Any night that kicks off at seven with a sausage sizzle sounds twisted to begin with, but Bundaground (Bunda being Brazilian for booty, so I’m told) is not your average new night at some club somewhere. The music policy is fairly ambiguous. You pay by donation. It’s BYO. And there are sausages.

The Clubhouse is not necessarily the easiest place to find, though we had the fortune of getting a ride with one of the organisers who managed to get us all the way to the light rail viaduct, where one of the arches contained the venue. The BBQ was being heated up and appropriate alphas were lining up to do the cooking while the archway was being transformed from a rehearsal room/recording studio into a joint suitable for party folk, who were starting to arrive – some coming the easy way and parking up just by the place while others were relegated to traipsing across the park. By nine there was a good show of hands and the tunes began in earnest, co-promoter Fangle knocking out some dark, heavy breakbeat to get the crowd dancing. The night progressed and the crowd swelled, the cold night and limited space around the fire forcing many people onto the dancefloor as Dan Coy from Ju Ju Space Jazz took over for a couple of hours, playing a great party set that went all over the place, taking in underground electro, breakbeat, hip-hop and even a few bootlegs. The dancefloor was rammed continuously and Coy finished to rapturous applause. It was then turn for Southern Outpost bigwigs So-Fi and B.A.S.I.C. to hit the decks, dropping some fantastic Detroit-hued tunes and building the pressure for Fangle to return and crank out some marvellous, deep and dubby drum and bass that had the crowd pumping; judging by the way he was going off behind the controls, I reckon Fangle was pretty chuffed with the party he was throwing. Later on the Southern Outpost duo cleaned up Fangle’s mess and finally Some Freak got on and churned out some soothing electro and tech-funk to keep the stragglers bouncing.

The crowd were great; a friendly, older, up for it, knowledgable-but-not-wankers mob who helped compound the party atmosphere. There were a good few lunatics wandering around causing all kinds of trouble which made for good entertainment and the space itself looked fantastic. There was something decidedly naughty and secret about partying in this railway arch, with all these speakers and amplifiers and lounges hanging about and some bloke in the corner with his decks. It was really quite similar to the feel of 61 Regent St, but in a little railway arch by the river and the park instead of in a warehouse near Central. As if that wasn’t good enough, the quality of the music has to be repeated. Lots of different styles of music, there being no discernable music policy other than – according to Fangle – “Nothing obvious”, with a quality that shone throughout and was perhaps the talking point of the night.

Sydney is crying out for nights like this – small, anarchic, uncommercial parties put on by people with a love for great music and the ability to engender precisely the right feeling. I’m assured there will be more Bundaground parties – keep your eyes peeled and check out the next one.