I arrived around midnight to the sounds of Fuzzy kingpin Jonathan Wall who was getting the place pumped in preparation for the big event. A nice tight set and for the second week in a row the other half of the club was opened up to the public, a sure sign of a good night ahead.

By the time one third of Aquasky made his appearance (a little after 1.30) the floor was packed in tight and the crowd were looking more than ready to hear Kieron do his thing. Although you barely notice Kieron behind the decks (a somewhat diminutive figure who barely raises an arm while playing) whatever he may lack in presence is more than made up for by his music. Easily the best breaks set of the year for me, with flawless mixing, excellent flow and structure and some of the phattest sounds in the nuskool breaks scene.

The drum and bass influence isn’t hard to pick. For starters the set already felt unusually fast for breaks leaning a good 10BPM towards the D&B side. Then factor in those big, sinister basslines, tight, pumping beats and generally dark, but energetic feel and if you adjusted the pitch of his set up by another 30BPM or so you would have a kosher drum and bass set. This is something I heard Kieran allude to earlier in an interview on FBI radio; when asked about the switch from D&B to Breaks he said “we’re still making the same music mate, only the tempo has changed.”

Apart from a definite incarnation of 777 and a couple of other old favourites most of the set was pretty hard to playlist, this being due either to my shocking memory or the fact that Keiron was road testing a whole bunch of new tracks from the up coming album (no less than the groups 7th). If the latter proves to be true then I am awaiting the new release with baited breath as there are some absolute dancefloor killers in there including collaborations with Krafty Kuts, the Breakfastaz and a whole host of other breakbeat stars.  

The vibe was electric all through his set and you could tell right from the word go that this guy was a pro. No messing around, no fuck-ups just quality track after quality track from start to finish. The crowd was loving it all the way through and it’s good to see everybody getting into the music without the use of commercial house remixes or Beastie Boys mashups to keep the floor full.

Although it started to thin out a little towards the end Aquasky pretty much kept the place packed and pumping till 3.30 when it was time for the Nutshell Breaks Don, Auxiliary. Having never seen the man from Newcastle I wasn’t too sure of what to expect and so was pleasantly surprised when he pumped out what could well have been the best breaks set of the year, had it been played two hours earlier. Killer atmos with soaring lead lines, and some proggy bassdriven grooves, all infused with breakdowns that kick in so hard they make you want to stomp a hole in the floor.

Auxiliary brought some nice heavier sounds to Sydney a good extension to the Aquasky set making a night devoted to the harder, darker side of breaks. Although his mixing might not have been as technically spot on as Aquasky I’d have to say he was very inventive behind the decks with some really well executed rewinds (which I’m not usually a fan of) some clever mixes and a couple of well placed accapellas; Scribe over the Aquasky tune Cobra (Baitercell remix I think) was pure genius as well as the clever mix of Prodigy’s – Smack My Bitch Up played at the end.

Two great sets, an awesome vibe and not forgetting the quality visuals (the transformer clips were awesome) will make this a night to remember for anyone who was there. Aquasky cementing his position at the forefront of the international breaks scene and Auxiliary easily proving to be one the best breaks DJs NSW has to offer (Kid who?)