decoded_ Something for your mind… Something for your mind…

After the fun of DJing at FECKNO! in Bondi Junction, my girlfriend, friends and I made a spare of the moment decision to head into the city and go check out Josh Wink at Chinese Laundry, not knowing what flavour of techno/house music he was going to play. Much thanks to Quest and his sexy new car.

Once Josh Wink started up we were very happy we’d made the effort. For the first hour and half he blended up a fantastic mix of funky, hypnotic, minimal, techno grooves, featuring lots of Alex Under sounds/type-sounds. The cave/room had space to groove and move, with the right amount of people to create a happening/friendly vibe. I think a lot of the ‘usual’ type Laundry crowd don’t ‘get’ minimal, so they’re kept entertained by the party-house/electro-house in the other room.

I didn’t get a good look at what Josh Wink was using to mix, but imagine he was using CDs with CDJ-1000s as there was a lot of looping going on. ** He would often use a looped section of one track to bring in the next track over the top. He never really let tracks reach their break-downs, so the continuous beats/grooves and hypnotic cycles of sounds had a great dance-floor intensity. It reminded me of the vibe Richie Hawtin created when he last played in Sydney, layering up loops of parts of tracks.

I only recognised a handful of tracks Josh Wink played/looped, which is how I like it. Some train-spotting…

Friendly People (Alex Under) – Music Is Improper
Alex Under – Multiplicanciones2 (C2)
Audion – I Gave You Away
Joris Voorn – Year Of The Monkey (Can You Feel The Force)
Matt O’Brien – Serotone (Radio Slave Panorama Garage Remix)
SLG – Caffeine
Alex Under – El Danubio Universal

There were also some Jacek Sienkiewicz, Donnacha Costello sounding productions as well, I may be off the mark on those though.

We left as he started getting into more harder, louder, head-smashing, old-school techno/acid sounds, heard a Hardfloor track amongst that. I think he was mixing up an old, banging Robert Armani track as we headed out.

Reports on ITM about ‘The Future Music Festval’ where Josh Wink played earlier during the day/night, said he played a lot of old, well known, techno classics, and older tribal-techno. I’m glad we got to hear his minimal side.

A fun night out.

** : Someone on ITM just mentioned they saw he was using a small unit with 8 rectangular buttons and a dial on it. That sounds like one of the Red Sound looping units… http://www.redsound.com/products/soundbiteXL

Photo by Benn Glazier http://www.flickr.com/photos/royaltech/

Fantastic! I had a really fun night, lots of old faces and friends about. The Cross would have to be one of the best venues I’ve been to in Sydney in ages; fantastic sound, great dance spaces, nice lounge/chill spaces, large, modern, clean toilets. I think they’re covering all the renovation costs with the $$ drink prices, ouch! Great music loving friendly crowd of about 300 people.

Just quickly, how’s this for a mixed up assortment of music? Some train-spotting at Laurent Garnier, with a little help from friends and ITMers.

Marcel Dettman – Quicksand
Mike Shannon – What’s Your Pleasure?
Johnny Future – Perfect World 02 (B)
Slam – Azure (Part 1)
Ralphi Rosario – You Used To Hold Me
Housemeister – Bubblegun
Inner City – Good Life (Carl Craig Remix)
Son Of Raw/Dennis Ferrer – A Drumstick & A Light Fixture
Shlomi Aber – Crop Duster
Liquid People Present Danism – Koopers Troopers
Rhythim Is Rhythim – Beyond the Dance
Sleeparchive – ? from Hospital Tracks
Stephan Bodzin & Marc Romboy – Puck
New Order – Temptation
The Presets – I Go Hard, I Go Home
Blur – Song 2
Nirvana – Lithium
Giorgio Moroder – The Chase
The Cure – A Forest (Electronic cover version by ?)
Julian Jabre – War
Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Were Made For Walking
Sebastian Leger – Bad Clock
Underground Resistance – Amazon (Live Version)
The Doors – Break On Thru To The Other Side (Remix ?)
Laurent Garnier – Man With The Red Face
Sylvester – You Make Me Feel Mighty Real

He played for 5 hours! Such a variety of sounds, there was also a lot of (perhaps too much for me) breaks, old-school jungle, and drum ‘n’ bass sounds as well, all beyond my scope of train-spotting. There wasn’t much techno or minimal, but I wasn’t expecting much anyway, the tracks he did play of that were quality though. There were some fantastic sections of music with clever style transitions. The energy level stayed high, at times he was a bit cheesy with some pumping house stuff. He’s still got a lot of energy as a DJ too, did some great tricks/loops with CDJ-1000s, playing mostly CDs. I enjoyed it.

