SebastiAn and Kavinsky ARE the cutting edge of the world-devouring French electro scene. The first hour of their set was mashed-up, clashed up, cut-up, fucked-up body-jackin’ madness. HOWEVER, this gig was all but destroyed by the terrible combination of a freakishly warm and humid Sydney night, an inappropriate venue for the amount of people – particularly given the sweat-inducing style of music, and a tough tour schedule for the two Ed Banger glory boys who were clearly feeling the heat.

Ajax had returned from Europe with an edgy fresh sound, warming the decks with some hot tunes. But the decks were actually in no need of warming – The Basement was at capacity and probably close to 40 degrees, and our darling Ajax was dripping in sweat. However he displayed his professionalism and temperament with a creative and tight set over two hours. It was the perfect supporting act to the mysterious French producers.

SebastiAn and Kavinsky started off their back-to-back three-hour set with the banging euro mash that everyone was waiting for. Second tune in Sebastian dropped Kavinsky’s sci-fi killer Wayfarer to a huge crowd reaction. It didn’t take long for Sebastian’s Ross Ross Ross to hit the floor, by which time the crowd was really cracking. Not long after, Sebastian pulled out a pretty much lethal mash remix of Rage Against the Machine’s Killin’ in the Name Of which would have been the closest The Basement’s ceiling has ever come to caving in. The jam-packed crowd went absolutely mental, and it was great to see electronic music have that sort of response. Gritty dance floor pounders just kept flowing through the surprisingly sweet-sounding PA – not too loud but with enough impact to throw you around.

Halfway through the set however, the heat started to inflict casualties. There were much less hands in the air, a lot of weary dancers were looking for a seat, and a fair bit of the crowd desperately sought relief from The Basement oven by escaping outside. “It’s more of a fucking sauna than a fucking night club in there!!” I overheard one disgruntled gentleman who was a little pissed off at having to endure the offensive conditions.

The DJs had trouble with it too. By about 2am they broke the pace right down with some cheesy hip-hop tracks that didn’t get the biggest reaction, but provided a welcome respite for people to catch some air. Later in their set, they were really struggling. Kavinsky was attempting to mix but his transitions were so terrible he may as well have not used headphones. Sebastian definitely appeared the more composed of the two, but you could tell he was struggling to finish the epic set – especially having come from playing in Perth the night before and getting off the plane from France not much earlier. It was disappointing towards the end, but no DJ can go wrong if they play Daft Punk nice and loud, and a few classics rolled out before they finally rounded up with great relief.

Mark Murphy had kept a very patient façade waiting for his turn, but was itching to get the music back on track. He put an end to the nonsense with Digitalism’s nasty remix of Depeche Mode’s Never Let Me Down Again and strung together a slick few opening tracks with some tasteful mixing. Those of the crowd who were more chemically active partied on, but the bedraggled remainder escaped to the fresh air bliss of the early morning.

Amazing tunes and DJs – Australia’s DJ of the moment Ajax, one of its most unsung veterans Mark Murphy, and two of the world’s hottest international DJs, but the party truly suffered from the soaring temperatures. Can’t wait til the next Ed Banger party heads our way, and hopefully it’ll happen in a venue that allows us to breathe.