The more recent addition to Bangkok nightlife is Mystique; veritable brainchild of New Yorker, Darryl Scott. Their informative PR brochure says Mystique was "inspired by the original mythological and renowned supperclub / disco from New York City, ca. 1960s-70s" and which, by the way, belonged to Darryl's parents.

Even though Mystique originally had the opportunity to open in the same street and not far away from Bed, a quieter, leafier, more remote location was selected. Sprawling apparently haphazardly upwards and with an exterior reminiscent of Melbourne's insane architectural monstrosity Fed Square, there are three floors providing three delightfully disturbing environments including five themed VIP areas. Indeed, there seems to be more seating for VIPs than average punters. All this spawned from the febrile imagination of Darryl Scott. Life in '60s New York City clubland with mom and pop must have been quite an experience. New millennium clubbing at Mystique even more so and even though having been open for a relatively short time, the pleasantly grotesque continuation of themed events there have made it seem like a Halloween party every night.

Mystique's sound designer was Kenny Jackel who also worked on Bangkok's Ministry of Sound. Kenny was brought into the project by one of the owners and met compatriot Darryl just as construction commenced. Says Kenny: "We (all) wanted a quality sound, but they didn't know how to describe it and didn't want to spend vast amounts of money. Darryl had had good experience with EAW in NYC. The club was designed before the sound design was included in the plans and they didn't want subs on the floor. Ever since entering the project ideas kept evolving and changing but Darryl's unique vision was perfectly clear".

Kenny's audio plan was to create an all around hi-fi sound, "warm and phat not too sterile", "the last 10% is rich with harmonics lots of gentle (yet deliberate) distortion".

How different was the project from Bangkok's Ministry of Sound for Kenny Jackel? "The budget for a start (and at MoS it was) very low distortion, everything was in phase, a really powerful pounding pressure zone" says Kenny. From start to finish, the Mystique structure went up in a lightning fast four months.

What's so special about Mystique's design? There are three floors, each one distinctly different from the other and containing five themed VIP areas. All have been meticulously designed by Darryl Scott including the solid steel seawater tank now home to a school of sharks lurking menacingly behind the main bar on the ground floor. At first there were jelly fish but they gave up the ghost, perhaps unaccustomed to being continually ogled by Mystique's weirdly garbed clientele.

"Encased like a fortress" within four metre high solid steel crafted zig-zag walls, the exterior features an exotically landscaped compound, bubbling purple water fountains and a lit-up driveway that winds like a serpent through the property. Mystique feels like the sort of venue where a slightly more refined Munsters or Adams Family might come to groove the night away, drinking bloody cocktails 'til well beyond dawn (alas in present day Bangkok this is no longer possible).

Wrapping around the facade of the building is a hidden staircase, water-wells shoot up purple mists into the night lighting up a Japanese rock garden and bizarre statues guard the surrounds.

On ground level in the main room is a black epoxy resin mirrored dance floor at the end of a thirteen metre long black solid steel bar with a 3D brushed steel top that stretches out to seat over 30 people perched on spider-claw stools inspired by Geiger's manic artistry. The 'monstrous menu lists over 150 cocktails', European wines and champagne whilst each floor has a humidor with a selection of Cuban and Dominican cigars.

Viewing the dance floor from different aspects are three of the five thematic VIP areas: The exclusive VIP Leopard Lounge, The Mystique Silver Spirit section and The Disco Arena. The Leopard Lounge has a three bottle minimum VIP area with upholstered African leopard-print booths and silk fabric walls accommodating just 50 people. Above the seating behind each booth, and accentuated by magenta uplights are private dance-platforms for both "convenience and extravagance". Red Fendi chandeliers are suspended sprinkling light onto 15 metre high walls.

Then there's the Silver Spirit Area - named after its silver leather zigzag couches and five wall-mounted authentic Japanese spirit masks, this one bottle minimum area mixes the mystical, the spiritual and the oriental. The two foot long silver masks were originally created at the Noh Theatre, Kyoto, Japan. Special effects have been added so that the eyes can flash and change colour.

The Disco Arena has a one bottle minimum and comes complete with red and black Chesterfield panels that descend onto an extended black sparkle corner sofa. With additional neoteric Italian ball-seating and five black mirrored tables, approximately 20 guests can comfortably fit into this space. Just as visually exciting is the heavy brushed steel stairwell, adorned with bolts that wouldn't look out of place protruding from the monster's neck. This leads upwards to The Purple Room which is perfectly summed up by Darryl Scott: "If Dracula were a pimp and listened to Barry White this would be his living room for entertaining his victims". Fitted with purple silks, satins, velvets and leopard print fabrics, even the floors, ceiling and mirrors are purple. Around the purple epoxy resin floor velvet curtains are draped from the ceiling above which is a padded coffin-like silk chesterfield. Tall devil horned bat-wing booths mark this one bottle minimum VIP area which offers the most privacy in the club.

The dance floor and DJ booth light up in pinkish purple patches that sync to the beats.

In the more public areas of the Purple Room are throne-like chairs placed before the onyx bar, also with purplish pink up-lights. On either side of the DJ booth are mirror-backed purple couches that double up as dance platforms once the cushions are removed. There's an even more intimate booth, hidden behind purple velvet curtains that doesn't exclude the sounds emanating from the DJ's lair.

And when calls of nature (or even unnatural ones) arise at this level there's no need to be concerned about gender as the Purple restrooms are unisex. Finally, just above and beyond these ambivalent tinkle spots is The Moroccan Rooftop. Featuring strong influences from Bali, it's a completely different mood from the daringly devilish interiors below. Warmly tiled floors, earth-toned walls, golds, browns and Moroccan motifs. Waterproofed overhead tenting means that even in a tropical downpour guests can still enjoy the exterior ambience sitting at copper-topped tables lit up by gold stained-glass lamps and candles.

At least 40 people can lounge up here puffing on authentic 'Shesha' pipes with a variety of fruit or floral tobaccos. It goes without saying that this area also has a DJ space with the appropriate turntables and CD players.

The entire club is intelligently wired for media. Construction has already begun on Phuket's version of Mystique which is slated to open in a few months despite the struggle against 1am closing and tsunami cleanup. Built on two levels with a similar concept to Mystique Bangkok but with circular floors, this venue will, fortunately, feature acoustic design as an integral part of the club design. Mystique Phuket is expected to use SLS speakers with MC2 amplification.