No Nonsense, brainchild of the Sunny and Darkbeat crews, has a record of throwing energetic parties with stellar line-ups. Previously having brought the likes of Steve Lawler, James Lavelle, Hernan Cattaneo and James Zabiela to grace Brown Alley’s booth; tonight the line-up was no less exceptional. From Japan and Saw Recordings, Satoshi Tomiie, progressive star Guy J of Israel, Germany’s deep minimal whiz Gregor Tresher and Marc Marzenit of Spain were just a few of the diverse names on the bill of this third installment.

I arrived around 11:15 to find the venue still quite quiet. Rollin Connection was playing relaxed rhythmic beats on the main dancefloor. A massive array of speakers practically walled in the booth, which was surrounded by tall red screens and backed by four screens playing geometric visuals. A few disco balls peeked through the mesh hung on the ceiling, scattering green light through the room.

As midnight neared, the crowd began to flood in, seeming to double every 10 minutes or so. With a techy, breaky finish, Rollin Connection handed the reins of the packed crowd to the much-anticipated Satoshi Tomiie. The set began with simple snappy house beats, keeping things very mellow with groovy tribal tech house creeping in. Then, he slowly began to take it deeper and funkier, blending techno and house.

Aaron Smiles was on in the outside Garden Bar, playing slow progressive breaks and ambient melodies. This room was red lit, with Chinese lanterns and massive umbrellas almost obscuring the cloudy sky overhead. A few colourful mushrooms decorated the walls. The sound in this second room was louder and perhaps deeper than I have heard there other nights, making dancing there enjoyable, if chilly. After cloak rooming my jacket I found myself wishing there were some heat lamps on the dancefloor! Ozzie La continued the fun vibe outside, playing spacey, disco-tinged progressive, and Phil K continued the vibe with some interesting old school disco tracks.

Back in the main room, Satoshi was working it. From the slow start, he slowly brought the energy level up, but before things got too wild, he took it back down for a bit. As 3am neared, however, the grooving deep techno beats got ever more intense, and we got to see his superb mixing skills, changing styles seamlessly to weave an impressive set. The climax came in a series of several massive, orgasmic tracks, the crowd losing it amid the pounding bass.

There was also a third Mezzanine room on the mid-level: trippy and intriguing, there was almost no lighting but for the bar and dim red lights at the booth. Everything warm and low, mushrooms lined the walls of the intimate dance floor. This smaller space accommodated King Unique and Gregor Tresher’s harder, faster, more intense beats well, providing a dark womb for dancers to lose it in the music. Sugar High was a standout tune from KU’s impressive set, and then Gregor took things more minimal. Around 4am, this level was closed and Gregor relocated to the Garden Bar, perhaps because downstairs quieted down as Guy J started upstairs.

Guy J’s set was fast-paced progressive techno. It was very flowing, taking the crowd on a journey through many excellent tracks, especially his remixes of Way Out West’s Ultraviolet and Space Manoeuver’s Stage One, and finished with his own Lamur. His set showcased his excellent track selection and progression more than his mixing skill.

Marc Marzenit played quite late, not going on until close to 5:30am, but for the minority who stayed late enough to enjoy it, his set was superb. His innovative style of very melodic techno was almost avant-garde, fluidly dropping killer tunes with the aid of a Macbook and his Ableton Launch pad, the bass the loudest I heard it all night. His set exemplified the new style of progressive techno that is being released on labels like his own Paradigma Musik and Henry Saiz’s Natura Sonoris. Seeing him tonight was especially exciting due to the unfortunate cancellation of his Melbourne gig in April, due to the Icelandic volcano disruptions.

All in all, this third episode of No Nonsense delivered an excellent arrangement of different styles of techno, as well as a chance to examine the diverse mixing styles of several very talented DJs. The floor-shaking, leg-stomping, ear-blasting tunes and well set-up venue kept the friendly and energetic crowd left everyone who made it through to the end happy and exhausted!