Mathew Jonson & Lee van Dowski in Leeds

System & DD
Mathew Jonson, Lee van Dowski
Mint Club, Leeds
31/12/2009

As far as where to go on New Year’s Eve goes up in Leeds – it was a three way split between the riotous electro and deebee of Wax: On, a very late (4am – 6am) set from Jamie Jones at Back to Basics, or another trip to Mint Club for System & the Bastard Son of Dirty Disco. After the year System has had, it was a no brainer.

As is always the case with Mint, you can arrive at whatever time you want and are rarely greeted by a queue, then get inside to find the place already jumping – again, no matter what time you arrive – which is some sort of black magic, but excellent nonetheless.

Entering at 11:50pm meant the New Year countdown was on. Come the final ten seconds and whistles are blowing, screams are winning out and people are spilling off the dancefloor right back to the bar – all with arms in the air and shouting aloud the final seconds of the decade. At the moment of climax the club bubbles over into a mass of hugs, falling confetti and flashing lights. With that done, it’s on with serious business...

DD Resident Matt Cooper regains his stride instantly in the first seconds of 2010, continuing to tread the boards between house and techno, building steadily but never exploding – the perfect modus operandi for any resident. Come 215am and the focus switches to Mint Club’s other booth to the left of the dancefloor – the place those DJs with intricate technical setups get housed; the place where Mathew Jonson now appears in a sharp white shirt and crisp black Dinner Jacket.

For the ensuing 90 minutes – bar a couple of trips outside to the tunnel at the back of the club for a smoke which, even then, are accompanied by some solid house and tech from the DJs set up at one end – it is near impossible to leave the dance floor. Not least because it’s elbow to elbow with hoards of shape shifters, but because Jonson is displaying a dexterity and deftness which locks in both heels and heads... Chunky basslines, delicate melodies and a mixture of new-to-me gems and more familiar contemporary electronica all make best use of the club’s peerless Funktion One, but nothing unites the floor quite like Jonson’s own seminal ‘Marionette’ track.


Both pretty young things and wiser old heads turn their moves up to 11 for a frantic finish before we quickly regain composure and look back to our right where Lee van Dowski cues up his first track in the main booth. It’s housier than what has gone before, but the steady build up which ensues allows both energy and excitement levels to replenish.

As a result, come 545am when both Soonnight and Cadenza’s van Dowski bow out, the place is still more than busy, the floor is still a mix of smoke, hands, woops and hip swings, and the journey through some comparatively older minimal and house hits finishes on a high. System and DD started the year as they mean to go on... in style.