- Semi-regular underground parties in Sydney can be hard to come by. Sure, there are parties in city nightclubs every night of the week, but events in warehouses and other unlicensed venues are few and far between. Although there wasn't any birthday cake at the recent second birthday at one of the few that does—CO-OP—a hefty crowd paid homage to the outfit's solid two-year run, which has seen them bring the likes of Motor City Drum Ensemble, John Daly and Iron Curtis to Sydney for their respective debut appearances.
To headline proceedings, Sub Club's DJ Harri was enlisted for a four-hour set. The CO-OP residents—Neil Terry and James Scott—and a small cast of guests were also scheduled to spin, some in a smaller room adjacent to the venue's main dance floor. Throughout the night, a healthy energy filled the sold-out Sun Studios warehouse space. There was a varied crowd, from 18-year-olds to graybeards, with more than half those present seemingly having an accent from Scotland, Ireland or England. Harri kicked off his set at 11 PM with a solid string of straight-up house cuts, which were welcomed by the packed dance floor. Like any house set, however, unless the DJ pulls out something left-of-field or changes it up a bit, things often take a downward turn. The first-half of Harri's set came together nicely, but the selections after the two-hour mark eventually became repetitive, which was a shame considering the night's noticeably amicable vibe. He played a selection of newer house jams before proceeding to delve into deep house, but it was with too little or no variation in sound, it left the tail end of his set somewhat monotonous.
The highlight of the night came from Sydney locals Claire Morgan and Magda Bytnerowicz, who were playing back-to-back for the first time, crafting an upbeat set heavy on house and disco, but with enough variation to keep the animated crowd happy. The Monkey Tennis DJs, a local outfit that have shared the bill with their CO-OP counterparts at many parties across Sydney, followed. They offered a point of difference to Harri, going a little deeper and techier with their selections, but, like the headliner, their set produced no clear standout moments. By midway through their allotted time slot, it was hard to choose who to stay with, them or Harri. Unfortunately, this wasn't because the music in each room was great, but rather because they were both a little underwhelming.
Ultimately, the party didn't live to the usual CO-OP standards. Perhaps it was because the direction Harri took was incompatible with the warehouse location or outwardly jovial crowd, but this time around the Scot simply didn't pull out the kind of tunes that kept the not-so-serious people on the dance floor.