Monkey Tennis is not, strictly speaking, the kind of club you’d expect to go to hear international DJs like the Inland Knights and Da Sunlounge. Instead, promoters Lummy and Gary Broadband have been content just to bring the best of Sydney’s deep house DJs into one place, month after month for a celebration of jacking low-end business.

So their decision to turn around and book two of the world’s finest deep house acts was surprising to most, but a great reward to MT’s loyal following. The DJ booth was upgraded to accommodate more bits and pieces, and add extra beef was added to the sound system right through the entire club. It wasn’t laser lights and cage dancers (thank sweet baby Jesus), but it was obvious they’d gone through considerable effort and extended that attention to detail that MT generally does.

Lummy and Broadband did the right thing and opened to a rapidly filling room, taking turns and checking all the boxes marked ‘deep’ and ‘sweet.’ Kyla Sexton, who has become a crucial ingredient to the Monkey Tennis mix, knows how to add vocals to a DJ set. By complimenting the tracks rather than overshadowing the work of the DJ’s, Kyla helped to build the vibe for the night. John Devecchis returned in full tennis kit (sweatband and all) for the midnight slot and played more of the same, faultlessly building slowly while leaving plenty of room for the headliners. At the three-hour mark, it was obvious the DJ’s weren’t taking shortcuts with any obvious tunes.

Not that the Inland Knights needed to resort to cheap shots. Laurence Ritchie and Andy Riley, through the Inland Knights, have carved a particular niche in deep house. It’s almost impossible to discuss the genre without mentioning their productions or their label, Drop Music. As DJ’s, it’s easy to see why. It may seem like a simple formula – sprinklings of jazz piano, a trumpet or a snippet of a vocal dropped sparingly over the warmest of beats and basslines – but to hear it in action is another thing entirely. The beats only ever skip when they want them to, and their dancefloor pull is irresistible. It was house music at its most compelling.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, the crowd was further rewarded with the talents of Da Sunlounge (aka Simon Newby), the second of the international guests for the night. Much like the Knights before him, Simon kept heads down with a slightly techier version of what came before. There were no rough edges to the set and no lack of quality, but coming as he did after the chunky set from the Inland Knights, Simon took an admirable second place on this night. For the crowd though, it was an embarrassment of riches.

Synik, another Monkey Tennis regular, was an excellent choice to bring things through to six am. The club was full, the punters were well gone (as in with the pixies, not gone home – the place was still full) and Synik was free to play as deep and quirky as he wanted – which he did, all the way till the big lights went on.

There will be no trainspotting of tunes in this review, no fine analysis of the mix, track by track. Everyone had their heads down. It was just that kind of night. Here’s to more of them I say.