the Old Port. More specifically, however, it’s located around the back of the building, across the parking lot, behind a big dumpster adorned with a little sign confirming the club’s existence (easily missed in the dark), through a totally nondescript grey door, down a narrow, dimly lit hallway, around a corner and down a staircase. So going in, you’ve immediately got this cool, quasi-shady secret-club atmosphere.

Some might well interpret the entrance as ramshackle and ghetto, but I personally quite enjoy the back-alley aesthetic when I visit a new spot. Upon entry, it must be said that the staff was accommodating and friendly in a way that is uncharacteristic of Montreal’s callous service industry. So that was a plus. The space itself is a medium-sized rectangular room with concrete columns and a half-assed decor and lighting set-up, which one presumes will be modified as time goes on. The bathrooms are unremarkable except that they are thankfully nowhere near the dancefloor—a frequent error in nightclub traffic management. So overall, the place was nice and had a heck of a lot of potential.

The night was really fun too, with a good crowd and tunes, such that I scrapped the rest of my plans for the evening and hung out till closing. Here’s the part where I get brutal, though. If you’re going to name your club after a particular range of sound—bass—you should at least have a decent subwoofer. I can’t rightly review the club and not mention that the sound system is a muddy box of bolts crammed in one end of the room. Fun times, though. Check it out.

I MEAN SRSLY, AMIRITE? jack.oatmon@gmail.com