As I strolled down William Street, ignoring strange offers from persons of dubious gender, I began to wonder how much Club 77 had altered since its recent refit. My last visit was several years ago and I remember a small, dark, low ceiling basement. On entering, I noticed that the place had been cunningly refurbished to resemble a small, dark low ceiling basement, perfect, I thought, for a night of ‘driving, soulful drum and bass’, as promised on the Evolve flyers. Two questions emerged from my visit. Firstly, how could I not love a night where after being greeted by an amiable doorman (yes, such things do exist) and making my way through one of the most friendly, diverse and up for it crowds I have ever witnessed in Sydney’s clubs, to be greeted on the dance floor by the opening strains of the Reprazent classic, ‘Brown Paper Bag’? Cause and Rarefaction’s set was a revelation that had me glued to the dance floor for its duration. Beats as tough as they were soulful poured out from the small but capable sound system and were enthusiastically received by the floor. Smatterings of live saxophone in all the right places added to the mix as crisp snares, heavy baselines and sweet vocals and melodies were melded to perfection. This was drum and bass of the highest order. The ever excellent Shuey took over the controls and proceeded to take things a notch darker, unfortunately commitments the next day coupled with a scary new found sense of responsibility cut my night short, meaning I missed Eli’s slot, a real shame as I have heard great things about this man. Next time I will definitely be taking the following day off. The second question is – when’s the next one?
