Sundissential VS Slinky @ The Works, 11th April

Sundissential V Slinky

Sundissential's Monster event at The Works, Broad Street, Birmingham Sunday 11th April.

Where is there to go after you christen your New Year's celebrations the “Cripple Up”? Onwards and upwards, it seems, with the arrival of Sundissential Vs Slinky at the magnificent Works in Birmingham.

The south coast mammoth, Slinky and Brum big boy Sundisssential had arranged a decidedly different line-up for this bash and expectations were high.

The addition of balloon drops, lasers and indoor fireworks suggested just how different this night was going to be. With Sundissential Residential no more, there has now been a return to big one-off events for Sundissential. This fact added to the atmosphere with a definite twinge of excitement for those who remembered fondly the past events at the Que Club. The venue was packed to the rafters (surprisingly more so than on New Year's Day) and Sundissential's cyber army were out in full force.

The standard of music throughout the night was exceptional but a big shout out is definitely required for Jon Doe's live PA and long-serving hard house DJ Rachel Auburn, who definitely delivered a more “Slinky” feeling to the proceedings. In addition to this a big thanks must go out to all of the DJs for showing a modicum of self-restraint with regards to the Works' air horn, a novelty feature that was definitely over-used on New Years Day.

In the interest of rounded journalism the main arena was briefly left to explore the arse-waggling world that is Funkissential. To many peoples' surprise Paul Kershaw was gracing the decks in the funky room. It's clear to see why Funkissential has taken off, it provides a greater diversity of sound in contrast to many clubs who play trance music in their chill-out rooms, but more importantly perhaps, it attracts a lot of hotties. After some rather radical modifications to the trademark Hard House stomp, it was possible to blend in with the rest of the Funkissential posse, something that surprisingly (to this reviewer at least), an hour later we still seemed to be doing.

An obvious, yet often over-looked facet of any night out is the numerous visits made to the facilities - be it make-up for the ladies or idle banter over the urinals for men - the toilet, on consideration, is a key aspect of any night out. This is where the genius of DJs in the bogs becomes so glaringly obvious. There is after all an incredibly “captive” market. This is where the Gurn.net boys came into their own, providing an eclectic mix of tunes to make even the most hardened music snob concede, “Oh, actually I really like this record”. Throw in smattering of clubbing casualties who have decided on starting their own dancefloor in the middle of a busy toilet and it's clear that the future of clubbing is urinal-based.

Sundissential Vs Slinky proved to be yet another storming event from the team, further adding to their reputation as the true gem in the crown of Hard Dance nights in the UK. The next one looks to be another huge sucess being the Sundissential Ibiza Foam Party on May 30th, with the return to big one-offs the future's not just bright, it's Sunny D.