Good Vibrations DJ Stage featuring Tayo, Miguel Migs, Giles Peterson and Rob Da Bank by Richie Brown

Boasting a line-up which plumbed all that is intelligent and soulful from the wells of the world’s dance music, The Good Vibrations DJ stage constituted an important part of the festival’s quality ensemble.

Early tuneage was supplied by some of Perth’s smoothest purveyors of deep and funky grooves; Geisha stalwarts Nic Tan, Dan Stinton and James A were among the warm-up acts, as well as Ben M and Cooker vs. Malone. Given the eclectic and somewhat esoteric style that characterises the musical output of many of the big names at the festival, the warm-up duties gave many of the locals an opportunity to explore their own sound more fully, and showcase a real variety of tunes as the milling crowds steadily grew over the afternoon. Consequently, the music from the DJ stage showcased fine selections of low to mid-tempo beats, as the sets progressed through the day.

The first overseas visitor to bring the noise was Rob Da Bank, who runs the major label and club session Sunday Best, in the UK. Rob maintained the laid-back flow of deep, summery beats spun by Dan Stinton. As the bunches of people grooving in the tent thickened, Da Bank moved through a nice set of tunes, which incorporated hip-hop tinged cuts as well as a healthy dose of funky house.

The DJ stage really ignited into glorious life at 5:30, when influential UK figure-head Gilles Peterson stepped up to the 1200s. As the first name in the movement of the nu-jazz deep house sound, and the host of Worldwide, one of the most revered radio shows in dance music Gilles Peterson attracted a packed out tent.

Spinning uplifting house music full of brass, jazz and life, Gilles pushed out a great session that had the big crowd fully involved from yay to nay. The set was a class act, smooth, well thought out transitions, and lush, exquisite tunes. The highlight was probably about two thirds through the ninety minute set, when Gilles worked a track by the name of Wesley Music off RSL into the mix and let it do its thing. This rousing tune really took hold of the room with its sections of awesome percussion and an irresistible vocal hook which rises throughout.

Gilles then moved through more minimal territory for a while, before finishing off with euphoric big band riffs over the top of funky 4 by 4. The crowd gave the UK DJ the rich appreciation he deserved as the set wound to its conclusion. Control was then handed over to San Francisco’s finest – Miguel Migs.



One of the biggest names out of deep house nirvana that is the US west coast, Migs’ set was hotly awaited by anyone who has an interest in deep and soulful house music. After being announced by production cohort and Naked Music vocalist Miss Lisa Shaw, Miguel opened proceedings with the track Back to Reality. However, he proceeded to take the dance-floor away from reality to a much more blissful place for the next hour and a half. Working though the deep grooves that are his trademark, the set continually built emotion and mood. And of course the mixing was tight and flawless.

About an hour in Lisa Shaw rejoined Migs’ on stage to provide some live vocals. As well as owning a luscious singing voice which has featured on many productions, Lisa proved to be a consummate live performer. She and Migs’ worked through numerous tunes from the Naked Music catalogue that got big reations, including Let it Ride, Same Thing and Always in a memorable and personable performance.

Finally it was over to the diminutive Tayo, a UK breakbeat hero, recent contributor to the Y4K compilation series and frequent visitor to Oz. Tayo’s sound was quite a change of pace from the previous acts in the arena, however given that this stage was intended to represent the relevant sounds in the contemporary DJing game, it was only appropriate that a genre as important as breaks got some airtime.



Tayo definitely got the adrenalin levels in the room pumping for the final ninety minutes, pushing up the BPM and dropping hi-octane breaks in an energetic set of tunes. I didn’t know most of the tracks aired by name, however they all shared the DJ’s trademark sound, which is that of HARD techy breaks. It all culminated in a frenzy of energy and euphoria, and that’s a great way to end any party.

Overall the DJ stage was a massive success, and provided a microcosm of the good parts of electronic dance music.



Roots Amphitheatre Stage featuring Gangstarr, Blackalicious, Asian Dub Foundation, Soul II Soul and Mad Professor by Leftism

The first note I scribbled on my notepad was done so before I even entered the venue. As I waited for the event staff to find my name on the door list, I saw an apology note; Lee Scratch Perry would not be playing due to ill health- instead it would only be Mad Professor and MC Spider in the 2:45-4pm slot.

Mad Professor seemed keen on mixing old style, cruisey dub sounds with more bold electronic sounds- with mixed effect. His efforts weren’t helped by Spider’s almost inaudible MC work, which I suspect may be attributed to some less than impressive sound engineering. I could be wrong. This act failed to hold a crowd through its ups and downs and by 4pm the amphitheatre was looking decidedly unloved.

DJ Rock Riley kept the tunes pumping between the featured act’s sets mixing up some appropriately cruisey funk and reggae. There were also some more commercial tracks like Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” thrown in which got a few more people up there dancing.

Soon it was time for Soul II Soul Sound System who hit the stage impressively announcing they’d be taking us “back to ‘88 for some old school hip-hop.” What followed was funky to say the least. Soul II Soul had the energy and personality to work the crowd- for some of their set at least. Their showmanship- particularly that of their MC and female singer, (who could dance up a storm one moment and belt out a tune the next- clearly she’s not a smoker) caused the crowd to thicken and groove along to some tasty old funk and soul classics.