I’m often dissapointed when friends don’t come out clubbing. On this occassion I’m really glad they didn’t join me. This was a really funny (read tragic) night, I’m glad I didn’t subject them to it.

Some random thoughts and observations in regard to this night out…

• So, Bread And Butter – Is a ‘minimal tech’ night huh? Sounds like house/electro-house to me. No idea who played for the 40 minutes heard before Oliver Huntemann came on, but it wasn’t minimal and it wasn’t tech.
• The all too predictable ‘who are you/why should I let you in’ vibe from the bouncer at the roped off entrance to the club with no name outside, said it all, as to what kind of club/night this is/was going to be. *Tip* Say you’re on the (ITM) guest list regardless if you are or not.
• You’re giving us _that_ attitude outside and _this_ is the crowd inside? Err, who are you not letting in?
• So this is where all the young, trendy, fashion obsessed, vain, self absorbed, MySpace generation hang out. The place was absolutely packed full of them!
• This club has completely changed from the days of Crunch @ Frontier, it’s really been opened up, with ‘pretty’ (read horrible) decor everywhere. The DJ booth is right down in the back corner of the venue. I doubt most of the crowd there even know/care where it is. Sound is loud and harsh on the ears.
• Checking out the crowd, I’m surprised there’s still any stock left in Industrie stores. I hate those buttoned white striped t-shirts! Sheep! Why is everyone wearing white to night-clubs these days?
• Do girls learn how to (lack of) dress and dance from Usher and 50 Cent videos these days? They hate being ignored too, it really confuses them.
• So many vain people, taking photos of themselves, checking themselves in the mirrors at every opportunity, dancing to be noticed; pay attention to me, I’m beautiful. Eugh!!
• The ‘real’ minimal sounds Oliver Huntemann played actually sent a large portion of people off the dance floor. Heard/saw quite a few people around us saying “What’s this shit?” walking off in a huff.
• The over excited DJ fan-boys crowded around the DJ booth screaming and arm throwing at every slight variation of music intensity was hilarious. Woo, a hi-hat came in!
• I think Oliver Huntemann would sound more interesting if he actually ventured outside of that Giant Wheel, Spiel-Zeug Schallplatten, Int. Deejay Gigolos, Confused, Rekorder labels sound. Mixing everything outro to intro is pretty lame. We stayed for an hour of his set, it really didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Sure, I like some of those tracks, but played all together in a row like that isn’t very interesting.
• I noticed quite a few dodgy looking old guys (40+) in this place too, shirts and suits, with their eyes popping out of their heads at the sight of any young girl in the place. Mates of the owners? promoters?
• The obvious ‘powder room’ employees only door with packs of guys entering/exiting constantly near the DJ booth is very… err… obvious!
• I found it really hard to stop myself from laughing at all the totally clichéd people/sights and happenings in this place.

I love being jaded. Yeah sorry, it’s just not my scene. I like being amongst people who care more about the music than how much time/$ they spent on their image to be seen in the scene.

🙂

More info if you’re interested…

http://www.huntemann.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/breadandbuttermusic
http://www.myspace.com/ladyluxnightclub

Photo by sarahsarahsarahsarah

It was a very hot and sweaty Mad Racket! Claude VonStroke played a fun set, he’s a great party DJ. I heard all my favourite CVS productions and remixes, including three different versions of ‘Who’s Afraid Of Detroit’ and his remix of Andy Caldwell’s – ‘Warrior’. He mostly played a lot of very funked up, house/electro-house stompers, and a little broken-beat/breaks almost R’N’B style stuff. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of what he played, Tad was able to train-spot a lot more than me. At times what he played was all a bit too much (too cheesy/too George St. custom car stereo sounding) for me, I much prefer a more stripped back and deeper/darker sound… I got a great taste of that when he played Romboy & Bodzin’s – ‘Puck’, which sounded awesome. I had a fun night, but I miss the days when packs of friends went to MRs.

A couple of parties in Sydney coming up in March that I’m really looking forward to…

Detroit/San Fran DJ/producer and dirtybird Records label boss Claude VonStroke is playing at the next Mad Racket party ‘Spit’N’Polish’ on Saturday 3rd March @ Marrickville Bowlo.

