- Summer Sessions Volume 1 featuring Erick Morillo, Sander Kleinenberg, Sarah Main, Sean Quinn.
It was almost 11.30pm when some friends and I rocked up to Metro on Bourke Street. It was the first time any of us had been there but after hearing so much about how good the venue is, we were raring for a treat.
Walking though the large foyer that is the entrance to Metro, I couldn’t help but notice the building seemed to be an old theater of sorts, which has now been converted into a sprawling 3 story club. The main room was sparsely populated at this early hour, but Sean Quinn was already pumping out an early warm up progressive house set. I looked up while standing in the main floor and was awed by the size and height of the sprawling club. Steel staircases led from the dance floor to walkways which circle the upper levels of the cavernous main room and provided access to the upstairs room as well. The lighting in Metro was one of the best I’ve seen around Melbourne, the light show illuminating every corner of the dance floor. 2 giant projector screens flanked the DJ console giving out trippy visuals. 2 giant beach balls hung suspended from the walkways above, a reminder of this being a summer themed party.
The track selection for Sean Quinn’s set was good and apart for a hiccup when he mixed in the Planet Funk remix of Elisa – ‘Time’, the rest of his warm up set was spot on. A pleasant surprise was when he threw in the new single by the Echomen – ‘Cure’.
I sunk into one of the long red diner seats at the back of the club with some friends and chilled out as the crowd slowly poured in. The house music crowd dressed up for the occasion, and there certainly was a glam and glitter factor in their attire.
Sander Kleinenberg took over the decks at 12.15am. He played house, slowly planning out his set and pacing himself. The first hour was just smooth grooves, slowly leaning towards the progressive side. Past the first hour of his set, the music was definitely picking up; Sander tastefully playing in some pop-crossover remixes, like Madonna’s – ‘Music’. A totally unexpected track that just about got everyone on the floor was when a wicked remix of Everything But The Girl – ‘Missing’ was thrown in. The crowd went nuts! Sander later proceeded to mixed in his own dub of Justin Timberlake’s – ‘Rock Your Body’ the evil stabbing bass lines totally changing this pop song into a floor killer. Wasting no time in working the crowd, tune after tune of intense progressive and melodic tracks were played, it was packed like sardines on the dance floor, a great turnout for the event.
Here was the biggest disappointment for the progressive fans: Sander Kleinenberg stopped his set after 2hrs, and handed over the decks to Erick Morillo at 2.15am! Bewildered faces were aplenty as everyone was looking forward to him playing the slated time of 3hrs. It was later speculated that Morillo wanted to play a longer set, and Sander obliged, but nobody knows for sure.
Looking on however, the crowd cheered Morillo on, as he took over the decks. What happened next was an unexpected surprise: Morillo’s crew proceeded to shut off and cover up the turntables, fix up a pair of CDJ-1000s and a sampler/effects unit. He was not playing from vinyl at all! The whole of Morillo’s set was to be on CDR. The head honcho of Subliminal Records certainly knew what he was doing for this gave him all the freedom to work and twist with acapellas and other samples.
Starting off with a female vocal, seductively teasing and talking about house music, he let loose with a few beats as a tease, then went full swing into some wicked house beats. The interaction and entertainment level between Morillo and the crowd was intense, as he urged everyone on with teasing beats and sampled voices repeated again and again for effects. The crowd was screaming for more and lapping up what he dished out. This is what Subliminal Sessions are about!
Upstairs in the side room, Sarah Main was also playing to a packed floor. Dropping some of the sickest tribal/house tunes around, this gal certainly has got good taste in music. Some tracks played were David Guetta – ‘Just a Little More Love’, Superchumbo – ‘Revolution’, Chus and Ceballos – ‘Echoes from Doruma’ and Loco Dice – ‘Phat Dope Shit’ . This genre of music I really couldn’t find much of in Melbourne as few people play like this. This reviewer was happily bouncing away in front of Sarah.
Back to the main room, Erick Morillo just played Thick Dick’s – ‘Insaitable’ followed by a classic Masters at Work – ‘Work’. Nice one. There is a particular way that Morillo builds his set. He brings it up and down in 20minute blocks. With each one revolving around the introduction of a new acapella, he samples and repeats the acapella over and over, before introducing beats into it and working it up to sound like a totally different track. Hypnotic subliminal messaging indeed with these voices superbly worked over with his sampler. Morillo’s mastery of the CDJ-1000s is amazing, totally using and abusing the technology available to screw our minds with these twisted sounds. Tracks and acapellas used include: Oscar G & Ralph Falcon – ‘Dark Beat’, Green Velvet – ‘La La Land’, Donna Summer – ‘I Feel Love’, Vibe Residents – ‘DJs Calling’, Jamie & Kenny D – ‘Keep on Touchin’ me’, Celada – ‘The Underground’ and Ralphi Rosario’s – ‘I Hear The Music’.
Some parts of the set were questionably repetitive, monotonous and unappealing though, but the other high points made up for the low points.
At 6am, someone probably decided as a joke to untie one of the giant beachballs and drop it into the crowded dancefloor. The punters were all too glad to jump and play with the giant ball punching it into the air over the large main room. A hilarious sight indeed, I almost split my guts laughing before joining in the fun and snapping some photos of a runaway beach ball. Security were not amused as they tried again and again to confiscate the ball from the crowd with no avail until after much pleading, the punters reluctantly gave them the giant ball back. Classic!
Morillo played for a solid 4.5 hours, and the whole set was on CDRs! At 6.40am, the decks were handed over to John Course and Erick took up the mic to thank the Melbourne crowd for the support. There is definitely a huge fan base for Morillo here, as the club was still packed at this hour.
By this point, this tired reviewer has had enough house music for a night, and stumbled out into the bright sunlight on Bourke Street to tram it home.