- With a lineup including the names Ornadel, Foort and Ho, Slinky offered something for fans of many dance genres. This was instantly confirmed on my arrival at Melbourne Park where the full cross section of Melbourne's dance community (minus the breaks n DnB crew) were present. Exams or no exams, when it's a huge lineup like this and a public holiday the next day, it's bound to be a big event.
The party was divided into the Slinky Main Room where the trance and harder sounds of the night were to be heard, the Substance Progressive Room, Hardware Techno Room, Deep to House Room, and the House chillout tent. Somehow I managed to get around to all the rooms, though some were hit and run visits and others I could barely tear myself away from the great set I was hearing.
I arrived just before 1am and managed to catch the end of Kasey Taylor's set in the Progressive Room, which had a good sized crowd in it. A broken wrist wasn't going to stop this DJ veteran from playing his set. I only heard a few tracks but it was trademark Kasey, dark and deep to lead into Barry Jamieson's set. Better known as part of the production outfit "Evolution", Barry had warmed up for Slinky with a surprise set the night before at Republic. He imediately changed the pace from Kasey's set to something much funkier with a rolling percussive sound. His set was off to a good start so I went to explore the rest of the party.
The main room was in the huge and cavernous Indoor Courts. This room was completely full when i entered during the beginning of Guy Ornadel's set! The second surprise was many less glowsticks that I expected! I'd come to check out Ornadel to hear some progressive trance at the beginning of his set before he moved into the harder trance tracks. The tunes were definately thumping though melodic. The main room had 3 huge round screens on the wall behind the stage with excellent visuals and closeup footage of Ornadel in the mix, split across the largest screen. Ornadel looked happy on stage. The progressive trance had the crowd dancing, and while I heard one huge breakdown there was no cheese during the beginning of Ornadel's set. Back on the move, outside I cruised past the stalls and people chatting next to gas heaters (good work there!). The cosy chill tent was a pumping with groovey house sounds by Debius and the lowest bpm at the event.
Back at the Progressive Room Barry's set was about to end. While having some great tunes it didnt really seem to go anywhere so the crowd had thinned and people where waiting for Lucien Foort. He looked pumped from the moment he hit the stage. Starting off very funky, Foort's set became more driving over time with some nice breakdowns that had the crowd cheering and people dancing non-stop. With a few vocal tracks and loads of melody the set was without a doubt awe inspiring for many of the people there. Lucien's style is so unique within the progressive house scene, and he was in excellent form last night. By the end of the set Lucien had shifted the sound into a darker tone so that I thought Creamer had started his set. Wrong! Just another demonstration of Lucien's skill and diversity. A few more vocal tracks near the end of the set, including "Loverman" and it was time for Creamer to start.
Time for techno for me! The techno room was half the size of the Progressive room if that, but that was good as it meant we were able to get up close and personal to Oliver Ho. His set was everything I expected and more, tribal and funky as hell. Ho was concentrated on the mix, yet looked happy and calm. As he worked that mixer the crowds danced and cheered and appreciated the great sounds. At times even moving into house, the set was punchy and involving. I wish I could have experienced the whole two hours to truely appreciate it. Only downside of Ho's set was no third deck for this master of three. He was astounding us on two, so we could only be jealous of friend's who'd seen him earlier in Sydney doing perfect mixing over three. Three decks for the tech room next time please. If local clubs can do it, why can't a big production crew?
Back in the prog room John Creamer was showing us his DJ sets aren't far off his production sounds. Looking like the roadie who had jumped on stage for a mix, his set was deep and dark (and may I say evil?). With those characteristic fat basslines and breathy speech over tracks, Creamer lost a lot of the crowd who'd been dancing to Foort's set. He did however provide the perfect set for fans of the deep n dark progressive sound, though for me it was too dark after Lucien's set. I did admire his a cappella use of the old narrative "you are sleeping, you do not want to believe". The moment was so Creamer, and the vocals so perfect with the music. Creamer finished off with a deep and funky track that even had Ornadel dancing on the stage.
In the progressive room it was up to Sean Quinn to take the party home, and he set a grinding pace from the beginning that sent the dancefloor back into action. Meanwhile in the techno room, Richie Rich was finishing the night up there with a prefectly pitched morning set with some electro sounds. Past the Polecat's bedtime, and I left with a big smile as I passed the Deep to House room and heard the sounds of D*Note's "Shed my Skin" floating on the early morning air.