It must have been extremely painful giving birth to the baby Jesus as a virgin. I mean…double ouch! That’s probably why Mary Christ forgot to give her son Jesus a middle name. No matter – over the years humanity has done Mary’s job for her, exclaiming “Jesus H Christ”, whenever something unexpected occurred. On Saturday night, I think many Sydney-siders found themselves exclaiming the lord’s name in vain with a resounding “Jesus Double H Christ” as German tech maestro Robert Babicz quite simply destroyed heads at Shrug, making the most of one of the best club sounds systems in Sydney. Babicz’s addition to the line-up was very last minute; for reasons that remain unknown he was no longer playing his scheduled Laundry gig. A boon for Sydney Shrug-ites indeed!

Rising local star Mic Newman was given warm-up duties and was delivering some surprisingly soulful tunes to an already lubricated Civic crowd. He kept the tunes warm, and the crowd warmer with a tight selection of grooves that perfectly picked the mood. I think he won some new fans with his mature and polished set. Namito was up next, taking the first headline slot at 1am. To start he was a bit shaky, rushing through his transitions and struggling to get the levels right. But while his first few mixes were a bit sloppy, the tunes were tight and he began to dish out some rather large tracks. Not known for producing banging tracks, Namito may have taken some of the crowd by surprise as he really dished out some slamming tech, and by his second hour, he had really found his groove.

And then it was Robert’s turn. Sauntering up to his live rig (playing off Ableton and various controllers), his demure red scarf belied the intent in his music. With a gentle sway and a coy look in his eyes, he delivered bass – mountains of it – and wasted no time in hitting a surprisingly prog-like groove. There was mountains of melody laced with that hard-hitting tech edge that so clearly defines his sound. All Babicz productions; all very, very good. Quite simply, the Civic was in raptures. Babicz’s set was relentless as he weaved through a mountain of quality tunes, all with a casual nonchalance of a large German taking a stroll through the park on a winter’s eve. Towards the end of his set, he let loose some proper acid, and like a pack of wild dogs with 303 teeth, they tore up the crowd. There were a mountain of highlights, one of the biggest being a seemingly new rework of his own classic remix of Dark Flower. Brilliant.

By the end of his set, there was simply no fuel left in the tank and my cheeks ached from smiling so much. Robbie Lowe was about to step up but these ears were done. Shamefully, this was my first Shrug. The once-fledgling monthly night seems to now have established itself as one of the best rubber-stamp guarantees of proper underground tunes, a like-minded crowd and importantly, a damn good night out.