In a city lacking in decent venues, dominated by cheesy electro house and promoters content with running substandard parties, it’s nice to be reminded there are still some high quality parties and venues out there, as those lucky enough to attend “An Intimate Night With Nic Fanciulli & Michael Mayer” on Friday November 24th at the recently renovated YU nightclub will attest. Coming together for the second time this year, the Sounds Group and Glitch joined forces to bring Sydney a night of quality tech house, progressive, minimal, disco and techno featuring Michael Mayer from Kompakt Recordings, Nic Fanciulli from Renaissance, and locals Ben Korbel, Declan Lee, Matt Aubusson and Dave Choe.

Before getting stuck in to talking about the music, a word has to be said about the venue and the crowd. Prior to its renovations, YU wasn’t exactly the ideal venue for underground music, and in fact, one could even go so far as to say it wasn’t exactly a good venue for anything! The sound system wasn’t loud enough and lacked clarity, the walkway between the bar and the lounges by the right wall was far too narrow, and the decor looked like it came straight out of a 1970s porn movie. But six months worth of work has given the club a new lease of life: the sound system has been beefed up beyond belief (which became evident the minute the first track of the night was played, and was only continuously reinforced throughout the evening as Fanciulli and Mayer tested its limits), the walkway between the bar and lounge area has been widened, and the decor has been updated, turning YU in to a formidable opponent for clubs such as Chinese Laundry and Equilibrium. The crowd was as friendly, dedicated, open-minded, and musically educated as one could hope for, and indeed would expect to encounter at a party run by Sounds and Glitch. Everybody in the club was there to see either one or both of the headliners, and most if not all frequently expressed their appreciation for all of the DJs’ efforts, with a large number staying right to the very last tune.

Now on to the music. Ben Korbel, Declan Lee, Matt Aubusson and Dave Choe kicked off the evening’s proceedings playing a two hour back to back (to back to back) set, covering everything from deep house to minimal to tech house and even a little progressive. Beginning fairly deep and groovy, the boys kept it low key for the first forty-five minutes or so, easing the crowd in to the night with some excellent deep tech house sounds, before slowly building the intensity for the remainder of the set, weaving their way through bass heavy minimal and tech house bombs from the likes of Sleeper Thief (‘Free Fall’) and Jeff Samuel (‘Step’), glitchy, dirty, funky tech such as Mike Shannon’s new track ‘Global Pleasurism’ and warm, melodic progressive grooves such as Sleeper Thief’s ‘Full Of You’, before finishing off the set with some chunky minimal tech. Of course it goes without saying that the mixing was as close to perfect as one would expect from Ben, Declan, Matt and Dave, but extra credit has to be given with regards to the flow of the set: it was outstanding. I’ve never heard four DJs work together so coherently and construct a set so fluidly, warming up the crowd just enough to get them on the dancefloor, but not go overboard and steal the headliner’s thunder. Put simply: this was a perfect warm up set.

Nic Fanciulli then stepped up to the decks and proceeded to tear YU to shreds with a sublime set of thumping tech house and melodic progressive peppered with deep slamming techno all mixed to perfection. Starting off quite dark, chuggy, and techy with tracks such as the enormous Dubfire remix of his own ‘Lucky Heather’, Fanciulli gradually upped the intensity, leading in to some heavy melodic grooves and even some banging minimal tech from the likes of Agoria, Paul Kalkbrenner (‘Keule’) and Gabriel Ananda (‘Doppelwhipper’). After a brief departure during the middle of the set from the banging loops to some funkier, deeper house sounds including Cobblestone Jazz’s sublime ‘Dump Truck’, Fanciulli decided it was head cave time. He busted out thumping tech house and techno for the final portion of his set, playing tunes such as the original of ‘Lucky Heather’, which he followed superbly with Audion’s ‘Mouth To Mouth’, Julio Flores’ ‘Acid Carreta’, Sebastien Leger’s ‘Bad Clock 04’ and finally Adam Beyer’s ‘Stereotypes’, which he masterfully mixed with another techno track for almost five minutes straight. It’s almost unnecessary to say Nic’s mixing throughout the entire set was flawless, but it was that damn good it deserves to be recognised. But what was even more impressive was his ability to construct a set and make it flow well. Not many DJs can successfully work their way through minimal, tech house, progressive and techno and make it come together as a coherent whole, but Fanciulli achieved that with effortless ease on Friday. A true world-class set from a true world-class DJ.

Michael Mayer then took over the controls for the final set of the night, and picked up perfectly where Fanciulli had left off. In comparison to Fanciulli, Mayer’s mixing was less than awe-inspiring, often just cutting one track in to another, but his track selection was that good it was easy enough to ignore his less impressive technical ability. It’s almost impossible to list every single sound he worked his way through during his set that extended well past the club’s official closing time of 6am, but there were splashes of minimal, chunks of tech and electro house, prime cuts of melodic techno, pinches of indie-electro, and even a good serving of old school disco. Starting off quite minimal with tracks from Hug (‘The Platform’), Pier Bucci (‘Hay Canuelos’), Donnacha Castello (‘Okay, That’s Great, Start Over’) and Oliver Klein & Martin Eyerer (‘Cicada’), Mayer soon progressed to some thumping tech and electro house, most of which was unreleased, leaving me scratching my head and feeling a little disappointed with my trainspotting efforts for this portion of the set. It was then time for the techno, with Mayer beginning more on an electro-tech tip with tracks such as ‘Number 2’ by Tattoo Recordings and Silversurfer’s ‘Ace of Spades’, before proceeding in to some wonderfully uplifting melodic techno, which was described perfectly by one punter on the night as “like glitter falling from the sky”. Some funkier, groovier techno soon followed, all of which the crowd had never heard before, myself included.

As the evening drew to a close, Mayer switched it up and treated the hardcore loyal fans to a look in to the other side of his musical spectrum, spinning indie-electro-disco-rock, including Gui Boratto’s transcendent ‘Like You’. And as the night came closer and closer to finishing, the tracks came more and more out of left field, with the final portion of the set encompassing old school disco, deep house, and of all things, even Olivia Newton John’s ‘Let’s Get Physical’, which divided the crowd in to those who went just a little bit nuts, and those who couldn’t stop themselves from laughing. Unfortunately the evening eventually had to come to an end, even though Mayer looked like he was happy to keep playing till 6am Monday morning, and the crowd appeared equally as keen to let him do so. However, in my opinion, it was good to leave the evening on a high note, rather than let it slowly fizzle out.

Sounds and Glitch, take a bow, you’ve officially won my and many other’s vote for best event of the year. And to anyone who didn’t go: make sure you check out Sounds and Glitch’s next party Minimal Fuss, if it’s even half as good as this was you’re in for a treat.