I’m a big fan of his sounds, his ‘Who’s Afraid Of Detroit‘ is an awesome production, one of my favourite tracks of 2006. Not forgetting the very cool throat popping fun of ‘Deep Throat‘ the year before. Check out his promo mp3 mix on the dirtybird Records site, it’s great!

http://www.dirtybirdrecords.com/claude_vonstroke.html
http://www.myspace.com/claudevonstroke
http://www.madracket.com.au

And, coming up the w/end after…

French techno DJ/producer legend and F-Communications label boss Laurent Garnier who is coming to play for the Playground Weekender Festival is also doing an intimate side gig in Sydney Saturday 10th March @ The Cross (Plan-B).

He’s rumoured to be playing a long extended set, which is sure to cover a wide range of quality electronic music sounds/styles. It’s an intimate venue, should be a fantastic night. Buy your tickets quick or miss out!

http://www.inthemix.com.au/whatson/event/36004/Laurent_Garnier
http://www.fcom.fr

But wait, that’s not all, also coming up…

Jesse Rose @ Chinese Laundry : 03.03.2007 (Same night as CVS)
Oliver Huntemann @ Lady-Lux (Frontier) : 09.03.2007
Josh Wink @ Chinese Laundry : 17.03.2007
Funk D’Void (w/ Andrew Wowk!) @ Chinese Laundry : 31.03.2007
Booka Shade @ The Metro : 05.04.2007 (Easter)
DJ T. @ Kink / Tom Clark (TBC) @ Mad Racket : 07.04.2007 (Easter)
Nathan Fake @ Chinese Laundry : 28.04.2007
Jona @ (TBC) : ??:05:2007

And that’s just mentioning the internationals that I’m interested in seeing! There’s a whole heap more at the Playground Weekender and Future Music festivals. It’s all happening!

I went and saw fabulous Sydney string quartet FourPlay perform live last week on Thursday 8th February, at The Studio – Sydney Opera House.

Thursday’s show focused on rock/pop music and was the first of three shows at The Studio – Sydney Opera House, as part of their FourPlay – Three Ways performances. The following shows both on Friday focused on jazz/blues music, and a late show focused on electronica/hip-hop music. I was unable to get to the Friday performances.

Their performance was a bit more raw, and not as polished as the previous/first time I saw them, for their ‘Now To The Future’ album launch at The Metro last year, but was still very enjoyable and full of wonderful music. They were probably under quite a bit of pressure at this gig, knowing it was being recorded live for a special digital release (being made available to those in attendance only), and they were also featuring many new compositions, possibly the debut performance of some. This was a seated audience gig too, which would probably have felt very different for them compared to their more often pub/club gigs I think.

I always get a very strong emotional reaction to their sounds/music, it’s warmth for my soul. I’ve always loved the sound of strings they’re such beautifully expressive instruments. I really should go to a symphony performance one day.

During their performance I remember hearing their own compositions: ‘Evolve Or Decay’, ‘You’ve Changed Your Tune’, ‘Trust’, and ‘Bollyrock’ which are all featured on their excellent ‘Now To The Future’ album.

We were also treated to a number of new compositions, a couple of titles I remember: ‘Requiem For a Democracy’, and ‘Poker Face (Butter Girl or But A Girl)’. I also really enjoyed a quite experimental new composition which I didn’t catch the name of, that featured them playing over a effects pedal sampled live loop of what could only be described as viola ‘slap bass’ and hit violin/cello body percussions. It had a great contrast of abstract sounding parts and really lush melodic parts.

Covers they performed that I remember: Radiohead – ‘2+2=5’, Cocteau Twins – ‘Seekers Who Are Lovers’, The Strokes – ‘Reptilia’, and Rage Against The Machine – ‘Killing In The Name Of’ which Shenzo had some awesome talk-box type effect on his viola for the “F**k you, I won’t do what you tell me” vocal part, and Lara’s Tom Morello EBow guitar solo part sounded spot on.

They also performed a new cover, Midnight Oil – ‘Read About It’ which was a little rough around the edges, but had some really awesome sounding sections. I still think INXS – ‘Johnson’s Aeroplane’ would sound fantastic covered by them. They ended the performance with their fantastic version of Beastie Boys – ‘Sabotage’ voted to be played by audience cheer.

Considering this was a rock/pop focused performance, I’m surprised they didn’t play their well known Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’ cover. I would have liked to have heard their Depeche Mode – ‘The Sweetest Perfection’ and Jeff Buckley -‘Grace’ covers too, but it was great they played a lot of their own new material instead, otherwise they’d probably start to feel too much like a cover band.

They’re all very talented, passionate musicians, and Lara sings like an angel. I love the way Peter plays his cello like an upright bass, and Shenzo is amazing with his banjo and blues guitar style playing of his viola turned on it’s side. Not forgetting Tim with his excellent effected sounds and expressive playing style.

