Break Inn feat. London Elektricity @ Chinese Laundry, Sydney (13/04/06)

Even though I will be revealing my dark, hidden past, I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve been out on the town. I feel like I crawled out of obscurity to get to the Chinese Laundry on Thursday, waking from a long, long hibernation.  And it took the possibility of seeing UK drum and bass guru Tony Coleman aka London Elektricity to wake me from my slumber.

So out of touch I am that I arrived unfashionably early, with the Cave yet to be opened.  Surprisingly, Mo’funk already had quite an impressive array of people on the dance floor – my how things have changed!  I could see I had some catching up to do, so I down a few quiet beers and promptly got amongst it.  Mo’funk set the tone nicely, keeping the people moving and building the ‘elektricity’ in the air.

Ritual had the task of building the base for Tony Coleman and MC Wrec and did a mighty fine job. Sydneysiders had come from far and wide for this – you could tell the mood was right. With the Impossibles hitting up the front section and Ritual rocking the cave, it was difficult to find a permanent home, as I swung from one end of the laundry to other. This is not a serious problem however, with both rooms providing the perfect head space for one searching for fast soul music.

Round 1.30am I couldn’t believe I was still moving around the floor (note – I’m normally in bed by now on a Thursday, yes sad but true). I could wait for the melodic vocal-driven drum and bass that I had come to love from London Elektricity. When Tony Coleman took to the decks the cave was itchin’ and MC Wrec took care of the crowd’s “nervous energy”.

It was a drum and bass fiesta, and while not quite the vocal driven fast soul music I expected, it still kept my feet moving and my arse shakin.  Booming basslines made sure I had no choice but to rock out and I could see (when I bothered looking outside my square) that the verdict was unanimous – London Elektricity were electrifying.

Soon enough I got over my bitterness that we didn’t get to experience the truly live phenomena of London Elektricity with the full band. The sound system at the laundry doubly enhanced the experience – not sure if it’s because it’s such a small venue or because I’m just comparing it to my “fully sick” system at home! Nonetheless MC Wrec dominated and the two worked together to create beautiful bass-driven music.  What a wonderful way to be welcomed back to the scene in Sydney – thanks Break Inn for breaking me down!