Dave Pezzner aka Pezzner is a new name being thrown around the electronic dance music community in recent times. His catalog of organic sounding house has swiftly risen to a stature of a well respected deep house artist. But Pezzner is not new to the scene at all having been around for at least a decade in the duo Jacob London with partner-in-crime Bob Hansen. Yet, it is his recent solo studio work from 2008 that Pezzner has really come into his own. The Pezzner project has created music that has a sense of abstract artistic sensibility about it, with some enjoyable percussive themes throughout. This is a stark contrast from the bizarre, quirky, experimental sound that was his work with Bob Hansen. Pezzner was to treat the crowd in the surroundings of The Civic Underground, a superb venue with immaculate sound.

Starting off the night were newcomers to the scene Mesan. Having won the Shrug DJ competition, they were to set the stage for Pezzner. It must be said that promoter Dave Stuart took a risk and put it out there for the talent of Sydney; a risk, thankfully, that worked out superbly. Could it pave the way for more promoters to follow suit? And so, from the word go, Msean performed a selection of groovy deep house – just enough to keep the crowd (albeit a relaxed one) interested. It was a solid opening to the night, and a great start to the career of Mesan, who really were deserved winners.

Next cab off the rank was arguably the best local in Sydney: Robbie Lowe. He carried on the night with deep house, though Robbie also brought something else I could relate to – moody music. From touching melodies to eerie vocals, I truly enjoyed this. The crowd had been steadily growing and was now quite a force to be reckoned with,

It was Pezzner time, and a loud cheer later, the adventure had begun. With a very simple live setup he began to treat the crowd to some sounds on the deeper end of the house spectrum. It was noticeably louder than the previous set, but by the time Pezzner’s own Chapter Two came around, the ears were enjoying the sounds. As he worked through his collection of deep and tech house, the sound he thrived on became crystal clear: clean deep house music with an array of melodies sounding much like they were from a Virus Ti. Pezzner pulled bass from places that I didn’t know a deep house artist could include in their tunes. Pezzner was able to draw out tracks as he pleased and it really showed his creativity. It also allowed for the tracks to meld together – sounding fantastic. His was truly an entertaining set – easily the best I’ve seen at the Civic. If he was simply playing a DJ set, I don’t think I would of been anywhere near as interested as I was.What I loved most, was the live factor.

Reckless Republic head Murat Kilic finished off the night with Pezzner playing an extra half an hour – something which the crowd was very appreciative of. Murat brought his well known style of tech house to the dance floor and keeping the party going for Dave Stuart to finish off.

Shrug featuring Pezzner was a well run night in an excellent venue. The sound was clear, the crowd was pleasant and the music, enjoyable. Shrug is an asset to the Sydney scene and although it took me a while to discover the potential of this night, I will certainly be back there in future.