Field Day preparations; attacking my new jeans with scissors, the strategically splattering paint, and decisions regarding the angle with which my new Von Dutch trucker hat would adorn my faux hawk, consumed my NYE causing me to miss Tom Middleton’s set at 2005 Leagues Under The Sea. For those less than familiar with Tom “The Jedi” Middleton, the contents of my brain are visible in the coming two paragraphs.

British boy Tom Middleton, “Cosmos”, has been in the studio and behind the decks since the late 80s. The nature of the word ‘Cosmos’ and its implications suggest that Tom works in as many areas as possible; this is reflected by his genre surpassing multiple monikers (Schizophrenia, E621, Mod Wheel, Amba, Cosmos) and his defining 3CD compilation “The Sound of the Cosmos”. The compilation purveyed an eclectic blend electro, dubstep, 2-step, deep house, breaks into garage, many serious tracks and some highly memorable ones; that remix of “Sunglasses At Night”.

Tom remains one of the underrated people in dance music. He’s achieved heightened industry respect over the last 13 years. From his first production with Aphex Twin “Analogue Bubblebath” (which has now reached cult status) to a host of enormous remixes namely Faithless “Mass Destruction”, Royksopp “Remind Me” and starting a trend of Coldplay “Clocks” remixes.

The beauty of Jedi’s music capability is his cold-shoulder attitude to “genre boundaries”. On my way to the Slip Inn I ran into a friend (an aspiring dance music fan). He asked where I was going? I said to see Tom Middleton, he asked “what style does he play?”, all I could answer was “ummm… a bit of everything!”. This he proved only hours later.

Having never spilt the washing powder at Chinese Laundry before, I was pleased to be greeted by freshly smelling, friendly speaking door staff, informing me of the post-festive season punter-considerate entry fee. Upon entering The Laundry and heading to the bar, the bartender informed me I was the 10th person to arrive, I asked if that meant free tokens do my Laundry? A sheepish laugh was returned; no such luck. With that minor disappointment out of the way, Frenzie was serving up some clean, tough house epitomized by “Psychedelic”, and by the end of his set the floor had filled so I didn’t feel like an idiot dancing alone to the monster track “Nobody’s Slave”.

Next up was Will Styles, 15 minutes into his set and the floor was packed! As always Will proved why he is one Sydney’s favorite DJs; magically pulling wicked track after wicked track out of his esky, come pseudo-record box. The highlights of his set include quality scratching over “Disco to Disco” into Daft Punk’s classic “Around The World” keeping the tempo building into Paul Rincoln’s “Cosmic Funk” and new mix of the timeless Stardust “The Music Sounds Better With You”. A feeling of amplifying momentum accompanied the end of Will’s set, dropping the funky electro/house number; Jan Driver “Ladies Want It”, which saw a group of young males in tight shirts thrusting their fists in the air pulling tasty facials, chanting “ladies want it”; the inherent contradiction gave me a giggle.

As Styles played his final track; Plump Djs “Freak Show” the crowd appreciation elevated as Tom appeared behind the decks casually clad, sporting the usual goatee and a big friendly smile. The first hour of his set saw building intensity, playing predominantly off 2 Pioneer CDJ1000’s, the crowd was treated to house and electro house on a funky tip consisting of an unreleased Cosmo’s mix Azzido Da Bass “Doom’s Night” building into Green Velvet’s “La La Land” with an inspiring display of a host of accapella layering including the crowd favorite “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi.

The second hour of showcased some real Jedi talent, which had would have Luke saying “Who’s Yo Daddy”. It comprised a host of remixes and re-edits belonging to Tom, such as his mix of “Chocolate“ by Kylie Minogue, Incognito’s “It Ain’t Easy” and his stomping vocal mix of “Party Hard” by Pulp. On the dance floor I kept think; “I’ve heard this, but not like this before”.

Beginning the third and final hour of Tom’s set the intensity lifted again as the crowd was shown around the beauty of acid house, funky techno and electro. Now it was time to play! A highlight for me was Tom’s mixing of “Rocker” by Alter Ego into a massively thick bleepy, crunching electro track that had the whole floor, quite literally, jumping. The last half hour saw his mixing become even tighter and more seamless pumping out a juicy remix of “Some Things Just Don’t Feel Right”.

Three hours was up and I was a very satisfied punter and so was the still 80% full dance floor; it was time for the final track and yes, you guessed it; Coldplay “Clocks (Tom Middleton Cosmo’s Mix)”; there was hugs, cheers and singing as the lush piano riff engulfed the Laundry. The time was 4:10am as the room was applauding and cheering The Jedi’s outstanding musical performance when an acoustic: drum, slap, drum-drum, slap echoed over the Laundry’s tasty sound system, it was Tom’s encore; WOO-HOO! The punters chanted to his punkesque, bass erupting remix of “Song 2” by Blur.

Tom Middleton; what a master! I didn’t hear one mixing mistake all night, respect. A down to earth guy who’s more than willing to chat and joke with both male and female punters. Chinese Laundry; super friendly crowd, real house party vibe, and awesome staff efforts on all accounts. Shame about not winning the tokens to use at the laundry; my jeans got dirty at Field Day, but not anywhere as dirty as they got at Chinese Laundry!