Upon entering I was greeted by a pair of headless mannequins sporting expensive suits who were popping out from amidst a pseudo-jungle of pot plants and camouflage netting. A first birthday is always a good excuse to have a crack with the decor and the Parliament crew get maximum points for their conversion of Candy’s stage. For the last year they have been serving us up with monthly instalments of electro, breaks, house and everything in between, one of the few places in Kings Cross to feature such a varied music policy. For tonight they had acquired one of Sydney’s finest live acts Poxymusic to headline alongside always entertaining breaks duo the Audiophilez , house stalwart John Glover and a host of up n comers to keep things interesting.

With the main floor looking a little dejected from the outset I soon discovered all the fuss was out back, where 3 man DJ team Spoon-Gheddi were dishing a up a filthy serve of pants tearing electro to a good looking, up for it crowd. In short order they were joined on the mic by MC Eavesdrop and listening to his tight, fast paced rhymes combined with acapellas and mashups from the likes of Britney Spears and MIA I had the distinct impression I was witnessing an electro version of madcap breaks trio The Impossibles. Top tunes, flawless mixing and with the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand I’d definitely say that Spoon-Gheddi is a name to keep your eye on in the future.

The main room meanwhile was cycling through a dazzling array of jive inducing aural tidbits under the guidance of promoter Allan Marshall. The club was really starting to fill up by this point with the vibe clearly building for a great night. With the backroom emptying out after Spoon-Gheddi(It didn’t really pick up again either) I relocated to the central cavern and began to wait impatiently for Poxymusic to take control of their rig. The set they played was decent by ordinary standards even though it did sound a little less live and a lot more DJ than usual. They mixed it up fairly consistently between 4/4 and breaks (a nice remix of Rocker went down a treat) and although I still thoroughly enjoyed the set I’ve seen Ken and Sameer do much, much better and couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed over all.

Fortunately my spirits were lifted soon after as the Audiophilez stepped up and gave us a pure dose of broken beat goodness. Actually they did drop at least one 4/4 track; Craig Obey’s Coolin at The Bar but it’s one of my personal favourites and it’s also the first time I’ve heard it in a club so I’ll let them get away with it! There were plenty of break beat classics in there too from Outta Space to Emit/Collect with the action on the dancefloor proving the willingness of punters to switch styles mid-night. Following on, John Glover further enforced this theory by whittling away the final hours of my evening on the house tip and I was more than happy to keep dancing til the house lights came on.

Sydney really needs more nights like this, great music, great vibe and a fun loving up for it crowd, I had a terrific time and couldn’t really have asked for anything more. So heres to another year of Parliament parties and if you haven’t been to check one out yet I’d be keeping my eyes peeled for the next instalment.