The second to last instalment of Swarm gave the Sydney techno crowd what they’d come for!... Hard fast throbbing techno.

With Vic soon to become a daddy, it looks like the Swarm parties are gonna be all over and done with after easter. Well in this incarnation at least. Shame really because as Saturday night showed, it doesn’t take big acts or huge crowds to make a good techno night, even in Sydney.

Early on the crowd was pretty damn small, with this being the second (or third, I can’t remember) Swarm at the Dendy Bar I was beginning to wonder if the usual crowd were prepared to make their skanky way out of the bosom of the inner west to the city. The two-room arrangement of the Dendy always seems to make the crowd appear smaller with the bar area seeming to be the launching pad for those too chicken to hit the main floor straight off. Sub Bass Snarl managed to get the kids moving with some of their usual crunchy, electroy dnb nonsense. Mark Murphy played a brilliant set to a half full main room. Pounding, hard and tight and perfect at this early stage.

Manson came on in the main room after Mark Murphy and played a horrid set of noisecore. Surprisingly the dancefloor stayed half full to this hard but rarely danceable set that one of my mates wasn’t far off when he described it as gabba. Ritual continued the vibe in the second room, a few more kids were up and moving in there too.

Et Chan placed some more accessible techno as he took over from Manson in the main room. The dancefloor filled a bit more as people could actually dance to him. Patrick Haf in the second room got everyone’s booty’s shaking as the crowd continued to grow even at this late stage, spose them techno types must be late starters?

Then the big-name DJ of the night, if you can call him that, Syber Simon (UK) took over and played a different sort of techno to what we’d come to expect from Swarm. A lot of the snooty, whiney-type techno aficionados weren’t that impressed with him but he played Johannes Heil so I was well chuffed. Wasn’t really the deep funky tech he often hinted at, and he did go a bit ‘ard ‘ouse at times but still the crowd seemed to like it and showed their appreciation by flashing their tits.

Tom Haze played by all reports a good set in the front room, unfortunately I missed him play “ass ‘n titties”. Some called his set the highlight of the night but at the time I was on the main floor watching Vic play one of the best sets I’ve seen him play; tight mixing and some really good tracks.

Null Object went a bit sideways from Vic, bit closer to making my nose bleed with some nasty live noises. Not as nasty as Manson’s set earlier in the evening but still not suitable for children. DEFT cranked out yet more booty in the second room, but I was feeling a bit bozed and decided to make my excuses.

A top night yet again, and did more than just whet my appetite for Chris Liberator at the last Swarm at Easter.