“A funkin awesome night”

In the world of break beat, Fingerlickin’ records is as close as it comes to a brand name. Synonymous with quality, you’d be hard pressed to find a breaks DJ in the world without at least one release tucked away in their record bag. With luminaries such as Soul of Man, Plump DJ’s and Drummatic Twins already in the fingerlickin’ stable, it was with great anticipation that I made my way to Perth’s very own home of the underground to check out the recent additions Slyde.

It was to an almost deserted club that I arrived around 11.30, finding Fdel behind the decks. Riding high on critical and public acclaim for the recent LP Audiofdelity, the fact that this man can play to an empty club is a crime against music. The soundtrack he provided to my first couple of beers for the evening was the perfect mixture of groovin’ beats and laidback (pardon the pun) scratching to get the night rolling along.

With the witching hour fast approaching, the reins were passed seamlessly to perennial favourite Micah. Having been witness to a number of dance floor stompers by Micah over the past couple years, it was nice to see his versatility on display with a funk fuelled set that was to set the tone for the evening. A tribute to the freshness of his record bag, the set consisted mostly of tracks new to this reviewer, with Plump Dj’s “The Rub Off” and Strangers bootleg of the old Prince tune “head” being stand outs in a very tight, solid performance that set toes tappin’ and booty’s shakin’. Throughout his time behind the decks the punters started to come in force, the end result being a well populated dance floor by 1am.

Enter Ben Mac for what was by far the standout set of the evening. By this stage the appreciative crowd was well up for a good time and the man delivered in spades, reading the crowd as easily as a children’s book. The call of the dance floor was too much to resist for many a punter, with nary a bum seated for the entire set and with tunes such as Flint’s “Everybody’s funkin’” and Deekline and Wizards “Why don’t you” getting major crowd response, Ben Mac left the decks to big cheers with both the crowd and the slyde boys bopping along.

It was 2am when Slyde (aka Jason Laidback and Robin 12tree) took over the decks and for the first part of their set kept the funk levels up with some chunky tunes and bass-lines fat enough to make Albert look anorexic. As the set progressed, the breaks became harder and edgier and while they boys didn’t seem to be 100% on top of their game mixing wise, their track selection could not be faulted with pearlers such as Breakfastaz “Midnight”, Prodigy “Spitfire” and Drummatic Twins “Feelin’ Kinda Strange” (Nick Thayer and Basskleph remix) getting a guernsey, the crowd was kept chained to the dance floor.

The last half hour or so saw a marked change of tempo with some Drum and Bass (Dj Zinc’s seminal Fugee’s bootleg “Ready or Not”) and hip hop (Beastie Boys “Triple Trouble”) thrown into the mix. Given Laidbacks DMC background this was not a surprise, however the suddenness with which it happened was. The vibe seemed to turn on a nickel, with a decided lack of flow marking the transition to this final leg of the set. As the night wore on the punters became weary (ITM party anyone?) and by the time Slyde plaid their encore track and handed over to Incey, the crowd was staring to thin out. Bringing up the rear with another infusion of funk, Incey made sure that everyone leaving the club did so with a smile on their face and a final shake of the ass.

All in all it was a dance floor oriented night which rarely failed to entice and keep the bodies on the floor, but again it provided a well deserved warning to any internationals coming to Perth; Fail to bring you’re A-game, and the Ambar regulars will damn sure give you a run for your money. Keep it up boys.