I wish I could have seen them play again on the Friday as well. I look forward to their new releases, and hope to see them live again soon.

http://www.fourplay.com.au
http://www.myspace.com/fourplaystringquartet

I went and saw Alex Smoke perform live at Chinese Laundry here in Sydney last Saturday night. I really enjoyed it, awesome minimal/tech sounds from start to finish, had me dancing non stop. A fantastic performance! I’ve been a big fan of his sounds for the last couple of years, have bought just about everything he’s released. I wish I heard his tracks played out more often here in Sydney, quality music! Andrew Wowk wrote a great review of the night, check it out here. It was really quite comfortable in the cave surprisingly, cool with space to move, and a great vocally appreciative, music loving crowd. I think the minimal and intelligent vibe/sounds went over the heads of the usual d*ckhead element that you come across at this venue, and kept them in the other rooms.

More info on Alex Smoke…
http://www.vakant.net
http://www.somarecords.com/artists/alexsmoke
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Alex+Smoke
http://www.myspace.com/alexsmoke1

If you’re quick, you can download a bunch of Alex Smoke mp3 live sets from here: http://www.somacorp.com.au

I also went to the Becks Festival Bar – Mad Racket @ Hyde Park Barracks for a few hours before Chinese Laundry, and checked out Hot Chip [Live] and DJ Chris Duckenfield. I think I was too hyped to be seeing Alex Smoke shortly after to really take much notice of the sounds. It was fun to catch up with friends and old faces there though.

Welcome to 2007! I hope you’re all well and all is going well. Sorry for my lack of posting, it’s taken me a while to get back ‘into the groove’ after all the Xmas and NYE craziness.

Before we get too far into this new year (I can’t believe it’s mid January already!) I thought I’d take a look back over all of the music/club events I went to last year… 2006, and share some thoughts.

Not everyone who played at these club nights/events is listed, just the main people I went to see. These are all in Sydney unless indicated otherwise.

January 2006…

01.01.2006
Hardware Belfast 15 Year Anniversary on NYE @ The Metro (Melbourne)
DJ Richie Hawtin, DJ Magda
::: Comments… One of the hottest nights out ever! And by hot I mean 41 degrees C (105.8 F) at midnight! It was really sweaty and steamy inside the Metro Theatre with no air conditioning! Richie Hawtin was good, well… from what I can remember. Making him play old/classic tracks as part of the ‘Belfast’ thing didn’t allow him to ‘do his thing’ though I felt. Magda added to the lineup at the last minute was a nice surprise, unfortunately they had her playing in another room at the same time as Richie Hawtin, I liked what I heard her playing on brief visits into the other room. The heat made it really difficult to enjoy this NYE, as did the trashy crowd. Probably the least memorable Melbourne NYE party I’ve been too.

01.01.2006
Sunshine People New Years Day 2006 @ Atlantic Southwharf (Melbourne)
DJ Richie Hawtin Vs DJ Magda, Zombie Nation [Live], DJ Ivan Smagghe
::: Comments… I really enjoyed Richie Hawtin & Magda’s set together at this party, excellent music, lots of fun. I really didn’t enjoy everything else about this party. After the blistering heat of NYE, it was cold, wet and windy on NYD, that’s Melbourne.

13.01.2006
Sounds [Live] @ The Metro
Tiefschwarz DJs, DJ Lee Burridge, DJ Damien Lazarus
::: Comments… Great to be back in Sydney’s Metro. I miss the days of the big ‘Love’ and ‘Sabotage’ parties there. I’m glad I got to experience Claude Young, Richie Hawtin and Dave Clarke perform there, back in the days when 1000-2000 people went out to big techno parties in Sydney. Anyway… This was my first ‘Sounds’ party experience. Tiefschwarz played great tracks, what the other DJs played I thought was meh! It was nice to hear Ame – ‘Rej’ through that sound system though. I heard Erotic Discourse (Paul Woolford) – ‘Erotic Discourse’ at this for the first time, Tad track IDd it for me, thanks!

25.01.2006
Glitch @ Scary Canary
Stewart S. Walker [Live], DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe
::: Comments… Fantastic to see a new minimal/techno international in Sydney. Stewart S. Walker was great. I enjoyed Matt & Dave’s set too. There’s a funny photo from this night of a bunch of glasses and black T-shirt wearing techno, nerd, train-spotter, chin-stroker guys all standing together in a row at the back, myself included.

