Seriously. Pole Folder. What kind of stoopid-arse name is that? Is the dude branding himself after some exotic Danish camping device? Or an eye-watering Belgian sex toy? Allegedly his own explanation of the name-choice involves something about the filters and folders on a sampler. Sounds suss to me. The sex toy theory is so much more believable. But when you are treated to one of Pole Folder’s sets, the funny name ceases to matter. And what we got in the Cave at Laundry on Saturday night was definitely one of those ‘matterless’ moments.

The crowd-size at Laundry suffered from Sydney’s first Saturday night of truly lame weather for the year, and possibly a backlash from the previous weekend’s logjam at Warren/Tomiie. The main room was still pretty full, but things were lighter on in the Cave. And the devoted crew, including a respectable turnout of ITMers, made the most of it. (Dear Laundry Fairy, we promise that we buy way more drinks when we can actually carry them more than 10cm from the bar. Cross our hearts!)
So it was Matttt on warmup duties, and the night was still young so he had to work it hard. Sparse crowd, but enthusiastic. The tracks were quite a bit harder than I expected, but in hindsight this was actually pretty chilled for Matttt, who’s carved out some storming sets of late. The crowd had built up by the time our Belgian hero stepped up. No posing or grandstanding or special intros from the Bedrock Wunderkind. Just straight on with the beats. Seamless.

Folder was playing a 2 hour set. So much to pack in, so little time! And 20 minutes in we were left wondering. Pole was playing pretty much the same kicking tech that Matttt had been dishing out. From a DJ famous for his dreamy melodic sonics, we were itching for a bit more progression and tunefulness. But the next second he dropped his first awesome melodic tech track, and hands left chins and hit the air good and proper. Sweet sweet tracks, every one. Tracks like Dario Maffia’s Zero Arbeit and the Leix remix of So Beautiful. This wasn’t the sweet progressive journey/astral travel experience that bent my brain so eloquently remembered from last time I heard him play. This time he promised the tracks he’d bring would be moody and melodic, so his set was more driving and rhythmic than I expected. But still completely awesome. The first Kodak magic moment for the night captured Pole Folder working the mixer hard with ‘fanboys’ Mark Dynamix AKA MDX and Sydney DJ Mortlock hanging over the front of the booth. Now there’s something you don’t see every day.

Kodak magic moment number 2 was captured as MDX stepped up to take over. Again, no ego-tripping from the international as the pair tag-teamed a seamless changeover. A vision of perfect symmetry, both in white Ts, Pole’s hair black, MDX completely blonde, both with headphones on nodding along together to the mix. Beautiful to behold. Teamwork makes the dreamwork.
Plenty of space left plenty of room for some mad dancefloor moves, including some from Master Folder himself as MDX continued to drive home the goodness, show off some elite skillz and demonstrate why he’s been at the top of the DJ game for so long. A mad scratch-fest and a remix of Beds Are Burning totally planted smiles on faces.

Sweet underground beats, and totally down-to-earth Worlds Most Elite DJs. Where else could this happen? It’s friendly, fun, intimate, no-bullshit nights like this that make Laundry the happy place I’ll keep going back for. And if artists like Pole Folder are up for it, they can name themselves after any kinky little devices they like. Respekt.