As a music and event reviewer, I tend to over commit. And so it was, after a Friday bender slogging back Coffeetinis at Blue Diamond, I found myself all too suddenly confronting Saturday night with the worst hangover ever. Most normal people? They’d drink some tea and call it an early night. But not me. I’m locked in to reviewing Baddums pres. Ishu Farewell Party at Laundry. I mean, sheesh, what was I thinking? I don’t even know Ishu.
Well, being the professional I am, I attempted to assemble some sort of evening wear. The best I could muster were thermals (no, not the discreet Black Panther ones – all I could find were my fluoro stripy Snowgums) and a Beanie which was a little too small for my head. To spruce it up, I threw on an old Calvin Klein t-shirt (also a size too small). Arriving at the Johnson street door of the Laundry, I felt like a bogan from the Alps – wondering whether all this was worth the possible public humiliation.
To my horror I was not the only one wearing thermals! Ahhh, dependable, grungy Laundry, how I love your laidback dresscode! It was 11pm. The game plan was to pop in, stay long enough (read: 20 minutes) to write some fluff tomorrow, and then hightail it back to bed. And then it happened. First it was the spongy couch upstairs… I started getting sucked in to what ended up being a wonderful Saturday night. On stage, at home amongst the palm trees, were Sydney visitors Versionaries. This formidable trio combined strong islander-dub singing, party rapping and heavy hip hop beats. I was impressed by their vocal qualities, as I supped my cranberry juice.
My only criticism of their set was the incessant delay that was laid heavy on the microphone. Both boys had the skills to rip it without mic FX – and as a result of the delay, most of what they were rapping about ended up sounding like “mprgphrayayayayayaaay”. They invited my favourite stumpy Englander with the big mouth, Mr. Wayne Lotek. He had wowed me in a previous show at Miss Libertine, and getting onstage, he proved his title of supremacy. Within 60 seconds, the man with the Colombian sunhat had the crowd waving their hands in the air. What is it about this guy that compels us to follow his ‘Simon Says’ routine? I put it down to his boyish charm: when he dons that bar mitzvah suit of his, you simply can’t refuse those call and responses. That of course, and he’s a bloody good MC.
Lotek and Versionaries gone, the pace changed with the effervescent presence of DJ Affix. As a general rule of thumb, you can judge a DJ by his hunchback: the bigger the hump, the better the DJ. If Affix’s 6-foot-something twisted form was anything to go by, this DJ was dope! He began dropping a kind of housey-dub tune, and moved progressively into dubstep, impressing even the discerning barman with his dubplate selections. So… by now, I’m mixing my drinks (cranberry _and- pineapple juice) and I decide to find out who is this mysterious Ishu? It’s not hard to find him: Asian guy with the big smile in the front row. He’s clearly among friends tonight, and this transforms to his set. Turns out Ishu produces a smooth melange of dub, hip hop and reggae – and is off on an overseas adventure. His CD was for sale on the night, and it featured many of the artists who took the stage with him: Lotek, Pataphysics, Affix and Dragonfly.
Highlights of Ishu’s set were his haunting melodica intro, a timid yet talented singer called Rachael, and of course Dragonfly’s shameless self-promoting while on stage. By the time Elf Transporter jumped up to deliver a more downtempo jazzy number, I realised I’d been at the Laundry for hours! Eyes stinging, legs aching, burping like Augustus Gloop, I headed home to bed, ready to sleep off all this hard work. hard work indeed…
