Laundry feat. Trentemoller @ Chinese Laundry, Sydney (18/03/06)
The Slip Inn is fast becoming Sydney’s best and most popular club for lovers of quality underground sounds, and March 18th was proof of exactly why: Trentemøller played an absolutely faultless set on one of the best sound systems in the southern hemisphere, a massive but friendly and respectful crowd packed out the venue, and the support DJs showed that Sydney is home to some world-class talent of its own.
Mo’ Funk kicked off the evening’s proceedings in the Sand Bar in fine style, laying down some smooth jazzy broken beat, funky hip-hop and Latin flavoured breaks to an already growing crowd. Although content to just sit and bop my head this early in the night, I was thoroughly impressed by Mo’s brilliant technical ability and how smoothly he weaved his way through so many diverse sounds, combining them into one delicious melting pot of funk and soul.
Down in the Laundry, Synik was getting the crowd off their seats with some wonderfully deep house (including a cheeky Missy Elliot bootleg), before picking up the pace and throwing down some groovy electro sounds, and finally working his way up to jackin’, funk-fuelled, Chicago-esque house from the likes of Jesse & Crab and The Barrio Brothers, that had the punters shaking their collective arses like they had ants in their pants. By the time he had finished his set the Laundry was packed with an appreciative and friendly crowd who obviously know a good DJ when they hear one. Of course it goes without saying the mixing was faultless (even when he was mixing three tunes at once), as it always is when this lad is on the decks.
Mark Murphy opened up the Cave at 11pm and quickly found himself playing to a large, up-for-it crowd. Playing a little differently than usual, Murphy was throwing down a delightfully heavy, bowel-shaking, head caving mix of minimal, acid house, electro-tech and walls of noise that had the crowd cheering and whistling like he was the headliner. The highlight of his set, and possibly the evening, was the final 15 minutes in which he played Cirez D’s “Rematch”, Lostep’s “Because We Can”, and Egoexpress’ “Knartz IV”, which not only tested the limits of the Cave’s sound system, but tested the limits of the building’s foundations and everyone’s digestive systems, as the low end rumbled through the walls, the floor, and our stomachs.
Then it was time for men of the moment, Trentemøller. By this stage the Cave was packed to the rafters, and the crowd was hyped beyond belief. Utilising decks, CDJs, Ableton, effects units and a Korg Vocoda synth, Anders and DJ TOM impressed even the most jaded of chinstrokers, and thoroughly exceeded just about everyone’s expectations. While DJ TOM mixed, effected, and remixed tracks off vinyl, Ableton and CDR, Anders layered extra melodies and basslines over the tunes using the Vocoda. Anders was even a little cheeky and played some classic melodies on his little box of noise (for example Jaydee’s “Plastic Dreams” and White Stripes “7 Nation Army”), and DJ TOM scratched his way through a good portion of the set. It was very out of the ordinary for a minimal/electro/tech act, but definitely something that kept the set sounding fresh and interesting.
Musically, the duo started off quite minimal, before slowly working their way up to some tough, glitchy electro-house by the middle of the set. The massive Trentemøller tunes and remixes of the last six months of course got a run at this point, with the middle of the set featuring their remixes of Royksopp’s “What Else Is There?” and Yoshimoto’s “Du What U Du”, as well as their original productions Beta Boy (which received a live re-working involving a very eerie and very evil synth line) and Minimal Fox.
In the final 30 odd minutes of the set the two Danes proved just how versatile they are, taking the set in to harder territory with some pounding techno, including a live remix of Plastikman’s percussive monster “Spastik”, which involved DJ TOM looping the track’s various percussive elements while Anders added a ridiculously large bassline with his Vocoda to complete the madness. Much to this reviewer’s (and the rest of the crowd’s) delight, the set finished with another one of their own productions, and easily one of the best tracks of last year, “Polar Shift”. A large enough tune in its own right, the track just came to life on the Cave sound system, which, I haven’t mentioned enough yet, is absolutely brilliant.
After collecting the bits of their brains that Trentemøller had successfully made them spill all over the floor, the crowd was spoilt for choice as to who they should see to close off their evening. Trent Rackus was laying down some very dark, and at times rather evil tech and electro-house in the Cave that, although could easily have been the soundtrack to a sacrifice, was sending the crowd just a little bit crazy. And, as usual, he was technically spot on and constructed the set perfectly, with not a single loose or poorly keyed mix, and not a single track sounding out of place in the set.
Over in the Laundry Jeff Drake was playing a nice blend of chunky, funky tech house for those who weren’t quite up for Trent’s nastiness, and doing it well. Peppering the wonderfully smooth, chunky, techy sounds with some big tunes from the likes of Switch, Mylo and Bloc Party, Drake kept the crowd on the dancefloor and showed us why he deserves interstate gigs with some tight mixing, clever trickery, and excellent flow.
To put it simply, March 18th at the Laundry was the perfect clubbing experience. Every single local DJ played a fantastic set, the headliner was pure class, the sound system was absolutely brilliant, and the club was packed with friendly, considerate, up-for-it, musically educated punters rather than rude, self-centered, snobby posers who couldn’t care less if Jesus himself were DJing. Two massive thumbs up, Slip Inn.