26.01.2006
Beck’s Festival Bar Presents Mad Racket @ Hyde Park Barracks
Jamie Lidell [Live], Mad Racket DJs
::: Comments… Always a good vibe at these Beck’s Festival parties. Jamie Lidell was great, although I think I prefer his more electronic vibe without all the jazz/soul musicians, like the time he performed with Ark at MR, that was awesome! I remember being surprised to hear Jimmi James playing the monotone, rolling, clunking, techno groove of Mr. G’s – ‘How Deep’ just as I was leaving this party, cool track… “How deep, do the fluids of emotion run?”.

February 2006…

11.02.2006
Glitch @ Scary Canary
Andy Vaz [Live] Vs Dave Miller [Live]
::: Comments… We were on a roll with new minimal/tech internationals playing in Sydney. It was disappointing that only a handful of people turned up at this. Interesting sounds, but not really the type of minimal/techno I’m into.

12.02.2006
Switchbox @ Bar Broadway
Monolake [Live]
::: Comments… This was another low attendance gig, it was nice to know many of the people there though. I quite like this room/space. Monolake was pretty good. I enjoyed his Ableton demo down at Spank! Records too, very entertaining and informative.

25.02.2006
Yellow (Opening) @ Scary Canary
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe
::: Comments… Is Matt, is Dave, is good! Actually I’m not sure if I went to this night or not, might be getting it confused with the actual opening of Scary Canary. I would have liked to have gone to more of the Yellow nights, but I was either not feeling up to it/sick, and/or had other social things happening on Saturdays when it was on.

March 2006…

18.03.2006
Trentemoller @ Chinese Laundry
Trentemoller [Live]
::: Comments… Unfortunately I was feeling really sick this night (I had some cold/flu bug with a nasty cough that I couldn’t shake for months). I really wanted to go to this, I like Trentemoller’s sound (the earlier stuff more so than the recent stuff). My friends all went along to this. My fear of getting sicker if I went was certainly justified by hearing afterwards how uncomfortably packed/hot this night was.

April 2006…

01.04.2006
Yellow @ Scary Canary
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe, Guest DJ Phil Smart
::: Comments… I enjoy Phil’s minimal/tech/electro-house sounds, had not heard play him since the Speedy J & Chris Liebing party at City Hotel in late 2005. Got a track ID off him mid set for a Booka Shade remix of a Tahiti 80 track ‘Big Day’, nice one! Once again, not many people at Scary Canary, only stayed an hour or two, too loud to chill and chat with friends.

15.04.2006
Livewire @ Home
DJ James Holden, DJ T., Rex The Dog [Live]
::: Comments… This was an odd night, people acting strange. James Holden’s main room set was ok but didn’t flow too well I thought. I liked his set in the smaller room later on better. Was great to finally see the “mysterious” Rex The Dog, awesome to hear ‘Prototype’ live. DJ T. didn’t play as dark as the previous time I saw him on NYE 2004/2005, but I still really enjoyed his sounds/set. The main problem with this party was all these guys mentioned played in different rooms, at more or less the same time!

May 2006…

13.05.2006
Frigid & High-Jinks Present Modeselektor @ Hermans, Sydney Uni.
Modeselektor [Live]
::: Comments… I remember not being in the mood to go out this night, and forcing myself out because of bought tickets, which is never a good start to a night. Modeselektor were good, but I’m not really into that R’N’B stuff, cool sounds and programming though. I liked what Simon played warming up, nice to hear some Raudive, Argy/Luciano. I really don’t like parties at university venues, they never feel right, seem to lack a vibe, cheap drinks though.

05.05.2006
DJ Kenny Larkin @ Chinese Laundry
DJ Kenny Larkin
::: Comments… I’m so over that banging, tribal techno sound, and didn’t hear enough Detroit techno soul, so it was a bit meh. I think I knew more tracks than didn’t. I appreciate Chinese Laundry putting on a lot of techno/tech-house/minimal touring DJs though.

June 2006…

03.06.2006
Agent Alvin (Full Cycle UK), Kobra Kai, Diafrix (Melbourne)@ Bar Broadway
Diafrix [Live Band]
::: Comments… Great to catch up with my life long friend Paul, he manages Diafrix in Melbourne. They’re got a cool sound, reminded me a bit of my Bliss days. I’d not heard a live hip-hop group for years!

09.06.2006
Split Enz @ Sydney Entertainment Centre
Split Enz [Live Band]
::: Comments… My first time in the Sydney Entertainment Centre, wow that place is huge! Had awesome seats, 8 rows from the front, centre stage section. An awesome performance! So many fantastic songs. Eddie Raynor’s piano solo was brilliant, funny when Noel Crombie joined in playing the spoons. “I see red!, I see red!, I see red!”

