Rezok’s main room mayhem
War of the Worlds comes only once a year, and for a reason. Mainly because it involves half a dozen internationals, virtually every accomplished local DJ, massive production/planning process and usually at least 5,000 partygoers. The 2049 installation being no exception. Obviously without being able to see and appreciate all artists scheduled to play on the right, my respect goes out to them. There was everything from trance, electro, house, glitch and experimental, as well as the all important techno arena.

It was the biggest (and justifiably so..) and played host to such a number of DJz, that it was hard to believe that by the end of the night, you had seen them all. Most played versus sets with Craig McWhinney and MTC Matt opening proceedings followed by MTM’s PDT and Degenerator. By now the vibe and the crowd were building so by the time Rankine and Cromack stepped up, there was that early evening electricity in the air! The significant (given the size of the joint) light and laser show was awesome – always a pleasure listening to great techno and being mesmerised by an array of visual and aural pleasure. The Melbourne lads were followed at 0130 by the great Speedy J. I go on about it I know, but there are few words powerful enough to describe the sound this man creates. Plain fucking sick. All of Krikc, Krekc, Analogan, Bugmod, Electric Deluxe, Tanga, Point Blank and Pannik (the worlds best techno 12”s..all of them) were mixed up with a wicked and smashing live set – he played on an on and on – nearly 150 minutes in total – it was like a dream – whoever saw, knows – and that’s enough.

The Hacker and Miss Kittin played next – their second – this time live – in this room also. (..in addition to a smooth and tight versus electrotek DJ set they played elsewhere). In this arena, they had a party of fans (wearing “suck my dick, lick my ass” tees – from the track Frank Sinatra).

Kazu Kimura was scheduled to play next with his Final Scratch module but like most others, suffered sound problems and failed to tear the roof off like he would of. So much more techno got played out that evening just as Adelaide great MC Pab was growling off beside Ray Keith and Trace – English tuffnuts with the drums and basses in the neighboring arena. The sound in there was analogous to biggest and cleanest bass you’ll ever hear. It made me tired just standing there! Great to be able to run between the two rooms all night…

All in all a typically great evening – heaps of people – many dressed up for the occasion and lots of thought and planning made for a most decent night out. Lets get Altona sound right and party twice as hard next year!

Drexciyan’s comments on Miss Kittin & The Hacker’s dj sets and live performances still to come…

loulabell’s night of Trance
After rocking my socks off to my preferred taste in pussy trance the night before and not having slept since the Friday morning; I was definitely a weary battle druid that at initial sight the gathering forces readying themselves against the alien invasion @WOTW 2049 would have sent straight to the infirmary. But I wasn’t going to go down that easily and all it took was throwing on a fresh layer of war paint and the free demo CD sampler into the car (as well as a car load of fresh battle units eager to seek and destroy) and I was hitting the west to fight on!

Arriving to find a prime parking position at Altona usually starts me thinking either a) we were not as late as originally thought; b) the time is correct BUT the expectant crowd is a no show; or most likely c) we have parked very F*cking illegally and best lock the car and run for cover before the rival forces see us… Either way we pulled up to the absolute pounding sounds of hard trance coming from the once tennis court arena of Westgate and knew it was going to be BIG!!!

Hellraiser and a very eager Stevie B were rounding out a ridiculously hard set that we managed to catch the last second of before completing our obligatory once over lap of the Altona battle station to orientate ourselves. A quick detour past the NRG/HT arena into the long winding, black plastic clad corridor which seemed to funnel punters in and out of the market area, was at this earlish stage blocking our passage through to the Main Techno arena like a wall of human rave apparel. We noticed the earlier entrance into the main room (a welcome return in my book) and the elevated grandstand seating, but apart from that and some wicked lasers the room seemed to be plunged into an early and unfortunate silence. On to the Fractured Beats and past the Drum and Bass arenas where I am used to seeing the Trance treats on display I noticed a sever lack of punters at this stage BUT a huge jump in the volume. Well that was enough wandering aimlessly for me… time to get back to assessing the trance situation and regaining the messy members of our crew.

The small slope entering the NRG/Trance Room hosted this year by Smile Police was guaranteed to provide plenty of thrills and spills throughout the evening – as was the thick black plastic covering that some raver bunnies had already overdosed with talc in some areas. This was not going to stop me from enjoying the hard and sometimes WAY too fast for my liking beats provided by a Headcase vs. Chrispy combination fry rye. I liked some of the harder dirty traxx they laid down at the beginning which seemed to get the crowd moving again after the prior hour or so punishment but the track selection and mixing between the two left a little to be desired at some points further into their set.

