- "Dance, Motherf*cker! Dance!" yelled the junglist behind me. I was armed with a pen and pad, scribbling in the dark at the time. I thought better of pointing out the difficulty posed by dancing and writing simultaneously, so I struck up a conversation with him instead.
"Do you know how many times DJ Marky has been to Sydney in the last ten years?" he blasted.
I admitted that I didn't.
"Three times! And I've been to every single show!"
Photo credit: Sid Soin
The Brazilian had managed to coax out Sydney's drum & bass massive from beer-soaked dive bars and covert industrials to one of Sydney's best-promoted and well-put together clubs, Chinese Laundry. And while the cynical and quizzical spluttered in disbelief at the thought, DJ Marky and the night's supports rewarded the brave with intimidating bass sounds from the newly installed NEXO Soundsystem that happily took the low-frequency beating served up.
I walked in to a smattering of folk at around 11 PM. A few were mingling on an uninterested dance floor, but most were circulating around the bar. Local Sydney producer Royalston had the unenviable task of opening proceedings for the night, navigating the lonesome sea well enough, and ending with a dubstep production of his own bootlegged remix of Kanye West's "Power," which was impressively burly and heavy.
I was suitably impressed with the warm-up slot, Typhonic. Many a person had sung his praise to me previously, but this was the first time I'd seen him play. After his set of beat-juggling, scratching, and flawless mixing, I finally understood what the hype was about. His energetic jump-up had the dance floor rammed, and was a perfect introduction to the man everyone was dropping their pay cheque for.
Photo credit: Joel 'Milky T' English
At 1 AM, DJ Marky was trying to make his way through the sardine crowd, but found himself constantly waylaid by clamouring fans seeking snapshots. He smiled graciously through the din, and when finally making his way to the ones and twos, his smile remained.
Heavy from the outset, Marky's upfront big room productions pummelled the speakers and the crowd's hearing canal alike. Unperturbed, the increasingly deafened crowd showed love throughout. It was evident, too, that Marky fed from them. He danced and bounced at every opportunity, hyping the throng further, never letting up his torrent of smooth bass-heavy tunes. Thirsty punters left torn, simple decisions like "I'm getting vodka" left mangled in the synapses as the tunes kept coming.
Photo credit: Sid Soin
For the trainspotters, I did manage to recognise the gorgeous BTK Remix of Floetry's "Say Yes" amidst the artillery and also his remix of Claude VonStroke's "Aundy." But as the clock ticked closer to 3 AM, Marky went digging a bit deeper. Signifying the start of the history lesson with the never-tiresome "Outta Space" by The Prodigy, the rapturous crowd were treated to a serve of early rave breaks before an effortless switch to some block party hip-hop joints the likes of Run DMC, De La Soul and Curtis Blow. Steering the floor towards Detroit and Chicago, Marky then showed his love for early techno roots with some nice dub techno before finally dropping what the majority of the crowd came to hear, "LK."
With a room of lip-syncing junglists, all mouthing the words "It's the wayaaaaay" over and over, Marky brought home the bang with timely anthems like Ghosty's "Back Like That (Marky & Bungle Remix)," Marky & Makoto's "Stressed Out" and the monstrous VIP mix of Subfocus' "Timewarp." And as the curtains dropped on the set, a rollercoaster jolt awoke the dance floor. The blissful daze and tousled hair whipped from the peaks and plummets of Marky's fun ride were evident everywhere. But I can safely say that no one was smiling more than DJ Marky applauding behind the DJ booth.