11.06.2006
We Love Sounds Winter Festival @ Hordern Pavilion, The Forum (Fox Studios / Ent. Quarter)
DJ Sneak, Tiefschwarz DJs, The Youngsters [Live]
::: Comments… Err, yes another ‘Sounds’ event, we’re getting desperate! The main things that come to mind remembering this party are… Too many people, waiting in lines for ages outside to get into other rooms, and it being really bone chilling cold that night. I had a good laugh to myself at all the bimbo girls dressed in next to nothing and complaining of being cold. DJ Sneak played exactly the old-school Chicago jackin’ house sound I expected, although every track he played sounded exactly like the one before it, his records sounded like they had been played 100s of times, no top end! Tiefschwarz once again played great tracks, I really enjoyed their set, lots of new/unknown minimal/tech stuff. I was a big fan of The Youngsters a number of years ago, but found their live performance at this to be nowhere near as slick as their productions sound, was a bit disappointing.

16.06.2006
The Week After Bang Gang Left @ Club 77
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe
::: Comments… Wow Club 77 has changed, it’s really had it’s insides torn out and doesn’t feel at all like it did when I was ‘Tweekin’ there for years. This was a bizarre night, there must have been at most 15 people over the few hours my mate Ant and I were there. Matt & Dave didn’t get to play much of their minimal/tech sounds with the manager/bar guy telling them to play more ‘Bang Gang’ style music all through their set, bad! We found entertainment in watching this really trashed, annoying, traveler guy bumping into everything and everyone, and at one point falling sideways off a bar stool *bang*, picking himself up to point blame at us for supposedly pushing him…. [Little Britain]Andy – “She pushed me”[/Little Britain].

17.06.2006
Strangeways @ Home
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe
::: Comments… Best 4 hours of minimal/tech sounds I’d heard out since hearing Richie Hawtin & Magda on NYD. It’s a shame that my 4 friends and I were the only other people who heard it that night. It was like our own private little party in the The Box at Home. Good crowd/vibe in the other room, but it featured bangin’ house music. I liked the secret rooftop entrance for Strangeways. I went to a great party at Bar Europa prior to this too where Brynley mixed up some great sounds as well.

July 2006…

08.07.2006
Fourplay ‘Now To The Future’ Album Launch @ The Metro
Fourplay String Quartet [Live Band]
::: Comments… I went along with the girls to this knowing nothing at all about FourPlay, and became an instant fan, buying their new album mid set. I’ve been listening to it regularly since. Nice to chill out to. Very talented musicians.

21.07.2006
Ben Elton – ‘Get A Grip’ Live @ The Capitol Theatre
Ben Elton [Live Stand Up Comedian]
::: Comments… Very, very funny! I laughed till I had tears in my eyes.

September 2006…

09.09.2006
Under The Blue Moon (Gothic) Festival @ Newtown
Nitzer Ebb [Live]
::: Comments… “Force Is Machine! Join In The Chant!”. You don’t get the chance to see one of the seminal 80’s EBM bands very often. Nitzer Ebb were excellent! I was surprised at how many of their songs I knew/have heard. A pretty small turn out crowd wise. Lots of fantastic looking gothic people at this party. I felt very under-dressed in my non leather, latex, velvet gothic get up. I had to have a laugh at one guy who was dressed in all white, with black face makeup… an inverse goth. After this we headed off to see Deetron at Chinse Laundry.

09.09.2006
DJ Deetron @ Chinese Laundry
DJ Deetron
::: Comments… I’m not sure if that cut up and layering techno style mixing works that well with minimal sounds. I enjoyed/knew a lot of the tracks Deetron played, but couldn’t get into a dancing groove with the rapid fire intensity changes all through his set.

15.09.2006
The Vaine – Regrets and Hollow Threats @ Gaelic Club
Curse At 27 [Live Band]
::: Comments… Curse At 27 is Joanne’s step brother’s band. They have a post-hardcore, hardcore, screamo, emo, death-metal, grunge type sound… Umm, yeah, as confused and angry as a 16 year old kid, which these guys mostly are. They are actually pretty good, and get heaps of gigs.

16.09.2006
DJ Deetron @ Honkytonks (Melbourne)
DJ Deetron
::: Comments… It was hard to enjoy this night. Having had only a few hours sleep before catching a red eye flight to Melbourne probably had something to do with it. I’m not much of a fan of Honkytonks as a venue. I thought Deetron played better in Sydney. I did enjoy this little holiday in Melbourne though, had some great food, the Picasso exhibition (the reason we went to Melbourne) was fantastic too.

