One synonym for the word unusual is phenomenal, and that's nothing short of how Sankeys' first instalment of Unusual Suspects should be labelled. One foot in the door and you were smacked by the immediate thought that this was going to be an absolute blinder. A good aid to the night was being aware of the hype surrounding the line-up, particularly in the case of Romanian ringleader, Rhadoo, but having not seen any of the guys on booth duties, I was going in fresh and impressionable.
At 1 AM, two hours after its kick-off, it was teeming with bodies. I was hyper, the crowd was buzzing and Frank Storm was playing by definition of his surname. With an eye on stimulating the Basement captives, he fed the horde Premiesku's drum-punching track, ‘Neo', and carried it through with Kaytronik's stripped down Floss Dub mix of 'Fox Tooth', by Atjazz. Storm's track selection commanded everyone's full attention and it was tough to temporarily tear myself away for a breather to spy on the action in the Boutique. On walking past, the music here was bang on tasty techno and at this point, only a handful of clubbers were enticed in to give Javi Mor a reactionary lead. My time perception was probably skewed, but fast forward what had to be 30 minutes at a push and he'd amassed a good numbered audience who were fully engaged. Up here, I was generously smothered in the kind of pounding techno goodness I could devour for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and from a look at everyone else's faces we were all of the same hungry mindset.
Again, I had to tear myself away, feet out in front while the rest of my body was like an insufferable toddler tugging to stay put. In the Basement was German producer and DJ, Guido Schneider, who was cooperating with the crowd by giving them some meaty tracks, including Shlomi Aber's no-nonsense bass track, ‘The Majestic'. From here, I was on constant rotation between the two rooms with my taste leaning toward the Boutique with David Balmont and Diego Jiminez B2B with the kind of powerful techno bombs that call out for the automatically reactive “OOOOOOOH”. Bringing it all to a close in the Basement was Rhadoo and my expectations were met and exceeded. He's a deft craftsman and the plaudit he receives is wholly warranted. He careered through a set filled with emotive rapture and verve that could have had you going for well beyond the closing hour.
It was excellent, what more can I say - exactly the kind of special event that reminds you why people live and breathe dance music. Hats off, well played Unusual Suspects.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | David Holderbach
