(14/09/2010)

One year on, and Espionage is still going on strong, and with Marky rocking the Hi-Fi bar it was sure to be a special night. And my lord was it good. In the words of many a junglist MC “OH MY GOSH!”

To kick off the night Dust and Fiend went back to back, and these two fine ladies know how to rock a dance floor. Sure, their set suffered from the Melbourne habit of people not coming out until the main act was on, but frankly those people are idiots for missing rocking up late. Playing a blend of cool liquid beats and then raising the tempo and deepening the bass to get bodies moving, their music was as exquisite as they are to watch.

But don’t knock me as a misogynist – JPS and Nam are pretty easy on the eyes too, although I think they’re sweeter on the ears, especially as they played some of my all time favourites, such as Drop It Down by Calibre, True Romance, and Alien Girl by D-Bridge (and thanks to the random who shouted out Alien Girl! when it kicked in… it would have been annoying me for days not knowing the name of this awesome tune!) What I especially like about JPS and Nam is they’re entertaining and play as real DJs – they tease tunes and play with the crossfader, even spin rewinds. They’re not afraid to have fun with the equipment or the crowd.

Speaking of fun, MC Lowqui was certainly entertaining, warming up his vocal chords and hyping up the crowd for Marky during the Operatives set… not that Marky really needs an MC to hype the crowd, as he does a damn good job at that himself. His stage presence is immense, and he throws the positive energy right back at the crowd with his antics. From air drumming, to blowing kisses to the girls, to scratching with his foot, to hooking up a telemetron (probably not be its real name – a little gold and silver scatchy pad thing that you scrub on to make scratches) to turning the turntables upside down to scratch, Marky is simply one of the most entertaining dnb DJs to watch.

And the music he plays is simply awesome. It’s all “party” music, from the salsa soaked beats of Marky’s own productions, to the old school sounds of Top Buzz and Prodigy, to the even older sounds of late 80s house (and here I reveal my age by saying I remember seeing that played in the late 80s!). Even his hiphop set is party material, designed to get the booty shaking with classics from Tribe, De La Soul, M.A.R.R.S, and Run DMC.

My notes for Marky’s set seem to be missing for the good part of his set (why does the note taking app on iPhone need an internet/phone signal – and why do I have no reception in the Hi-fi?) yet one there says it all – “Bukem”. This simply reminds me to note that Marky and Lowqui bounced off each other, each of them in step with one another as if they had been working in collaboration for years, like Bukem and Conrad do, and it was a pleasure to witness these two professionals working together. The next note says “Crowd Surfing”, and pretty much shows how much fun JPS and the rest of the crowd were having.