- Being a veteran Sydney clubber and having never ventured to sounds, I somewhat felt like an anomaly trudging slowly in the line to enter my first Sounds on Sunday event ever. The weather was not the best, fairly overcast and humid with a sky grey enough to guarantee rain. Upon entry I got chatting to one of the promoters of the event who informed me he was going to turn away a considerable amount of punters despite the financial gain that was to be had by letting them in. He said there was no point making the extra bucks when people will end up having a horrible day in the rain, it was nice to meet a business man who respects his clients’ comfort more than their money.
After sussing out the Greenwood Hotel’s transformation to Sounds on Sunday it was decided the place to be was the Courtyard, hosting Ben Korbel, Ajax and then Felix. There was plenty of cover provided in case the heavens were to open up (which they only ever did for a short period of time.) When speaking to punters on the day some felt the courtyard was a little too packed, but I thought it was no less comfortable than a busy club night, perhaps they were comparing to previous Sounds events.
Ben Korbel’s set was certainly an appropriate way to warm the crowd into Electro territory. Ben’s progressive roots could still certainly be felt during his set – plenty of wavy synths and flowing textures over tougher electro basslines and stabbing kicks seemed to juxtapose well and keep and deeper feel while people warmed into their day of dance. Ben’s set seemed to grow in intensity rather nicely, always building well from each breakdown, although sometime seeming a little stop-start. Never the less, it certainly worked well for the massive dancefloor who were truly up for it by the time Ajax stepped up to the decks.
Although a review should be kept fairly objective, I feel it must be said that Ajax really played the set of the day. Recently I have witnessed sets of his at other parties around town and found his sets to be a bit more “crossover” and less innovative than the Ajax I have come to love and cherish. Boy did he revive my belief that he is Sydney’s premier electro DJ. His set consisted of a few slightly older records, but really seemed to show off the best tunes of the last 2 or 3 years of electro. The bass heavy “Fears”, plenty of DFA remixes, classic City Rockers tracks and some fresh neo-rock sounds really helping shape his excellent set. With the usual finesse, Ajax also injected his innovative use of accapellas exploiting the now pop vocals of Bad Cabbage’s “Get Fucked” as well as Daft Punk’s “Harder, faster, better, stronger.” By the end of his set the crowd were captivated and ready for Felix’s follow through.
With the clouds setting a fairly dark and grey mood, Felix’s set seemed very appropriate. Intrusive electro-chords, harsh synth stabs and undulating basslines pummelled out of the impressive sound system for the next 90 minutes. Felix’s signature tracks were not ommited from his enjoyable set. “Silver shower screen”, “Control Freaq”, “Blue Monday” and plenty of other synthesised sleazy, dirty electro tracks pumped the crowd rather nicely. Felix’s mixing was somewhat elementary unfortunately - really let tracks play out and never doing anything interesting or risky behind the decks. Having said that it was miles ahead of his efforts at Field Day 2003. This only became a downfall when he entered the realms of filtered, cheesy breakdowns. It seemed to be an effort to slow down his set and chill the crowd but I can’t help but feel people would have preferred his set to keep banging away as it’s what most of Sydney have come to know Felix to do.
After about 90 minutes Felix hit the breaks. His set totally changed with a drop-mix into 120bpm “Neo-punk-I’m-reinventing-my-persona-through-valium-rock-n-roll”. It was cool, ultra sleazy rock-cum-electro that rarely is heard. Personally, I thought it was rather cool, but at the same time was too much of a downer after the previous part of his set. The crowd seemed to be patient enough and somewhat flattered as Felix played an extra hour than anticipated even if they weren’t totally familiar with the sound he was pushing.
After Felix, Shamus appeared behind the decks. Although Mark Dynamix had been billed to follow through, Shamus seemed to lighten things up a bit and move his cult followers into the last hours of their day out. It was at this stage I departed very happy with my first Sounds experience.