Running as a nightly series of events over a week at the MCA, Creative Sydney was a fantastic chance to shrug off the cultural cringe and make a bold statement on the city’s artistic, musical and technical skills. Presented by FBi, Time Out Sydney and the Brag, Sunday night’s Wrap Party was a wonderful display of often-underrated Sydney music.

No longer beholden to pub rock stereotypes, the Wrap Party line-up is a celebration of the diverse range of alternative and electronic music produced by local musicians. Featuring this evening were Shady Lane (languid, hook-heavy pop); the slow, abstract, and Google-resistant Songs; Seekae, whose Warp-friendly electronica deserves more attention; groovy garage band the Paper Scissors; psych-poppers Richard in Your Mind; and the soon-to-be-huge, tough-to-classify Cloud Control.

Though it might have been nice to have some of the more visceral aspects of the Sydney music scene included, the curators of tonight’s Wrap Party selections reflect the breadth of our fragile music scene.

Shady Lane kicked off proceedings, their unfussy stage presence belying some wonderful and carefully constructed pop songs. Formerly a vehicle for songwriter Jordy Lane, the group has expanded to a solid four-piece line-up in order to recreate the delicate arrangements of debut album Here We Go Down the Black Hole. Working most often in drowsy, reflective tempos, Shady Lane’s melodies are Trojan horses for uncommonly effective hooks. It’s not often that a chorus sticks so easily as that of Galileo, and Lane brings this about without relying on short cuts like lazy repetition.

Following Shady Lane’s easy way with melody were the much more abstract Songs, and the sequencing only highlighted how faint Songs’ structures are. The intensely slow pacing and no-wave approach to melody (i.e. there isn’t one) makes them a tough sell. Many are in raptures over Songs, and they seem like the sort of band that rewards familiarity with their work, but they leave your correspondent cold.

I had to leave at this point, so I'll pass the remainder of the review over to the EIC, Larry Heath:

Here's a very brief assessment of what went down the rest of the night...

Seekae were awesome. AWESOME. Easily the highlight of the night. Paper Scissors made a choice to play only new stuff - it didn't resonate with a dwindling crowd. Richard in your Mind played the best show I've ever seen them play, assisted by SPOD. Pure genius! And Cloud Control were just as great as always, despite playing to a smaller crowd than they've become accustomed to locally. Enjoyed the accompanying graphic loop, too.

It was interesting how it was "sold out" yet never really packed out. They may need to re-think the ticket allocation system for 2011. But all in all a damn fine event, wrapping up a brilliant week of music and mayhem at the MCA! Thanks Creative Sydney!