It seems Mr. Azzopardi has somewhat of a monopoly on the high-quality underground acts in Sydney. Nine times out of ten when you hear a certain international is coming to Sydney, the response to the question of “where?” will be the “Chinese Laundry”. Not that it’s a bad thing in the slightest: it’s nice to finally have a venue that delivers the goods so frequently. On this particular occasion the Laundry was host to Alex Smoke, the melodic minimal/tech don signed to Soma and Vakant records. With support from a slew of high class locals, another top night was guaranteed.

Noel Boogie kicked off the evening’s proceedings in the Sand Bar to a steadily growing crowd. Although content to sit back and soak up the tunes as opposed to dancing, everyone was evidently impressed by Noel’s impeccable track selection and sublime skills, numerous times glancing over to the decks as he cut, scratched and juggled his way through old school hip-hop, funk and just a touch of soul, including a very cool instrumental mix of Grandmaster Flash’s The Message.

Downstairs, Jeff Drake was on warm-up duties in the Chinese Laundry, which was quickly filling with a diverse, friendly and up-for-it crowd. Drake’s set suited his timeslot to a T, demonstrating he’s just as capable at warming up a room as he is at working it during peak time. Starting off quite warm and melodic, the set soon progressed into some funky electro house sounds like Bon Johnson’s Slumber Party Massacre and The Electric Press’ Re-Evaluate, before Drake stepped things up a notch with some dark, chunky tech house and ballsy main-room electronic house sounds like Fedde Le Grande’s new (and surprisingly good) cut Don’t Take No Shhh. Of course it doesn’t have to be said Drake was technically superb. The man has proven himself time and time again, and Saturday was just another demonstration of the skills we all know he possesses.

Over in the Cave, Biz was warming up the Alex Smoke fans with his now patented high class blend of techno, tech house, minimal and proper old-school electro. Like a smaller (and whiter) version of Derrick May, Biz ravaged the mixer with plenty of fader cuts and EQ chaos, and his mixing was blindingly quick. The Cave quickly filled up during his set, which traversed funky, chunky tech house such as Switch’s mix of Sharon Phillips’ Want 2/Need 2 and Kerri Chandler’s Bar A Thym, funky techno, loopy percussive sounds from the likes of Filterheadz (_Sunshine_), old-school jacking electro, plenty of squelchy minimal including Tiefschwarz’ Isst (*Nathan Fake* remix) and a fair share of classics like Dave Clarke’s Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted and Energy Flash from Joey Beltram. By the time Biz was finished the Cave was absolutely rammed with all manner of people: ravers, techno heads, average punters and even a few people who looked far too well dressed to be listening to techno.

Then it was time for the man everyone in the Cave came to see: Alex Smoke. The Glasgow native did not disappoint, playing a stand out set that will be talked about for several months to come. Utilising Ableton Live and Logic software, Smoke recreated and remixed his tunes on the fly, at certain times subtly blending loops from two different tracks together to create interesting harmonies, and at others piling on the effects to create sonic madness. Many times it was even difficult to tell which loops were coming from which tracks, with Smoke layering sounds in an almost seamless manner, or effecting synths and atmospherics to the bullshit. And the sound system in the Cave did him so much justice: his tunes simply came to life, sounding full and heavy, but still spacious and crisp, exactly as they were intended to sound.

Musically, his set covered a lot of ground, with Smoke working his way through minimal, tech house and techno, but an underlying theme was present throughout: melody, melancholy and intelligence. Despite being music aimed ultimately to move the punters’ feet, Smoke’s sounds were intricate, complex, interesting, deep, warm, and melodic, meaning that as one danced, they couldn’t help but pay really close attention to the subtleties of it all and admire the thought and emotion that evidently must have gone in to his productions. Starting off with tough, dark and throbbing minimal full of floaty atmospherics that were easy to get lost in, Smoke soon picked up the pace and threw down some crunchy melodic techno, before bringing it back down again towards the end of the set with warm, spacious tech house sounds. There was a lot of unreleased material throughout the set, which not only made it really difficult to trainspot, but it also had a lot of Smoke’s fans eagerly awaiting many of the tracks’ releases. However a few favourites from his Incommunicando and Paradolia albums did get a run, including the bouncy minimal grooves of Meany, the dark and melancholic Snider, the thumping tech monster Chicca Wappa, and the absolutely ridiculous Brian’s Lung, which he played last to honor a punter’s request to hear it.

For those not into the minimal and tech sounds, the Laundry offered a good alternative during Smoke’s set, with Mark Dynamix playing a sublimely mixed set full of tough bassline driven house that tread the line between accessible and cheesy very well. There was plenty of substance to his tracks, which is a rarity these days in the bassline house sound, and a credit to Mark’s ability to take the ‘sounds of now’ and add his own underground edge to it. The highlight was definitely Richard Grey’s Wolf Bass, a speed-garage inspired monster that utilises samples from the old 80’s anthem Tainted Love.

Reno closed the Cave after Mr. Smoke, and the Potbelleez took care of the closing duties in the Chinese Laundry. The Potbelleez kept the room rammed till close with a set that appealed to the fans of their mainroom sounds, laying down their usual blend of tightly-mixed, well-programmed banging tech and electro house that including a ridiculously bass heavy remix of Snap’s early 90s hit The Power. Reno did very well closing the Cave, playing a perfectly-mixed set that appealed not only to the chinstrokers and Smoke fans in the audience, but also the average punters, blending dark, tough tech such as John Tejada’s Sweat On The Walls and the Audiojack remix of Paul Woolford’s Erotic Discourse with more accessible electronic tech house including Booka Shade’s Night Falls and Bad Clock 04 from Sébastién Leger.

All in all another excellent night at the Laundry. Nothing more needs to be said really. If you missed it: you missed out. If you were there: savour how good it was.