Elita Ones starts…
Last Friday night was a celebration of some of Canberra’s finest DJ’s at the Inthemix Top 50 bash held at Academy. For me personally this was one of the best nights I’ve had at Academy yet despite having a sprained ankle! The atmosphere was bubbling along like a recently opened bottle of fine champagne and whilst some might have expected an air of pretentiousness in their surroundings, this limping reporter certainly couldn’t sniff it out. Humble DJ’s graciously accepting their prizes and delivering the goods for a crowd who certainly appreciated their work.
I arrived around eleven and mingled in the Candy Bar where I always find it comfortable especially if you manage to score you and your friends some seating. Milkbar Nick kept the vibe at a chilled party mode with some house, funk, hip hop and pop.
Eventually I made my way downstairs to catch some of Mikah Freeman (voted #5 in Canberra) and Jeff Drake (voted #2). These two have blown me away and have a huge reputation for mashing heads and tickling me pink with their skills on the decks. However this was to be one of my only disappointments of the night. They seemed to be playing a round of cheesy house that had no flair or passion which I know these two can deliver! I don’t know if they thought that they should play differently at Academy to other nights but this was a party where people had voted for them – they should’ve held the reigns and been able to provide some phatness – but I was left a little starved. Unless I’ve missed something I thought these boys were voted for being better than that.
All said and done the vibe of Academy wasn’t changing. Both I and the people around me were having a good time no matter where I looked. I continued to mill around both upstairs and down and was anticipating Rob Kay (Canberra #1) to hit the decks. I liked his opening few tracks which seemed to be some funky and electro influenced house and then moved on to a more steady house style. I can see why those who are into that style of music would vote for him for he played smoothly and the crowd lapped it up. After he finished the awards were presented. Mikah Freeman placed 5th, the godfather of Canberra dance Chris Fraser placed 4th, young gun Typhonic placed 3rd, illustrious Jeff Drake 2nd and for the second year running Rob Kay took out 1st place! Australia’s voted number two was also in the house Mark Dynamix! It was just as Mark Dynamix hit the decks that I ended up having to leave the event. But do not fear Al arrived just in time to report ….
That Mark D is good. And so is Academy. Yes kids, believe the hype. Having not been to such a large venue in quite a while (my backpack wearing ways keeping this boy to smaller venues yo), and not to a full accadz ever, I was a little overwhelmed at first. But sucking on a beer, catching up with old friends left right and centre – this place has value.
Marky Dynamo, the second place getter in our illustrious ITM version of the Hottest 100, was spinning away nicely. This guy is good for many reasons, but also disappoints somewhat due to his massive ability to pick a crowd within like five seconds of looking at them, and playing not exactly what they want, but stuff that will keep them interested as well. What I really want is to put on a Mark Dynamix gig at somewhere like Accademy, with me as the nazi door bitch from hell keeping out those that might influence his music not go the way I want it to… but I digress. He kicked out the jams, from the tech house to the big club house to the breaksy and the slightly prog. The floor was being kept active, but not in that Nu-NRG aerobics way – more of a groove away, occasional pump of the fists, ample time for good eyes with that pretty one you see over the other side of the floor, go get a drink, your spot will be safe. Did anything really stand out about his set? Yeah, there was one track that totally owned – some big big big bassy electro house number that made the subs in the place (of which there are many) really get a work out, and captured the attention of everyone in there. It was massive. I don’t know its name. When I find it, ill let everyone know. But yeah, everything he played after that was a bit of an anticlimax, because, well, every other song in the last 4 months to get released is a bit of an anticlimax compared to that one…
Winding up without making anyone too bored, Chris Fraser and Typhonic slid into the Amakadae dj box and took it in turns. Typhonic was hindered slightly by the non scratch mixer nature of the Academy set up, so it was down to just ordering the tracks the right way. And they did… mixing up the breaks and house between them to keep everyone happy. There were the massive tracks that needed to be whipped out at a party like this – the Funny Break plumps mix, the Emit Collect Zero, the Get Your Freak On boot with accadacca as the music… in fact only one song got played that was out of place and bad – a horrendous breaks remix of that batty drum and bass song Bacelona… I really expected nothing to be worse than the original, but this makes that tripe have merit… Whilst this set didn’t provide for me (or the crowd) the brilliance that both these djs can perform when doing solo shows, such is the nature of vs sets. And that said, the music provision was certainly in place, and a good way to end the night.
And when all was said and done, played and drunk, the event was an ITM party of the highest order. Canberra represented, it was a night to celebrate the winners of the poll, and show what happens when you get them all in the same room at the same time. A smashing party ensued, and this event should certainly be one to mark in the diary for next year.
