It was a blustery yet mild autumn evening with two of the continuing darlings of the underground techno and house sound performing on the same night in two vastly differing environments. Marrickville Bowling Club is certainly not the first location people think of when it comes to intergalactic disco dancing, however its copper ceiling tiles, red candle lanterns, laidback bouncers, cheap bar prices plus the most important ingredient – the music, all add up to provide a night that is unlike any other in Sydney.

Arriving at an unfashionably early hour, we made ourselves at home with a drink whilst Jimmi James warmed up the green with tunes vast and varied yet on a deep tech-house tip, the standout being the latest offering from Sutekh, which sounded like a rework of a early nineties Chi-house jam with some flavoursome 808 work. With no locker room action, the main floor filled quickly with Simon Caldwell dropped his trademark hi-tech funk. The floor closed in and the gaps in the parquetry were continually replaced with trainers, heels and flip-flops.

Bringing his 4 a.m. style forward, he kept it smooth, yet as he progressed he broke the beats up, moving into electro/booty territory, dropping the oh-so-apt for Mardi Gras “Down” by Aaron Carl and “Hoes Get Naked” by DJ Assault, albeit at about minus six on the pitch – a long way from the speed you’ll hear the ghettotech jocks throw it down at.  

The broken electro beats made way for Pocket and Ken Cloud as Poxy Music, and their style was more in the tech-house vein for this performance. The floor now rammed as the two lads threw down their tough tech-house tinged sounds. The first thirty minutes or so not quite doing it for me, however the sounds moved into a slightly more aggressive territory, whilst the tempo remained – the offering a little more in tune with what I favour. 

Chris Duckenfield with effects to add to his decks stepped up post Poxy and hit it from the get go.  He’s a different sort of DJ to those that I normally listen to, not from the music content but from his progression. Tending to lock in to a 4th gear groove for nigh on all of his set, it was filled with some of house music’s more memorable moments over the past twenty years with Mr. Fingers’ “Can You Feel It?” and the Loleatta Holloway “Hit & Run” sampling “Throw” by Paperclip People.  Further to this, Chris dropped some of his and Richard Brown’s productions including their ‘SID-chipped’ remix of “Decibel Magic” by Instant Noodles and countless Swag productions – “Music Box” one that particularly comes to mind. 

I dare say Duckenfield played for a lot longer than anyone was anticipating, and with 5 a.m. sauntering past, his groove did not stop until he played the oh-so-popular Detroit flavoured disco jam, Moodymann’s “Shades of Jae”.   At this point, my groove had well and truly stopped and it was time to hop on home, missing out on the last hour Racket jam session. Once again, the Racket four plus guests delivered a party to be remembered for some time to come – a part that was indeed one of their best in recent times.