- Are Melbournians the best dancers in Australia? Ha ha, dear readers, you know that’s rhetorical. Practical proof was on show at The Espy last Friday night, with punters shuffling and shimmying between rooms, midnight marauding, evolving their natural dancing styles to the thump of the kickdrum. The crowd were in sterling form, up to let go from the get go. In short, sexy muthafuckas shakin’ that ass. And RA must add it was refreshing not to have the ‘Pills?!?!?’ question repeated ad snauseam. Kudos to Agent Mad and all you lovely breaks fiends.
A-Skillz flicked the switch by cramming in a Dexter-ous amount of records, tastefully meshed and pasteurized, milking out the energy levels midway through proceedings. His set was sooo hot that many declared it numero uno for the event.
K-Oscillate were dynamite by all reports, slamming home a defined oeuvre of d n bizzle. Definitely worth checking out their live show for an indication as to who can possibly keep up with Pendulum at the moment. I was negotiating with the parental units for car usage at the time, but reliably saucy sources informed RA that K-Oscillate were kicking.
B.L.I.M’s love affair with Melbourne continues, positively beaming through his whole set and throwing down ‘Pray 4 U’ by the Plumps and ‘Two Freaks’ (BLIM and Rennie Pilgrem). He even finished with ‘Great Southern Land’ by Icehouse and EQed it to shift the dancefloor into patriotic pride.
Boogs played yet another scintillating set, winding slinky grooves and acidy electro basslines like only he can. It has been recently proven that he is largely responsible for a 243% increase in trainer sales in the last five years in Melbourne, simply due to the fact we grind our poor sneakers into submission every time he’s behind the decks.
The Space DJs weren’t exactly painted into a corner by Boogs, but they completely misjudged their ‘hip hop’ set and the crowd thinned out faster than Derryn Hinch. By chance, RA was whisked upstairs by Radar to the lair of The Wolf, where spliffs were indulged in, followed by free Coopers, while The Wolf told backstage anecdotes about De La Soul. Meeting adjourned, it was back down to a tight Ransom set which saw him slap down ‘It Ain’t No Fun’ (Nate Dogg and Warren G) and then join us in front of the decks for a low-slung groove. Much like Smiths chips, Ransom is the original and the best.
Zinc captured the attention of all who ventured into the drum n bass room, keeping everyone toey and on their toes, chopping into 180 bpms and maintaining the funk. His MC sidekick, MC Verse rapped ‘Gold Digger’ over a Zinc-approved remix, causing genre-hopping hysteria. Cheeky. His take-no-prisoners style of d n b created a flailing arm momentum in the revelers that felt like walking into a well-soundtracked Judo class.
A near perfect event, apart from the Space DJs attempts at a hip hop set. At such a crucial stage of the night, RA feels a live set from Blueprint would have been so well received he would have caused 2 metre waves all the way from the bay to Bells Beach for the Rip Curl Pro. Next time, Gadget.
Mikey Cahill 33&1/3 Awards
Best T-Shirt: “Put that fucking collar down”
Best Supporting Busboy: Thanks to the short, determined bussie Aksh who located my exotic Vietnamese top and suit jacket. After 20 minutes of searching I thought they were lost, but he found them tucked away behind the bar, and I immediately offered/forced a bud of skunk into his grimy hands as a thank you. He hesitated, then nodded “I don’t smoke it… but I will take.