Kink pres. MoS Annual Launch @ The Arthouse, Sydney (25/11/06)
With Harbourlife having taken place earlier in the day, everyone knew the lines at clubs would be massive tonight, and massive they were… with the line for Kink stretching all the way down Galleries Victoria and on to George Street, all filled with hopefuls waiting and wishing for their chance to experience this award winning club night.
Next year’s DMAs should have a new category for ‘longest line-up recorded on any given club night’, because tonight’s line would sure have made the cut. For those of you that hadn’t already heard, Kink recently won the award for ‘Best Club Night’ in New South Wales at this years DMAs. It had been a long time coming for long serving promotions manager Scott Robertson, who started the event at the classy establishment over three years ago.
Tonight played host to the Ministry of Sound Annual 2007 CD launch tour, which has been travelling around Australia for the past month on their two-month tour. Featured DJs tonight included the two masters of mixing it up, NSW’s own hero Mark Dynamix and Victoria’s John Course.
Shamus warmed up the sardine packed venue from 9.30pm and he played a sensory overload with anthems belted out over the monster sound system. There were girls dancing on tables, guys dancing on chairs; a generally friendly crowd lapping up every single beat that Shamus served up. The crowd’s volume level every time a classic anthem was spun was like nothing I had ever seen before, with vocal appreciation shown every time a beat was scratched or a chorus came around.
John Course and Mark Dynamix were up next, and if John is just a small example of what Melbourne has to offer, then I think a trip down to the southern state will soon be on the agenda (anyone care to join me?) This, of course, is not the first time Mark and John have toured together, with the release of ‘Sessions One’ Mark and John hit record stores back in 2004. John began his career over 15 years ago by winning the Victorian DMC Mixing Competition twice, he now co-owns Vicious records with Andy Van and Colin Daniels, and can be seen every Saturday night at One Love in Melbourne.
Mark Dynamix played an equally impressive set, proving why he has been on top for so long. He layed down almost every single track that I’d call a favourite! For anyone who knows me, it’s no secret that I loathe the track ‘All This Love’ by The Similoe, however the way Mark sampled this classic piece of ‘cheese’ tonight by playing it over the Pryda track ‘Aftermath’ gave me a new love and appreciation for it.
Finishing up his set with the dirty German electro sound that he’s now become famous for, how Mark sources some of these tracks is beyond my comprehension as he seems to have a collection that puts even juno.co.uk to shame! Mark’s many accomplishments to date include winning the ‘Australia’s hardest working DJ’ award by 3DWorld in 2005, mixing and releasing over 25 CDs to date (including over 15 for the Ministry of Sound label), as well as playing in almost every venue that has a set of decks and a mixer over the past 15 years.
You could be mistaken for thinking that by listening to the new Annual CD that tonight would just be a night filled with cheesy commercial electro tunes, but you would be sorely disappointed if that’s what you came here to hear, as even though some of the tracks played could be classified under the term ‘cheese’, the way in which they were played – either through dynamic new remixes of sampled over the top of underground tracks – made them sound brand spanking new again.
And how do you top such fine audio artistry? By having none other than ‘the’ man himself Johnny Rad close out the night with the final set. Johnny chased away any thought you may have had of leaving early by making everyone in the room reach for the ceiling until the very end.
Put your doubts aside, as this night absolutely rocked the pants (or should that be hot pants?) right off of Sydney. What’s that saying? You can bring a dog to water but you can’t force him to drink? Well you can fill a club with people… but there’s no way you can recreate the vibe of Kink.
Justin1234 says...
agreed!!! night was INTENSE!!
djrobferre says...
damn line, damn dancing at harbourlife all day making my feet hurt!!!!!! thats all i have to say. oh and melbourne? lets go, im goin dec 7-10! lets do it brew!!!!!!
Justin1234 says...
agreed!!! night was INTENSE!!
djrobferre says...
damn line, damn dancing at harbourlife all day making my feet hurt!!!!!! thats all i have to say. oh and melbourne? lets go, im goin dec 7-10! lets do it brew!!!!!!
auxilary says...
nice one!
duckee1983 says...
the place is only licenced for 500 people!!! i mean don't get me wrong kink is great.. but for an event known to draw crowds.. MOS needs a bigger city venue! or another night in Sydney that hosts BOTH John Course and Mark Dynamix...