High Jinks All Nighter @ Bar Broadway, Sydney (12/11/05)
On the 12/11/05 was the second High Jinks All Nighter. A monthly night, much loved by locals and “out-of-towners” of the inner west, at its usual venue of the Sly Fox they are constrained to a closing time of 3am. To combat this, and to help the destruction of the overly worked livers of all involved they have brought the party to Bar Broadway where they can play to the wee hours of the morning.
On entering at 11pm my group and I were confronted with a DJ in a white suit and Phantom of the Opera style face mask playing Rex The Dog’s b-side I Look Into Mid Air. Senor Spitch is the man in the mask, Rex the Dog, sounding a little New Order-ish. On Rex’s website http://www.rexthedog.net/ there is a quote from his night out at Fabric with Michael Mayer thusly “For the second time I fell asleep before he started to play. We are nearly expecting to be expelled from KOMPAKT. With the music we make we skate on difficult ice anyway.”
The HJ crew promised “a killer lightshow that makes a Pink Floyd gig look like a couple of blokes doing shadow puppetry with a torch and a bedsheet.” At the previous all nighter they had attempted a sheet across the front of the stage on which they could project different images. While this was an interesting concept which was in part to remove the focus off the DJ and more onto the music but unfortunately took away most of the contact between the DJ and the crowd. This time around there was a raised stage with a handful of televisions at the foot. Behind there was a projected sheet for more images. Along with this was the lighting and lasers used enough to create a good wash across the crowd for the night.
Mike Jaye was up next, based out of Wollongong Mike doesn’t play out all that often but sent in a demo CD to the HJ offices and they have wisely responded. The muisc was a mix of dance to soul to Afro beats. At one point, the song Jaguar comes in after a twisting Afro beat and hits in with what my notes say are “fucked up beats”. There were occasional hickups through his set, but the playfulness of the mix made up for it, Jaye played an eclectic and fun set to a crowd that had substantially increased. The crowd was a fun one, the obvious loves of many present were good music, good people, and good pub prices. A while ago, HJ’s resident buddhabiker Some Freak explained to me what exactly makes a good party, not as I asked, music, but people. To this end, through a love of the aforementioned music and beer this group of people come for fun. Cutting down on going out so often, I was very pleasantly surprised at just how much i enjoyed the night, having one of the better dances I’ve had in a while.
After Mike Jay, after 1am came Kate. At the last all nighter Kate was on the lineup but unfortunately fell sick so was replaced by Patrick HAF. Fortunately we were able to see her set this time around and from previous reviews of her mixes this was no disappointed. Not able to trainspot any specific tracks played, my notes that she had the dance floor screaming and clapping and that the tunes played were banging and techy say what needs to be said. A thoroughly enjoyable dance floor is to be found in front of Kate.
HPS? started in, forewarning me that he was going to be playing a “little quieter” than usual. Realising that while there are many who like the truly nail-hammering techno he is known for, there would be some of the HJ audience who are after a lighter sound and HPS? accommodated for them. The dance floor kept a solid bunch throwing themselves around to the music. It was a good techno set that gave plenty of opportunity to sling your arms and legs in all directions.
I unfortunately missed Soul-Tech Soundsystem who played before Senor Spitch but did see the beginnings of K. Bliesner’s set after HPS?. A bass guitar line started off with a minimal drum beat…this is around the time my memory gets hazy, there are rumours of a trancier sound, vague recollections of the HJ term “beautiful musics” followed by a walk off into the slowly rising sun of the Sunday morning.
