13/06/2003
After a little soiree for one of Ribbon’s drum and bass friends, where, incidentally DJ Khem played a cool dnb set, but people didn’t start dancing until Jayar dropped some funky breaks, we headed off to Traffic where the crowd was thin but the beats were Phat!
Jaywalker was playing a tidy set of new school beats mixed in with his now trademarked funky breakbeat, such as the corker of a tune Set Free, by Clubriders. Going back to back with Tiger, they played as the crowd slowly got bigger and got boozed up, and ventured out onto the dance floor. The crowd that wasn’t moving soon was as John Doe stepped up to the decks and played one of the best set’s I’ve heard him do. Cutting between tunes, dropping little samples, and playing some fantastic tunes, such as the Adam Freeland remix of Nirvana’s nevermind, he proved his worth as Adelaide’s best dnb / breaks DJ.
Surprisingly, the crowd had grown considerably, and the dancefloor was packed when Lee Coombs stepped up to the decks. Starting off with a remix of New Order’s Crystal that wasn’t the Lee Coombs remix released last year, but still cranked, he took us on an incredible ride through New School Breaks. At first, I was a little disappointed, because I was expecting more of a tribal breaks set, but Coombs is not a man who likes to be pigeonholed.
His mix was much more dancefloor orientated, and he understands how to really move a crowd. Each track he played just got better and better, each outshining the last. Tune wise there were so many of his own remixes, mixed with his own new tunes, such as machine, plus old favourites like Two Men on a Trip, my head is still spinning! Added to this is the amazingly smooth mixing Coombs achieves seemingly without any effort, he created one of the most amazing New School Breaks set’s I’ve heard this year.
The only bad thing about the night was the sound level. It was deafening! We left before the end of Coombs’ set because we were afraid of losing our hearing. I’m still saying “what” a lot when people are talking to me! However, it was a fantastic night, showcasing the best Adelaide has to offer alongside the World’s best, and shows that, finally, the breaks scene in Adelaide is getting bigger and better.