Frantic @ Room, December 2002

2002 has been year of experiments for me; I felt that I owed the many diverse sounds that can be found in Melbourne a go. Techno, breaks, progressive and house were all revisited and much appreciated, however I felt that I needed to take break. So after taking a few months off the club circuit to recharge the batteries and build the excitement of heading out again, I thought it was about time to treat myself to some nice hard thumping beats. The question of where to go was raised- Only one answer could be found - FRANTIC.

Excited by the thought of really letting loose, I headed down to Room just after midnight. I had missed Kelsta's set but from all account she rocked and the word is that this girl has one big future! Anyway, upon entering I was immediately overwhelmed by the vibe that UK DJ Raymondo was creating. With residencies at Pickle and Fahrenheit in the UK, this was my first time hearing him play and I wasn't disappointed. Wanting to conserve energy I decided to sit this one out and have a few warm up drinks.

Soon Australian Frantic resident DJ and promoter Kane hit the decks and I knew that was my que to start my marathon dance session (once I start I just can't stop…and that goes for everything!). Kane delivered the crowd his usual repertoire of cranking tunes that had me well and truly primed and pumped for one of my favourites - Nick Sentience. Continuously regarded as one of the leading producers around, Nick gave the punters a set full of fused techno, trance and hard house all mixed in together. By this stage the dance floor was packed with crowd cheering and whistling at every build up. A couple of his old classics were thrown in with heaps of new material and I was wondering how anyone would be able to keep alive the electric atmosphere that he was leaving behind.

Up next was another UK DJ Paul Glazby. A resident at one of the most popular nights Insomniacz in Sheffield (which was voted Club Of The Year for 2000 by Ministry), Glazby now runs Vicious Circle records and was responsible for producing one of my favourite tunes "Beautiful". While it was always going to be hard to out do Sentience, I'd definitely have to say he pushed the boundaries as far as music is concerned! His set was in your face - hard driving tracks that had the dance floor seem like it was going to explode! He definitely won over the Melbourne crowd and me…

By the end of Glazby's set, my legs had weakened (those few months off had me out of shape) so instead I thought it would be more appropriate to settle myself up near the DJ booth with a beer and watch UK club Fevah's main man, DJ Matt Clarke. As he settled in the music definitely didn't contain the same intensity as Glazby's set but instead he delivered a more bouncy approach to his track selection. The crowd loved it and so did Clarke as he jumped up and down behind the decks.

All in all, Kane and the rest of the Frantic crew delivered another top night of quality tunes and vibes. Can't wait for the next instalment….
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