This did however give my legs a break, as I was not going to even attempt to start dancing to gabba at that point in time! It also gave me an opportunity to take in a little more of the room and its décor, which I must say is a plethora of colour to take in. From the awesome larger than life fluoro cutouts of Transformers surrounding the decks (I think one was Optimus Prime, another was a Decepticon and there was that stoopid one who’s arm falls off the toy when you press the button!); to the fluorescent diamond shaped objects suspended in chains from the ceiling. The lighting too seemed to be cranked up a notch in all rooms this year – the main room lasers were enough to trigger epileptic fits in the fittest of rockers (no offence intended) and the lighting in the NRG/HT room meant that although dark and protective from alien fire, you could still manage to walk through the room (on most occasions) without tripping over blindly on people sitting around.

And then the flood of movement began – I was waiting for it… It happens at every Altona party as soon as the pass outs begin. The unfortunate part was that they had decided to use the smallest exit possible through the trance room as the pass out door which meant while the Belgium trance phenomenon which is Yves Deruyter, co-creator of the Bonzai label and one half of Push with M.I.K.E. was beginning his set, the aforementioned small ramp-way entry into this room turned into a ‘mosh-like’ crowd surfing experience.

This however did not take away from the tight mixing skills displayed by YDR mixing a blend of trance that started out hard, dark and dirty with break downs moving it into a progressive sound that then backed up to tech towards the end of his set. I was suitably impressed and found that although he did not have the crowd 100% rocking 100% of the time he was definitely not boring to listen to and wasn’t overly confusing or busifying, I suppose you could say, people with his sound. I would love to get my hands on his vinyl case too – my werd there was some tasty treats from the old skool in there. And the best part throughout the whole thing was the wall of sound stayed crisp and loud as fcuk! Something I had been waiting to see maintained at Altona for sometime now.

Now the next set would have to be probably the only real offshore DJ I had been waiting to see all night in the HT/NRG room – fair enough you can have your Speedy J’s and Miss Kittens of the Tech room, but I honestly like it done the Tom Wax way!!! This DJ is a true gentleman and in typical German style is never quite what he seems, playing trance the Phuture Wax way which means that he is going to play a relentless tech set which always has that unmistakeable hint of trance which makes it tolerable for longer periods of rocking. And he did not disappoint AT ALL on this journey down under – playing tracks such as ‘Apex 1 and 2’ and ‘Step Back’.

After this barrage of rocking non-stop missions were in order meaning that I missed the start of Scott Alert vs. Nexus set which (no offence boys) didn’t bother me as I knew we would return to some solid morning treats as always delivered by these Kandy HT masters. Upon our return the sun was rising and the room still packed and rocking as ever with the enthusiasm and energy I may have been able to muster some 8hrs earlier but for now I was content with watching from the sidelines and getting up for the obligatory jig when Master Kaos vs. Soul-T began which rounded out my night on a definite bouncing high.

This WOTW was different for me in that I was there on this occasion with a really special crew of friends, whom we could have had fun with sitting in a muddy ditch all night, but the fact that the crews for this event manage to come together time and time again providing us with such a line up/atmosphere and venue is a huge vote in my book. Congrats to all those involved and shotgun that room and sound system for trance at all future Altona parties!

Kismet’s Drum & Bass excursions
Arriving at midnight, my friend and I wandered around to get our bearings and search for the rest of the gang. We discovered them in the main room and said our greetings then promptly headed off for the Drum and Bass Arena.

The room was a good size and a few people were already rockin’ it to Blanco on the decks. We decided to get in a few lagers before Ray Keith was to come on, as we were anticipating this to be a great set.

The bar was handy to the Drum & Bass Room. We ordered our drinks and sat down for a bit of people watching and chill out time before we hit the dance floor. My friend and I felt oddly that we were at a house party in the room that housed the bar. It was decorated with streamers and balloons, quite
amusing.

After downing our beverages we headed off to check out Ray Keith, who was pumping out some great tunes with a good smattering of jungle in there, that was really getting the crowd fired up. I decided to head to the bar as all
the dancing was making me quite parched. Feeling refreshed I headed back to check out more of Ray. As I walked into the room I noticed the sound was much quieter and didn’t really hit with any force until you were in the middle of the room. My friends had moved closer to the speakers and I asked what had happened. Apparently Ray was told to turn the sound down, as it was interferring with the other dance arenas. Unfortunately the vibe in room took a nosedive and never made a full recovery until the very end of his set. Catching up with him later in the bar for a quick chat, he told me that he was very unhappy with the outcome of his set and the restrictions placed upon him.

Trace came on and picked up the pace, getting the crowd into a frenzy. The room really filled out and my feet were unable to keep still with the driving, darkcore tunes he played.

It was time to hit the bar and chill out again. I was feeling quite exhausted and intoxicated and decided to chill out for the rest of the evening (or I should say the rest of the morning).

A patchy night with some high spots.