22.09.2006
Sweet Chilli Featuring Petter @ Civic Theatre
Petter [Live]
::: Comments… PC laptop troubles (should have been using a Mac huh!) so we only got a DJ set from Petter, he played lots of great tracks though, as did whoever played before him. This was my first time in the Civic Theatre, it’s a really awkward layout, especially when it’s packed, makes it near on impossible to get to/from bar and toilets unless you just shove through people. I’m guessing this is the ‘smoking room’ of the Civic Hotel as well, as it’s full of cigarette smoke. Great sound system, strange little peep hole DJ booth. I went to this night alone, so didn’t have the best of nights really, enjoyed the music though.

October 2006…

01.10.2006
DJ Derrick May @ Club 77
DJ Derrick May
::: Comments… So many old faces/friends around, the place was packed! Fun night, great vibe. Biz played a great warm up set. Derrick followed with some fantastic tracks, loved how he cut up Ame – ‘Rej’. Nice to hear he’s mixing up some of the new minimal/tech-house sounds with his techno soulful groove, and splashes of Latin percussions. As always with Derrick a nice variety of quality styles/sounds. I felt he wasn’t giving it his all though, didn’t have that awesome energy and intensity he’s had other times I’ve seen him. Biz must have loved playing back to back with him towards the end of the set. I had a fun night. Always a pleasure to see Derrick play.

28.10.2006
Soylent Green @ Hermans, Sydney Uni
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe, DJ Kate Vs DJ Claire Morgan
::: Comments… Matt Aubusson & Dave Choe, DJ Kate Vs Claire Morgan
Not many people at this unfortunately for Dave and the crew who put this on. It was a benefit day/night party. I popped into this late, on my way to Mad Racket, arrived just as Dave & Matt started up, great sounds! I stuck around to hear Kate & Claire play back to back afterwards, don’t think it worked too well, they’re are on different planets musically. Kate has a great DJing style, Claire played some lovelly soulful techno tracks. I really don’t like this venue.

28.10.2006
Return To The Planet Of The 8’s – Mad Racket 8th Birthday @ Marrickville Bowling Club
Marco Passarani, Greg Wilson, Mad Racket DJs
::: Comments… It’s been 8 years since I went to the first Mad Racket?!?! As I quite often find at MR parties lately, I like 1 out of every 3 or so tracks played, and never really have a fantastic night. I think the crowd/vibe at these parties has changed over the years. There seems to be a lot more trashed people and less music lovers. Marco Passarani did play some great old-school acid sounds, but also a lot of bland house stuff that didn’t do much for me. Didn’t stay late enough to see Greg Wilson, heard he played a really eclectic set, which I probably would have hated truth be told

November 2006…

24.11.2006
An Intimate Night With Nic Fanciulli & Michael Mayer @ Yu
DJ Nic Fanciulli, DJ Michael Mayer
::: Comments… Every track Nic played had a massive break and build, that’s progressive huh? sorry not my bag… baby! He built up to some quite brutal percussive techno stuff which was surprising, even played some Adam Beyer, best track he played was Alex Smoke – ‘Chica Wappa (Mejor Edit)’. Mayer started out with some uber deep, minimalism, with a nice dark sinister edge, and then built up to some seriously head f**king stuff, really out there futuristic stuff. I liked what I heard, but it all got too much after a while, leaving around 4.30am, about an hour and half into Mayer’s 5 hour set! I just didn’t have the stamina for it, and wanted to save some energy for seeing Steve Bug the next night. Yu is a really great club, excellent sound!

25.11.2006
DJ Steve Bug @ Chinese Laundry
DJ Steve Bug
::: Comments… My favorite set/night out of 2006! Awesome! Perfect in every way, lots of new/unknown quality tracks, a nice range of deep-tech, minimal, electro-house, and old-school house sounds, it made me forget I was in the hot, sweaty, jam packed cave at Chinese Laundry.

December 2006…

09.12.2006
Access All Areas @ Home
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe
::: Comments… Arriving around 1am, this would have to be the emptiest I’ve ever seen Home nightclub, across every room, there was no one there! The multi-room, multi-music format designed to entice more people there seems to be resulting in the opposite, or maybe it was just an off night. Matt & Dave played great tracks, but I didn’t feel very comfortable with all the pissed up, angry ‘rock’ people, trying to ‘get down’ to the minimal/tech sounds. A few of them stumbing backwards into the DJ console in the process, sending mixes galloping. I even saw some rock chick doing traditional Irish dancing to the minimal beats, very wrong!

