Walking down the steps of Castles on Saturday night you would have been presented with the rare sight of an inner Sydney venue buzzing with both warm, friendly faces and a foreground sound of superbly crafted beats.

It was an inviting atmosphere that extended directly from the trio behind the ‘Soul Tech Sound System’. These mostly introspective looking gentlemen exhibit a true appreciation of a wide spectrum of soul/tech sounds. Everything from house, through to techno, electro, disco, funk, soul, you name it, all flowing seamlessly and always with an emphasis on the deep side!

It’s obvious that these boys want nothing more than to share their love and own experiences of their own brand of soul/tech with anyone willing to listen. Their sounds varied from all sorts of classic vinyl – throw in some ‘Konk’, ‘Jelly Bean’ and ‘Moto Bass’- to live sample mixes from laptop consoles to some of their own tracks mixed in via Ableton. Their aim, to keep the sound as live and free as possible.

Mako and Andrew Maher (from Alphatown) kept tuning the live sound with back to back tech sets. By this stage the dance-floor was experiencing vigorous booty shaking. Unfortunately, Mako could not be accompanied by the other figureheads behind the always superb live deep tech act, ‘Ds on 2’, due to various ailments. Mako proved, however, he could go it alone continuing to fuel the crowd’s enthusiasm as the night got deeper.

A refreshing sight was seeing the enjoyment that both the ‘Soul-tech’ residents and guest DJs seemed to be getting from playing to this crowd. Deepchild was no exception. Deepchild recorded Saturday night’s Soul-tech as a ”...bit special. Kind of like a mini ‘Mad Racket’...It’s the second time I’ve played for this crew, and I must say that I’ve really had a remarkable time.” (see Deepchild’s web diary at http://www.deepchild.com).

Pretty Boy Floyd offered some classic disco in the earlier hours of the morning. A welcomed change to the dark places that tech nights can often progress too. His disco beats kept spirits high inspiring third and fourth winds from even the legless. 

The most exciting thing about ‘Soul-tech’ is how young they are. Their enthusiasm for experimenting with their sound is confirmation that they have not arrived at any definable peak. Definitely worth keeping an ear to the pavement for.