Inthemix is SIX… An Australian electronic music institution has made it past it’s teething period into a legitimate powerhouse in the Australian music scene in general. And what else to do during your birthday but bring your friends from near and far, throw them behind the decks and dance your ass off until the sun begins to rise. Not what I was doing at 6 years old but Inthemix can do whatever it likes as long as the party is as fun as what we bore witness to on Friday night.

We wandered in to the Colonial Hotel at a little after 11 where Lil Miss Breaks had gotten started with an eclectic mix of breaks. There was a memorable mix of ‘When Doves Cry’ but the rest of the tunes I hadn’t heard much before. The floor gradually filled over the course of the next hour until close to 12 when the first of our 3 big headliners stepped up. Kid Kenobi with his partner in crime MC Sureshock. I’ve always been impressed whenever I’ve seen Kid Kenobi play so I have some high expectations of out boy. Were they met? Were they ever!  He has a knack for reading the crown and delivered in typical form again on Friday. What I wish is that we weren’t forced to endure the posing and ‘dancing’ of Shureshock for the entire hour and a half of his set when he was only dropping vocals on maybe 4 tracks or so, it was a little too over the top for me and game across as somewhat arrogant. Anywaaaay, The set was great and I don’t want to spoil what was a masterful piece of work. Some highlights were some old-school Black Box and of course, a ubiquitous prodigy track sneaking in there.

Next up was Bass Kleph and to tell you the truth, having been living overseas for a while, the rise to fame of this young character passed me by. After the first few minutes of his set though it was evident why he’s getting such a solid reputation. The rather lacklustre bass of Kid Kenobi’s set was cranked up which lifted the sound to another level. His bass heavy sound just pulsed through the venue and got the crowd jumping. He has a great energy and is a true ‘live’ performer jumping about getting the crowd amped, not content with just parking his ass behind the mountains of electronics that enable him to put together his music.

And then at 2:30 came Hyper, his mohawk giving him away. The last time I saw Hyper play was at the Global Gathering festival in England a couple of years ago when he closed out the breaks tent. The crowd back then were on the 16th hour or something of one of the hugest parties I’ve seen in a long time and were content to hug their knees and chatter their teeth in an effort to fight off the near freezing temperatures of an English morning. Quite a different environment this time around… The crowd had already been well warmed up by the previous acts and they were practically frothing at the mouth once our boy jumped up on stage. His set was up to my expectations established over the course of his Y4K sets covering a broad range of breakbeat styles from really deep progressive stuff to more uptempo funky breaks. It really is true that time flies when you’re having a good time (or dance) and the hour and a half that he played seemed insufficient.

Finishing up for the night was Blueprint who again, as was par for the night, delivered a commendable set and gave all those unable to get all of the dancing out of their system beforehand a final chance. All in all an excellent show, a stellar lineup and hopefully an indication of what we can expect for the 7th birthday party…