22.12.2006
Minimal Fuss 2 @ Civic Theatre
DJ Matt Aubusson & DJ Dave Choe, DJ Mike Monday (UK)
::: Comments… People have ranted about how awesome the first Minimal Fuss party was, so I thought I’d check out this next one. Had to wait 20 minutes in a queue at 10.45pm to even get into this free event, and once inside found the place was absolutely packed. As I mentioned about the Petter Sweet Chilli gig, it’s impossible to get to/from the bar and toilets in this venue when it’s that busy, and it’s full of cigarette smoke, not nice. I’ve quickly learnt that the ‘Sounds’ crowd make up %99 of who goes to these Sounds & Glitch parties. Not sure who was playing while I was there, but the music was actually really good, nice minimal/tech and electro-house sounds, don’t think I got to hear Matt & Dave play. Mike Monday may have just started up when I left. Only stayed a couple of hours, had had enough of feeling like a smoked sardine.

31.12.2006
Electric Avenue NYE @ The Burdekin
DJ T., DJ Bjorn Wilke
::: Comments… DJ T. was great, played a lot of new/unknown tracks, quite a tough/tech vibe. He was mixing all CDs, and strangely was sitting down on a stool most of his set, read somewhere he may have injured his leg/foot? The Burdekin has changed so much since last I was there; walls knocked out, windows covered over, new toilets, new bars, new DJ consoles, new club lighting and sound systems. It’s like a multi level night club now, no more chill-out bar vibe. It was really obvious management there were turning the air-conditioning on/off all night to force more drink sales during the night/morning, at times it was really uncomfortably hot and sweaty! then cool and comfortable again for a while. The vibe/crowd at this was exactly as I feared, a typical Oxford Street, NYE walk by crowd. Think there was probably 10 people there who knew of DJ T. Not one of my favorite NYE parties.

So there you have it. I’m hard to please huh? I must be over it, jaded. Or is it just because I have 16+ years of clubbing to compare everything against? My main annoyance with 2006 was the lack of friends around when out, they all stayed home. Let’s hope 2007 is better. I’d really like to see some more/new minimal/tech internationals, might have to head OS for it I think.

I’m loving the new Pokerflat Recordings release… “Cloudy Bay” by Martin Buttrich. The title track is a really beautiful piece of music. I love the cello sounds (I’ve been very into string sounds this year). It’s almost got that “Knights Of The Jaguar” vibe about it, fantastic production. I’ll play it on the show very soon. Speaking of Pokerflat Recordings…

Pokerflat Recordings main man Steve Bug played a 3 hour set here in Sydney on Saturday 25th Nov at the Chinese Laundry. He played the BEST deep/minimal/tech set I’ve heard this year by far, awesome! I loved every second of it, excellent track selection, consistent flow, a great progression through a variety of sounds. He mixed it up using Final Scratch with an Apple laptop. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed an international’s set that much, and had such a fun night out, dancing non-stop. Yeah there were heaps of people crammed into the cave, but I found myself a great spot to boogie up the front. I only knew a handful of tracks he played. Some track IDs spotted by Tad and I…

Martin Buttrich – Full Clip
Mile Caro & Frank Garcia – Far Away (Jennifer Cardini & Shonky Remix)
Audion – Mouth To Mouth
Chelonis R Jones – Deer In The Headlights (Radio Slave Remix)
Paperclip People – Throw
Martin Buttrich – Cloudy Bay
Joris Voorn – MPX309
Microfunk – Pecan
H-Man – 51 Poland Street
Samim & Michal – Exercise
Lazy Fat People – Shinjuku
Petter – Some Polyphony

I also spotted Kompakt’s Michael Mayer having a boogie to Steve Bug. He played the night before, on Friday 24th Nov, at a Sounds/Glitch party at Yu. I saw the first couple of hours of his 5 hour set! He started off with 40 minutes of awesome, dark, stripped back, ‘Kompakt style’ minimal/tech stuff, and then built up to more synthy/noisey tracks, poppy/melodic stuff, and into some really twisted noise. The noise began to twist my mind into places it didn’t want to go, a quick exit made not long after. I enjoyed him much more this time than his previous visit. It’s a pitty he started so late into the night/morning, i didn’t have the stamina to last the distance. I’d forgotten how much Yu is actually a decent size club, with fantastic sound. I found a nice cool, dark corner to boogie in, a fun night!

Heard some great music this w/end, very inspirational, I’m in a fantastic mood.