Fokus' Merry Crankin Christmas @ Two Floors Up, Melbourne (25/12/02)
Last year the Fokus crew treated us to a fantastic Christmas party at Club Cartel. For all of us that managed to get there it was another nite of quality techno (not to mention the free CD mixed by Ben Cromack and Brewster B). The place was tightly packed (claustrophobic actually) with all the lunatics that require their regular dose of mad techno.
That was last year. This year the Fokus crew decided to return to the original techno venue for another mind-blowing Christmas Night performance. Though not as packed as last year, the crowd was an excellent mixture of clubbers in search of quality techno. The nite started nicely with Simon Coyle and Richie Rich getting the crowd moving with some groovin’ techno (with lots of funk) and the occasional acid house tune courtesy of Richie (not to mention Richie dropping my new favourite track FPU – Crockett’s theme). Next on the decks was Dave Pham. Starting out with a corny 80’s pop gem he continued playing some electro and slowly kept picking up the pace. By the end of his set, Pham was banging out some furious tech tunes, trying to blow out the speakers and our eardrums. It was all over when he played another of his 80’s pop gems.
By the time Mike Callander and Disko Pussy got on the decks the dance floor was tightly packed with people waiting for more. Whenever one of these two gets paired up with someone else you know they’ll leave their traditional sets and go for the harder sounds. The set was tough as nails and the dance floor was packed with people shaking their booty. By the end of their set we figured our eardrums have had enough (i.e. we are soft) so we had better head home. Stopping at the first level on the way down I heard a mad breaks set so I wandered in to check it out. The DJ spinning was Agent 86. I have never witnessed this guy before and I must admit that this guy was the revelation at this party. Playing a very nice breaks set with lots of hip-hop thrown in. His technical skills were excellent. Lots of scratching and some other technical mastery of which I am not up to date with. And the track selection was perfect. Tracks such as DJ Shadow’s The number song and De La Soul’s Say no go were just few of the choice cuts this guy was putting on the decks.
We left with our ears buzzing and grinning like mad. Another excellent nite put on by the Fokus crew. Is there anything better than these guys in town? A friendly vibe, a small venue with a very comfortable atmosphere, and of course some quality techno. Doesn’t get much better than that, except for the Fokus’ Christmas present to their fans: their latest Fokus Mix CD mixed by Disko Pussy and Mike Callander. Now the Fokus magic can be experienced at home with some dope.
I only knew you for a while
I never saw your smile
‘Til it was time to go
Time to go away (time to go away)
Sometimes it’s hard to recognise
Love comes as a surprise
And it’s too late
It’s just too late to stay
Too late to stay
We’ll always be together
However far it seems
(Love never ends)
We’ll always be together
Together in Electric Dreams
