Yellow feat. Phil Smart @ Scary Canary 1st April 2006

Having only just discovered the celubriuos surrounds of Scary Canary, there was no way I was going to miss another excuse to shake my tail feather downtown at Yellow.

Situated just behind Town Hall on Kent St the birds nest in question is a spacious affair with acres of open space and cosy corners for weary soles. A simple yet impressive flock of intelligent lights perch around the corners of the dancefloor creating areas of bold colour and contrasting shadows. A lucid projector aims its eagle eye at a screen behind the DJ booth casting more movement and colour whilst the sound system delivers clean audio from tidy speakers rigged from the roof.

It seems that the total smoke ban has been lifted which came as a welome relief as I do like a bit of a drag when I bump n grind. And a spankin new dancefloor with no chewing gum to hinder a shimmy or slide is a pleasure to behold indeed.

Whilst I was’nt knocking back any hard liquor on this particular occasion, I can vouch that the generous glasses of non-sugary fizz were $3, and based on my vague recollection from last time, I am pretty sure that the drink prices were reasonable all round. Another feather in the Canary cap.

I have yet to figure out who is who down at Yellow. The DJs seem to multiply and mutate into each other after a few tracks making it tough to get a handle on their individual sound or style. Whilst I am more accustomed to settling in for a few hours of a set, this eclectic roster works well with the Yellow/Glitch sound – bumpy, chunky, riddled with pops and clicks and pant-splitting bass lines.

One DJ whose name, face and sound I am more familiar with was featured guest Phil Smart. I could go on about his sophisticated yet soulful ear and how he is the thinking punter’s DJ, but I figure that if you are reading this review then you’d already know. Phil Smart is my definitive favourite and tonite he delivered another textured and playful reminder of why. I’ve never been much of a tune spotter but I wish I could insert a few track titles here – . I imagine Phil dropped a fair slab of Junk Beat material but I was too busy riding a wave of bass to ask him.