One of the unfortunate things about having great power is that it comes with great responsibility. And a great deal of expectation as well.

Here’s what I’m talking about. As a production team the 16 Bit Lolitas, made up of Peter Kreik and Ariaan ‘Aad’ Olieroock, are certainly top shelf. Their tracks and remixes appear regularly in the sets of progressive sithlords like John Digweed and Nick Warren, and musically they balance the lush of progressive with the darkness of human emotion in a way that’s beyond human. They’ve just released Warung Brazil #001 Presents the 16 Bit Lolitas, a double CD release of their current club favourites as well as a disco entirely composed of their own material. Apparently it’s at least 16 flavours of awesome. So this is the elite level of expectation that got so many of Sydney’s devoted progressive crew out on that wintery Saturday night bookended between Paul van Dyk and Global Gathering.

And out we were. So many familiars on the floor in The Cave, including at least one of Sydney’s underground DJs, all gathered wide eyed and hopeful to experience a wash of the Lolitas magic. Aad, the DJ partner of the duo, was playing tonight fresh from sets at Foreshore in Canberra that afternoon, and Ambar in Perth only the night before. The consensus? Track selection: epic, lush, surprising and very cool. Ten points. Progression: Hmmmm… More all stations than long haul. Five points. Seamless mixing: zero points. Enough said.

It all started really well. Aad dropped Sasha’s Xpander and we all swooned! It was cut with a sweet sweet bassline from no remix I’ve ever heard. (Definitely not Deadmau5, and not Hybrid although that was closer to the mark). I assumed at the time that it was a truly inspired live balancing act between two awesome tracks. Such is the magic of expectation.

And I have to say that a lot of delicious tracks followed. Toronto from Dnox & Beckers. Total Departure from Smith & Selway. A remix of Enjoy the Silence. And the Lolita’s own productions, Murder Weapon and Nobody Seems to Care. Loads of the promised melody and warmth. Every track in the set was killer, if not necessarily well placed. But the vibe was hammered by some spectacularly untidy mixing. Call me puritanical, but shouldn’t pitch matching be done before you drop the new track, not after?

To give him credit, Aad was probably very tired. 3 sets in Perth, Canberra and then Sydney in less than 24 hours. Poor lad, it’s amazing he was still standing. But it’s at these times of great physical and probably emotional duress, that it’s good to have Aussie mates around to prop you up and make sure you look peachy sweet. Cue the true heroes of the night, Laundry residents Matttt and maestro MDX.

Matttt led the charge on warmup duties, doing his level best not to outgun the headliner. Can’t be easy for a dude with this much talent. He set Aad up so supremely that I didn’t even notice them changing over. My bad! MDX (the artist formerly known as Mark Dynamix) stepped in to mop up, and had the professional courtesy to not show off until Aad had drifted out of the room. Then he unleashed it on the stayers. Brilliant set from our longtime champion. It was harder, driving and very clean and seamless. Yessssss! I’m pretty sure I heard his new release Hot & Spicy (remix coutesy of Bass Kleph), and I’m told he dropped Sydney underground DJ/producer Mortlock’s new track. There were some sweet progressive tracks I’m still trying to track and trace, and a whole lot of cranking techno. This was the magic that had the stayers in the crowd still moving long after we should have headed home to keep ourselves nice for Global Gathering.

Yes, a small disappointment from 16 Bit Lolitas, although the track selection was cool. Probably more to do with massive expectation than anything else. But Laundry always brings it one way or another and they’ve got their hands on some awesome residents right now. Consider the internationals the icing on the thick and crunchy Laundry cake, and you’ll never be disappointed.