2005 Leagues Under The Sea @ Slip Inn/Chinese Laundry, Sydney (31/12/04)

In preparation for this review, I had pre-scripted a couple of paragraphs of droll repartee playing on the “2005 Leagues Under the Sea” theme.  In light of recent events, this now seems a whole lot less funny than when it was when I wrote it.  And being a whole lot less funny is a bad way to begin your NYE event review. However…

A good way to begin your NYE event is to be met at the door by a man wearing breeches and a three-cornered hat.  It doesn’t happen often enough, but it happened tonight.  And it was just an example of the detail involved in the decking out of the Slip Inn and Chinese Laundry to suit the theme of the night.  There were large seashells scattered around the venue, and the courtyard (christened “The Lost City of Beatlantis” for the night) was festooned was an extraordinary array of fish.  I didn’t find Nemo, but I suspect that this was due to the rapaciousness of Pixar’s intellectual property lawyers rather than any lack of planning by the promoters.  The scene was well set.

My misplaced faith in the efficiency of NYE public transport meant that I caught only the very tail end of Dr Seuss’ set in the Slip Bar (the Pirate Disco, for tonight, if you please), but I’m told that it displayed the intelligent track selection and finely honed skills that I was expecting as I was sitting in traffic, cursing randomly.  From there, I wandered down to the courtyard, where Tim Boffa was building a nice housey vibe, and being rewarded by an already packed floor.  Deciding to get my first attack of the Reviewer’s Wander™ out of the way early, I then headed down to the Decompression Chamber (alright, the Cave), where Matt Aubusson was playing. 

The Cave must be a somewhat daunting place to play, with the DJ box being guarded, as it is, by a cage containing the skeletal remains of the last DJ who was rash enough to trainwreck a mix there.  There was no danger of Mr Aubusson suffering that fate, as he laid down the trim, taut, techy and terrific (if not always quite so alliterative) mix for which he should justly become more famous.

Back to the courtyard as midnight started to approach, where Tim Boffa had brought things up nicely.  Countdown.  Fireworks we could hear but not see.  Hugging random strangers (if you are reading this, is it too late to apologise?)  And “Drop the Pressure” as the first track of 2005.  It might not have been the most left-field choice, but it succeeded in getting the full courtyard to jump around as one.  After all, this is the New Year.  You are meant to have your hands in the air, not on your chin.

The courtyard was looking like staying rammed to the gunwales for Crazy Penis, so I went back upstairs to see Dublex Inc. (or perhaps more correctly, Flo Pfluger, one-quarter thereof.)  Seeing Creative Vibes tastemaker Huwston up by the decks was the first sign that I was in the right place, and the second sign came from my ears.  This was a wonderful, wonderful set of nu-jazz/brokenbeat/future boogie/call-it what-you-will – intelligent, diverse, layered music that had me alternating between tapping my foot and grinning maniacally, and jumping around grinning maniacally.  If you’ve ever been on a dancefloor and thought, “I could get into the music a bit more if it had more trombones, marimbas and cowbells”, you would have loved this set.

Reviewer’s Wander™ time again.  Down to Davey Jones’ (or Chinese) Laundry for Tom Middleton, passing through a still rammed courtyard where Crazy Penis were bringing things to a close.  I’d not seen a lot of Tom Middleton, but on tonight’s form I rate him as an excellent party DJ.  He was clearly enjoying himself greatly (a lot of air piano playing, and big swooshing string conducting motions during “Strings of Life” being some example of this.)  It was one of those sets where the DJ is having so much fun that it would just be poor breeding for the punters not to as well.  And there seemed to be very few poorly brought up punters in the Laundry.

Back upstairs to catch Brisbane live act PTY LTD.  I love their album, but when I’ve seen them live I’ve sometimes thought that they tend to get booked for longer sets than they have the musical ideas to sustain.  Not so tonight.  Playing with an energy that belied the fact that they had already done two gigs at other venues, their mix of house and funk shifted the “jump around” knob up a few notches towards the “like an idiot” setting.

Then back to the Cave where A Guy Called Gerald was playing some acidy techy sounds which were just a little darker than I could appreciate at that stage of the night (although plenty of punters who weren’t, like your reviewer, elderly lightweights, seemed to be enjoying them immensely.)  And finally back to the Laundry where the Funktrust chaps were bringing it home with the style and elan that comes naturally to two gentlemen who possess the prodigious sexual prowess and enormous external genitals that Messrs Styles and Hand enjoy.  I could say other complimentary things about this set, but as “sexual prowess” and “enormous genitals” were written on the back of the envelope full of unmarked bills I was given, I’d better stick to the script.  Although that might have been someone writing down New Year’s resolutions on the envelope.  It all gets a bit hazy at this point.

All in all, this was a great night.  The crowd ebbed and flowed a bit around the venue as different sets came on, but there were always enough people for a great atmosphere without being too packed – you could always raise your beer to your mouth without elbowing three people in the head.  I was also pleasantly surprised by the speed with which I was able to acquire drinks.

If this is the sort of musical excellence and general good planning that Jam have in mind for the Good Vibrations Festival, then bring that on, I say.  And if you want to catch some of the internationals who played, you can catch Tom Middleton on Friday 7 Jan at People Get Up, Crazy Penis on Sunday 9 Jan at Sounds on Sunday, and Dublex Inc on Sunday 9 Jan at Freeform at the Loft.  I’ll be the bloke spending what remains of the bills in the envelope.