On my way to Brown Alley I was already anxious with anticipation knowing that I was going to see one of my favourite dance acts, Joris Voorn, and backing him up was Nic Fanciulli, no slouch on his own! I got even more excited when I got close enough to hear the bass emanating from Brown Alley. This was certainly going to be a night to remember.

Brown Alley was comfortably full and Rollin Connection were just winding down their set. It was good to see the crowd getting into these talented locals. They sure can DJ, and even better they run fantastic nights. Fanciulli stepped up, and his first few tracks were on the house progressive tip, which was great to get you moving. As usual it was a friendly crowd, the usual that Darkbeat parties seem to attract; it might have also helped that there were ITMers galore. Fanciulli’s set had a really good rhythm to it, progressing deeper as the night soldiered on. Surprisingly, his set ended somewhat earlier than everyone thought, but that just meant that Joris Voorn was about to start.

The Dutch prodigy Voorn started playing a mix between deep house and laidback techno. Riding high on the critical acclaim for his new Balance 014 mix CD, Voorn’s set was full of his interesting productions, with the sound varying from techno through to almost progressive (even he states that about his remix of Robert Babicz’s ‘Dark Flower’). It was fantastic throughout. It was similar to how he played at the Digital festival a couple years back, mixing on the highs and midrange of the track then dropping the bass. It had a good groove, and he was able to pick up the pace and bring it back down with ease.

There was many highlights of his set, including Plastikman ‘Spastik’ mixed into Tori Amos ‘Professional Widow’, then bringing ‘Spastik’ back to mash them up together. It was great to hear some real techno throughout the night, and best of all it was techno mixed like techno too. Another top night from Darkbeat and Hardware, they just keep on delivering the goods!