Saturday night heralded the arrival of Martijn ‘ten out of ten’ Velden to the Laundry, and the Dutchman lived up to his moniker delivering his signature ‘Electro-Tribal House’ in a set that could only be described as a ten out of ten.

When I arrived I headed straight for the Laundry, as I do also love ‘The Drake’. I really don’t get how it came to be that Jeff Drake only ended up in the 46th spot in the inthemix 50: he’s got a style all of his own, and didn’t miss a beat for the entire set. His performance seemed to draw people to the dance floor: he had the place moving like it had been going all night. And as the night progressed and the Laundry filled up, the lounge however didn’t. Jeff kept mashing it up and almost no one was sitting by the end of his set. I was feeling a little nervous for Martijn as he had big shoes to fill.

Silly Me…

But I will get to that in a moment. I headed into the Cave on a few occasions as Club Junque were in the mist of a killer set in that minimal/maximal style. I think it suits the cave to a tea, as it was pretty empty but the vibe in there was any thing but. The crowed seemed to really dig the deep, deep sounds that were pumping out of the speakers and if ‘The Drake’ had not been so ‘on’, I don’t think anybody could have dragged me out of there.

And another thing that was responsible for draging me away was my dependence on those dirty cancer sticks. As the only place you can smoke is the outdoor garden space off the Sand Bar, I frequented that area regularly. We missed Steve Lind’s set but caught Wax Motif who entertained with party favorites which that kept the ‘sit and drink’ crowd happy. Much to my surprise though, with some clever mixing and heavy beats, later in the night he had the sand bar moving which is quite a feat in my opinion.

Now back to those ‘big shoes’ to fill… 12.30pm arrived, and so did Martijn. The Laundry was probably only half full but the remaining crowd seemed like an educated bunch, and Martijn took full advantage. His driving heavy beats seemed to dwindle just enough to let you catch your breath before they came heralding back, much to the delight of the crowd. Martijn has some hectic fans, and a few shirtless ones were in the booth with him, and were going so spastic it looked as though he had to fight to get to the decks at times. The Dutchman simply killed it, there’s no other way to put it. It’s plainly apparent that Martijn loves what he does. He was having a ball, he didn’t stop moving throughout the whole set. And it wasn’t your regular try hard, “yo, I’m a DJ” bop, this guy was having shitloads of fun. I can’t tell you too much more as my head was down, and I was dancing…

I am sure the laundry would have been fuller, had it not been for the cave, and Mr. Mark Dynamix. He’s been mixing for Ministry of Sound for yonks so his name would ring a bell with the mainstream crew. The Cave was packed, and I was pleased to hear Mark doing some of the best work I’ve heard come from his decks in some time (which might have something to do with the fact that he’s been over in Germany).

And then, my stupid girlfriend piked just before fRew came on with an “OK, I’ve had enough…” So me being the gentleman I am, took her lame ass home to bed (love you baby…). All in all, it was definitely a 10/10 evening (or should we say ‘ten out of ten’). The Laundry delivered again.