Aussie ex-pat Friendly was back in town playing a few gigs to show off the new sounds he’s picked up in the mother country, and last Friday night Hijack at YU were his humble hosts.

Arriving at the club just before 11, the unusually friendly (obviously sensing the theme of the night) door bitch ushered us inside. We walked through the doors to the sound of Kavi-R playing Kelis’ Milkshake, which was a track I’m actually getting a little tired of these days. The set featured plenty of obscure old school funk, hip hop and breaks numbers mixed in with some more pop-friendly stuff, such as ‘Play That Funky Music’ – the original version, ‘Bust a Move’, Outkast’s ‘The Way You Move’ and even some quaint little number with an ‘I dream of Jeanie’ sample.

Kavi was scratching, chopping and changing records at break neck speed, and the young and enthusiastic crowd was definitely getting into it, but I was there to hear new and exciting sounds, London sounds! So it just wasn’t what I was looking for and I took my seat and waited for Friendly to get behind the decks.

By the time Friendly got front and centre the dance floor had swelled to capacity and there were a lot more mature faces, who, probably like me, had seen Friendly a few times before and were keen to see how his sound had matured through living in the UK. I thought opening with ‘My Mother Was A DJ’ was a risky strategy – Haha, just kidding!

Friendly played some seriously crunchy, freaky, fat bottomed breaks that ignited the dancefloor and lifted the whole club onto its feet. His set had a really fresh sound, showing the influences he’s picked up playing gigs at The End and hanging out at Fat! records. There were so many great tracks, a lot of which I had never heard before, so I was trainspotting like it was my job. A few of the highlights included Alter Ego – Rocker (Poxymusic Remix), Audiobullies feat. Nancy Sinatra – Bang Bang (with the sexy sample featured in Kill Bill), his own productions like S & M, the new Stanton Warriors mix of Galvanize, and the awesome remix of Drumattic Twins – Feelin Kinda Strange, done by our very own Bass Kleph and Nick Thayer!

After Friendly drew things to a close around 2 Kid Kenobi and MC Shureshock put in a solid performance, playing that galvanize mix again, as well as a breakbeat bootleg of the Beastie Boys – Triple Trouble, amongst many, many others I was well past remembering by that stage.

Definitely had a great night and would encourage anyone who has the chance to check out Friendly while he’s back in the country for some fresh new UK breaks – it’s almost as good as a trip to London.