On yet another trip to Laundry at Chinese Laundry, I was again privy to some of the best music going around Sydney-town at the moment. Always reliable, Laundry outdid itself this weekend providing an almost packed club with superb music and a great atmosphere.

We headed in at just before ten, ensuring those without ITM reporter status got entry for a measly five or ten bucks – a pretty good deal in anyone’s books I think, especially considering the show we were in for. We found a good seat outside in the beer garden and had a few cold ones to the sounds of Mo Funk, who has recently come to be fairly well known for his funky tune selection (hence the name) and for his tight-as-tight mixing skills. Laying down a mix of hip hop and laid-back beats, this man brought a great atmosphere to the beer garden and sand bar, allowing everyone to get into the mood for some stomping house and breaks which would appear downstairs later on in the night.

Conversation flowed as easily as the grog in the Slip Inn’s beer garden on this warm winter’s evening in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, but the time had come to venture downstairs and into the Laundry to the massive main room house being blasted at us by Matt Nugent, the relatively new Laundry resident. I would say that the music was uplifting, or fun (for want of a better word) but didn’t often break the line between good and cheese – a line which is all too often ignored by Sydney DJs. It wasn’t too sinister or dark, wasn’t too boring, but made you want to get up and dance.

Matt provided a great lead in for one of the headliners of the night, the Rogue Traders who followed this simple formula of making us dance. Most of us would know this guy from his recent pop hit “Here Come the Drums,” but I really don’t think this song does his style much justice at all. Far from cheesy pop electronic, Mr Trader brought us a party house set but took a slightly deeper tip than I had expected after hearing his most recent single. To say that his set was off the hook would probably cover what I thought of it. It was entertaining and fun, not too heavy and not to light… You know the story. The Laundry dancefloor was pretty much to capacity all night, as people refused to sit down to such good music. A combination of dance-worthy, enjoyable music and friendly punters ensured that I really enjoyed myself during this set.

His set was quite different from Andy Page’s of a couple of weeks back, with build ups and break downs and quite vocal at times, and that’s what I’ve come to love about the Laundry. You’ll hear the best of tech house, breaks, vocal house, funky hip hop and whatever other style depending on which week you head along. This week the crowd was friendlier than the last few times I was there. We were getting a bit worried that the “sleaze” factor was getting a bit high, but it didn’t seem to be a problem this week.

We were also given a corker of techy breaks set in the Cave by Whomp! (live) who never fail to deliver. I was mostly in the Laundry, but whenever I ventured into the cave, it was always fairly full, and from my previous experiences of Whomp, they certainly know how to entertain, quite a lot of my posse didn’t leave the Cave during their set, which goes to show how impressive it was. Matt Nugent again took to the 1200s to wrap up after Whomp! And kept the Cave grinding until close. The Laundry was packed to the rafters all night as well, with Matt Crawford keeping up the vibe in the last set of the night – big ups to Matt for playing a solid set and for really getting into it and interacting with the punters, that’s what we like to see!

One piece of advice I can offer here is check out the Laundry if you haven’t yet. It’s become my favourite haunt of late, with a myriad of rock solid acts, and a big crowd. It’s turned into the club you go to because you’re guaranteed a great night out, irrespective of whichever niche music genre you’re into.