- There are few venues in Melbourne that could support The Likes of You's 3rd birthday bill, but Brown Alley is something like a medieval castle, with spiral staircases, wooden banisters and balconies overlooking the main stage like a King's Court. On Friday the 8th of January people certainly felt its size, rushing back and forth between levels trying to see as much music as possible, from Claude VonStroke to Theo Parrish and Josh Wink to Danny Howells.
I am cautious to say that Claude VonStroke was headlining the birthday bash, but he is a favorite son on the Australian circuit. Having played the Parklife festival as recently as October 2009, this early return was due to the "weather," in the American's own words. Without any new releases to hawk, it was an excellent chance for people to see where VonStroke's tastes would take his three-hour set. Playing a number of remixes of his own material, including the Riva Starr Re-Chunk of "Beat That Bird" and even a drum & bass edit by Marky & S.P.Y of "Aundy," what started out slowly picked up drive over time, even if people continued to come and go from the main room, exploring Brown Alley for something as good as VonStroke.
It was unfortunate that Theo Parrish was playing a two-hour set at the same time as VonStroke in the upstairs room of Brown Alley, because it was the Detroit icon's set that was most impressive. In his baseball cap, baggy jeans and loose t-shirt, Parrish's presence gave the half-full dance floor a strange ambience. Though there was an eternity between the slow rhythms and some of his beats, Parrish had people hanging off every drop, bobbing and weaving between the decks as though he was in a boxing ring.
Timing clashes continued to be the Likes of You's birthday present to its ticket holders later on the evening, as Josh Wink and Danny Howells battled it out for an audience as well. Throwing my lot in with Josh Wink, his laptop and MIDI controller worked the main room through some acid house and harder acid techno before calming down with tracks like Luca Bachetti's "It's Jazzy." So frenetic was the crowd that the large fan to the side of the decks was prime real estate; people would rotate position for a face full of cold air before returning to the fray.
After three hours of Wink, the main room began to empty of drained bodies while the more eager revelers caught the last half hour of Christian Burkhardt's live set. More than any other place, though, people began to flock to the smoker's loft, which had been a popular chillout area throughout the night. The most important question that was pondered there was a simple one: When can we do it all over again?