What I didn’t enjoy so much was hearing an oft-played classic such as “Groove Is In The Heart” played in its entirety with a few words from the MC thrown in to guide the crowd along. To me this felt somewhat lazy. Somewhere along the way Soul II Soul lost their groove and their performance felt like a re-tread of something they’d done many times before. Considering they’ve been around since the late 80s and have performed in over 20 countries, I guess it might be hard to stay sounding and appearing fresh and inspired.

The Roots stage hadn’t had an act worth shouting about yet and it was nearing 6pm! Then along came The Asian Dub Foundation Sound System. With their usual live line-up down by 2 members, ADF concentrated primarily on a hard drum n’ bass sound. This might sound like a lot of people’s worse nightmare- but not when done with the forceful energy, incredible technical skill and surprising variety ADF were able to do it with.

They imaginatively and effortlessly moved through tribal, reggae, trancey and hard and fast styles with plenty of well-placed plunges in to a thoroughly kicking drum n’ bass beat. The crowd adored them. Rapper Deeder Zaman was the true star of the show- able to alter his commanding voice to suit the particular music style, thus altering the entire mood of the set. This was a fantastic performance from a group I’ll be frantically rushing out to hear more of.

Next up was the US’s Blackalicious who drew the biggest crowd of any act in the Roots stage, apparently due to a lack of anything decent on the main stage (according to the people I spoke to). They certainly didn’t let their huge audience down. Chief XL and Gift of Gab along with a soulful female vocalist and scratch-wizard DJ- performed a simple yet varied set- moving from straight up hip-hop to soul and even gospel. Gift of Gab’s rapid-fire freestyles were a definite highlight as was the vocalist’s lush, powerful voice which XL and Gab harmonised with on occasion to create some inspired, hand-clapping gospel moments. Gab’s rhymes were often long and fast paced- when his subject matter got more serious his voice would take on this commanding growl which really got the crowd fired up.

The bio for Blackalicious states that although they’ve been around for 10 years they are only just starting to take off. With the command they showed of various ‘black’ music styles as well as their powerful presence- I predict we’ll be hearing a lot more from them.

Veteran hip-hoppers Gangstarr actually drew a smaller crowd than Blackalicious- due to headliners Moloko being on the main stage. They also didn’t come out with as much enthusiasm as their predecessors and were burdened by an early sound problem which meant Guru’s mic was much too far back in the mix, so much so that DJ Premier’s backing rhymes overtook Guru’s. This left the track “Skillz” sounding a little disappointing.

They soon hit some high notes, though, as they trundled through a 14 year old catalogue of self confessed “real hip-hop.” The catch cry of the night was: “Some people play bullshit- we play the REAL shit.” The crowd got its second dose of top-quality freestyling for the night- Guru’s rhymes were slower-paced and clearer than Gab’s but just as compelling.

Gangstarr’s set generally involved short funky grooves followed by Guru and Premier telling Gangstarr’s story and relaying their passion and skill for hip-hop. The crowd were often asked to participate and Guru often seemed to believe we weren’t understanding what Gangstarr was about- though he was probably just trying to get us to shout louder. The tune “Mass Appeal” was a highlight as was a ballad performed in memory of Tupac, The Notorious BIG etc.

Gangstarr finished well, saving their funkiest most pumping tunes for last and sending a happy hip hopping crowd into a funked-up frenzy.




Main Stage featuring Moloko, Tom Middleton, Nitin Sawney, Free*Land and Crazy Penis by Sean

The main stage at Good Vibrations had certainly one of the most interesting and exciting line ups seen in Perth. Vibes has always been a day the general popullus looks forward to and in this new incarnation it was certainly not a different prospect. Nitin Sawhney, Crazy Penis, Moloko, Free*land, and Tom Middleton promised a varied and a varied and stimulating soundscape for the day.

Crazy Penis haven’t been to Perth for many years, and the main stage was a very different environment to their last gig at Geisha. Their formula for live house music comes together to give a unique experience that is second to none. Smooth vocals and tight live instruments had a large crowd assembled and enjoying every moment. The maturity in their sound is evident after the release of their 2nd album in 2002 “The Wicked Is Music” The highlight of the set would definitely have been the live rendition of Buena Vida.

Whilst Dave Jackson provided the interim beats, that ranged from electro to progressive to lounge, the crowd thinned somewhat disappointingly. However this would soon change as the much anticipated Perth debut of Free*land was about to take place.



Riding on the wave of growth that breakbeat has experienced in the last 18 months, Free*land has emerged as a viable commercial crossover. Adam Freeland’s previous production had been defining work amongst nu skool breaks records, however his latest tangent had been a somewhat rocky affair. Guitar driven records have been taking a front seat position as more and more people are getting into broken beats. Taking this sound from the turntable to the drumstick and guitar pick, Free*land started their set off in a slower groovy direction then previous sounds of the day. Technical problems delayed their start by some thirty minutes but once it was fixed they were firing on all cylinders. Playing a lot of material from their album “Now and Them” