The Mainline crew have been doing parties at Bohem for some time now, but this was the first event they decided to throw without the assistance of a big-name international. Instead, interstate Aussie talent was called upon in the form of Melbourne Techno Pin-Up™ Ben Cromack and Canberra Turntablist Sensation Typhonic, both of whom are held in high regard by a significant proportion of the Sydney tech community. But would the gamble pay off?

Arriving at Bohem a little into Simon Caldwell’s set, a reasonably empty room was treated to yet another eclectic set of timeless music, Caldwell essentially languishing in the lower regions of the set-list yet still turning in a connoisseur-grade performance of Wonderful Music You’ve Never Heard Before. The room began to get more populated as Typhonix took over, cutting and scratching his way through the next hour at breakneck speed with much gusto. The crowd enjoyed it and he was definitely playing to the booty galleries, displaying some pretty extreme skills. Before no time at all, Cromack took over and the next two hours were full of technically flawless mixing, deft selection and plenty more representation on the dancefloor. Methodixx replaced Cromack, and in turn gave way to Kate and E-Mass, and then the music stopped and we all went home.So what was the night like?

Typhonic was exciting to watch, though he wasn’t as on form as I’ve seen him before and his showboating got in the way of the groove a couple of times, and he played pretty much nothing but booty all night long. Perhaps he was under orders to do this, but I’d rather see him cutting up some DnB and breaks as well, if only to spite the purists. I like booty but after about 45 minutes it makes me want to kill people. The man has a wider range and incredible skills; let’s see him stretched. Cromack was technically good but seemed to be playing it safe; I saw him in Melbourne about eighteen months ago and I could have sworn that at least a third of his set was the same as then, and there seemed to be a lack of dynamism about the structure of his set – he stayed in pretty much the same space all the way. In the end it was the locals who redeemed the evening – Caldwell’s cosmic overture, Methodixx’s truly banging, Heckmann-laden workout and Kate and E-Mass’ jolly romp home eliciting the most joy from the crowd.

The visuals looked fabulous, the wall of light providing a great distraction for the munters, and the sound was okay, though I felt there really needed to be some sound behind the dancefloor as well to help totally nail the problems with the swimming-pool acoustics in the space. That said, the space is enormous, and it’s a hard space to work at all, so much kudos are due for being able to make it as good as it was. The guys had smartly sectioned a fair bit of it off, but that high ceiling is a killer, and the vibe wasn’t quite top-shelf. I’m being super-critical here though – this was a great party, with smiling faces all around. A little more work and time is needed yet to get the Mainline nights up to the killer level they aspire to and deserve, but keep throwing parties like the last one and they’ll be there before we know it.