There was a definite vibe in the air surrounding the entry to the Chinese Laundry on Friday night and with one of the hottest Break Inn line-ups to date, it came as no surprise. Aside from Mo’Funk who still played an awesome set, the line-up was nothing but world renowned breaks producers; Aquasky legends of the scene supported by Australia’s finest in the form of Breaking Point boys Kleph and Thayer along with the man of the moment, rising star Dopamine.
With the Cave packed right from the word go Dopamine got straight down to business with his usual club friendly, techno inspired funkscape. As well as a few Dopamine tracks fresh off the hard drive, there were also some classics; it’s been awhile since I’ve heard ‘Turn Me Out’ get a floor moving but it still does the trick. Towards the end he kicked things up a notch, a stormer from new Title Fight signing Psure leading the charge. This was under the critical eye of the ‘big’ bossman Klaus ‘Heavyweight’ Hill (breaks superstar and Title Fight label boss) who dropped in before his Subbies set to block Dopamine’s view of the crowd and foil attempts at dancing in front of the booth while he harassed his protégé. He only broke from his statuesque pose when Dopamine dropped his remix of Deepspace at which point he started pumping his fist in the air like a madman.
At this point I figured I better go have a spy on Nick Thayer before the Cave entranced me completely. True to form he was guiding the Laundry through a spin cycle of flavour filled hooks and groove inducing syncopation under the watchful eye of the stone bhuddas. The crowd was lapping it up and moving their asses in ways only the masters of the broken beat know how to induce.
Dopamine was finising off with Santos – Electro in the cave and then despite it being past 1.30, with Aquasky already behind the decks he cheekily snuck in one more tune. The boys let it run out before dropping the fader to bask in the vocal adoration of the crowd for a minute before letting loose. Now it hasn’t been that long since I last saw Aquasky, Keiron played at Sydney’s former home of Friday night breaks YU a little over a year ago and although that show was awesome the vibe just couldn’t live up to what I witnessed on Friday. Every dreadlocked rude bwoy, eurotrash backpacker, 18yr old discovery clubber and even every stupidly drunken breaks DJ in the place was going off like tomorrow would never come and despite it being a chilly Sydney evening outside, the Cave was as hot and humid as it’s ever been, the air thick with sweat and excitement.
I didn’t think it was possible for the crowd to get any more into it but then when Overneath came on I actually began to fear for my safety as the whirlwind of flailing arms and screaming girls reached fever pitch. The next hour or so was mainly devoted to material off the new Team Players album starting with the steppy sounds of the Ragga Twins on ‘Ready For This’ and then moving into slightly cheesier realms with the Drummatic Twin’s collaboration Bring It On Down (Bring The Noise acapella included) and Girls and Boys a collaboration with Pendulum’s El Hornet. I had been hoping for a bit more old school a la 777 but to be fair, their main concern was to keep the club packed and jumping and if it took a little club fluff to do it, well then there’s nothing wrong with that, especially if it’s the kind of club fluff these boys are capable of producing.
Either way around 2.45 I got my wish as things took a turn for the meaner with some signature Aquasky, junglist style, breakbeats. Wheels of Steel went down a treat as did their new remix of the Breakfastaz – Pressure and then finally, to my great enjoyment it was; RINSE OUT TIME! We almost got a full half hour of D&B including a deadly (High Contrast?) remix of Girls and Boys. It was nice to see the boys going back to their roots and even nicer to see a crowd of Sydney clubbers lose themselves in some 180BPM madness. Credit again has to go to Keiron and Brent for building the set in a way which actually allowed this to happen instead of clearing the floor because the music got ‘too intense’.
All up this has to be one of the best Break Inn nights on record and in saying that one of the best Sydney breaks nights on record. At the end of the day it could all be summed up by the look on Brent’s face; a massive cheesy grin he wore for the whole night which, unless he was being a naughty boy, can only be the product of that elusive, performance induced, euphoria that only surfaces when you know you’ve guided an audience through a night they will not soon forget.
