While Niche Productions have become well-known in bringing some of the highest quality acts to Australia, their bigger ventures such as the short-lived Days Like This festival seemed largely unappreciated by the wider music community in Sydney, the reason seemed to have been a general lack of good taste by the majority.

Thankfully, Niche continue delivering nothing but brilliant music to our shores in the form of smaller-scale events – and their first major event of the year was none other than a mouth-watering triple-threat bill of the highly-celebrated Flying Lotus, the entrancing Dutch DJ Martyn, and the impeccable project from duo Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek – Africa Hitech.

To no surprise, the massively anticipated Metro concert quickly sold out, with much of the crowd arriving as early as they could, probably because they knew what was in store – I wasn’t so aware, having never seen any of the acts live before, but I can now confidently state that all four of the acts I saw are now on my ‘must see live wherever possible’ list.

I walked into a very J Dilla-esque set from ARP 101. My attention was instantly fixated on the glitchy hip-hop beats that melted into each other, creating one very enjoyable head-nodding introduction to what would go on to be one of the only concerts I’ve ever been to where there was not one single dull moment.

Afrika Hitech were up next and proceeded to leave me in complete awe, and while I enjoyed every bit of their set the energy and creativity that showed in all their productions had me wishing I was far from sober. The crowd showed massive amounts of love for all the relentless drops while the venue would not stop vibrating from the heavy bass. What was surprising was how much of the crowd left after Mark Pritchard and Steve Spacek farewelled with some funky drum & bass – I guess that after a DJ set that intense most would need a breath of fresh air.

Moving away from Drum & Bass for a bit, Martyn came on stage to bring us what he calls ‘Martyn Music,’ beginning with pulsating house that brags unbelievably addictive rhythms and drum patterns. Martyn also seemed to like making the venue vibrate as much as he could, and as I immersed myself more and more into his set I was put into a trance to the point that time seemed to fly and as soon as I returned to consciousness the hour-long set was over. The music was deeply involving and fun; however, I couldn’t help but feel that Martyn should have been on before Africa Hitech as the flow that Hitech created was a bit disrupted by all the house music. Though, this is a very small grievance and the only one I had all night.

The crowd exploded when Flying Lotus took to the stage, a testament to how much of an effect his productions have had. Whether you’ve been listening since 2010’s highly acclaimed Cosmogramma or his debut 1983, the only thing that mattered was the impact his set had on the sold out venue, and that impact was deep, it was frantic, and it was an experience not many DJ sets can give you.

Again, not a dull moment was heard, FlyLo was everything his reputation promises and probably even more. We are so lucky that he frequents our shores and the next time he comes out you can be damn sure to be in for an intense night of partying to nothing but the best eclectic dance music you’ll hear – I just wish I knew what a Flying Lotus show was like before I went, I would have at least came prepared.