- UK breakbeat maestros Atomic Hooligan (well actually it was just El Tel (Terry Ryan) while Matt Welch chose to stay at home in the UK, probably to finish work on the Hooligan's upcoming album) made a return to Australian shores. Terry made his Australian debut appearance last year at the famed Breakscentral party at DCM to an up-for-it breaks crowd with a heavyweight selection of local DJ's acting as support. This year the good lads at Broke'n'beats/Kink have been nice enough to invite him back for another mix of uptempo breakbeat stompers and some really fly scratching skills to boot, and again he supported by the likes of Sydney heavyweight DJ's Frenzie, The Jackal and Elroy.
The interior of the Arthouse made for an inviting environment as it was unbelievably cold in Sydney and it was threatening to rain. Kicking off the proceedings at 10pm was Frenzie who played a tasty mix of hip hop, funk, disco and party breaks. From Kurtis Blow to Mousse T, Indeep to DJ Skribble and going allt he way to some newer tunes like Radio 4's Party Crashers, Frenzie showed off how versatile a DJ he can be - pulling off some sweet mixes and accompanied by top notch scratching skills. Frenzie usually takes care of the very last set at Broke'n'beats (around 3am), so starting at 10pm meant that the crowd was a bit thin (most of them wanted to relax and chillout) but by the end of his set, the floor was starting to get crowded as he got to rinse out some upbeat party breaks.
Next was Elroy, and what more can be said about this infamous Sydney based DJ? Elroy continued off Frenzie's set and got out more of the party breaks that he's typically known for. At this point the crowd became very receptive and responsive to his track selections putting their hands in the air during Scotty Mars' "Hot Butta" and "Push Up" by the Freestylers, rappng along with the words to DJ Skribbles vs Mr Red - "Everybody Come On (Can You Feel It)" and getting down to the dirty bass of Mr. Potatoheads "That Ding Ding Track". Elroy only got an hour and 15 minutes for his set before Terry came on, so for anyone who felt that Elroy's set was too short can catch him ripping up the breaks at his weekly Sublime residency.
On the last track by Elroy, Terry AKA DJ El Tel (as he's known on his Menu Sessions radio program) jumped onto the decks and started scratching and cutting it up. From the offset, Terry had locked it down with very tight beatmatching skills coupled with turntablism antics that would make most first time witnesses in breaks and chin strokers (yes, I was one of those) shiver with delight. The term "nuskool breaks" in Sydney is usually seen as being far too techy and unsuitable for the dancefloor, but did that stop Terry? No, he played it like a block party breakbeat set. Tunes like the Hooligan's remix of Aquasky vs Masterblaster's "All In Check" got the crowd absolutely jumping up and down on the dancefloor, and let's not forget their wicked breaks remix of Underworld's "Born Slippy" which got the crowd chanting along (champagne, lager, champagne, lager - a testament to the kinds of beverages consumed en mass throughout the whole night) and not to mention it got a mashed up Klaus (that's "Heavyweight" Hill to you &%$#@*!) off his seat to pogo up and down with Terry behind the decks. Terry even got out some local breaks giving Nick Thayer's "Theme One" a good caning - I can't even recall what acapella he laced for that one. 2003/2004 is the season for bootleg mixes and Terry pulled out a breaks remix of Groove Armada's "I See You Baby (Shakin' That Ass)" which got all the ladies in the place screaming for more. Halfway through his set, Terry dropped the tempo drastically to hip hop with Gangstarr's Full Clip ("do you wanna mess with this? Gangstarr, I'm one of the best yet!" getting everyone pulling out the hip hop dance steps. Terry then sped it back up to breaks dropping tunes like the Plump's remix of Rennie Pilgrem's "Some Place Funky" and even some new releases like SFX Beats' "Carnival" and showcasing some brand new platters - some of which had Klaus himself stumped as to what they were - and finally closed off with "Scram" by the Plump DJ's which saw Terry lay down the acappella vocal for Real 2 Reel's "I Like To Move It, Move It" - I was actually hoping for it to be played on top of Zero's "Emit/Collect" - damn it Terry hehehe! He was in control of 5 decks and he used each one of them like a pro, never missing a beat and being able to scratch proficiently on the CDJ-1000''s that Kink has installed - fark even his scratch and drop mixes sounded awesome!
Finally, to close it off was Broke'n'beats main man and resident DJ, The Jackal. The 3am set is typically a hard set to play as the crowd usually move off into the Kink main room or like to lounge about on the cushy seats and chill out. Jackal found no problem whatsoever in maintaining a good dancefloor, dropping tunes like Evil Nine's rock influenced "Restless" (with New Flesh''s Toastie Taylor on rap vocals) to the funk fuelled "Mind The Gap" by the Drummatic Twins, all the way to some newer hits like the Stanton Warrior's Adventures In Success and Pod & Bowser's "The Anti". By 5am Jackal still had the crowd on their toes, begging for one more before being sent home.
After missing Terry's set last year at the breakcentral party and hearing the news of how good it was, I was kicking myself and suffered many a regret of the show I had missed out on (apparently he was so amped from his set he had to cut and scratch it up during DJ Auxillary's set afterwards). Given the opportunity to see this guy back in Sydney at Broke'n'beats, I was determined to make an effort to catch him live, and were my expectations met? Yes, and I was literally blown away by the whole expo. What made it even better was meeting Terry himself who turned out to be a really down-to-earth character, going around shaking hands and showing gratitude for the adulation he was getting - someone who definitely downplays the stereotype that "DJ's think they're too good for the crowd". Definitely can't wait for their debut album to drop. The Botchit & Scarper posse have a fine roster of artists, including Chris Carter, Aquasky vs Masterblaster, The Lawgivers and Deekline & Wizard to name just a few. If this is what to expect from a Botchit & Scarper DJ set, then I'll be drooling in anticipation for Deekline & Ollywood's Breaks, Beats & Blondes tour which hits Sydney on the 31st of July.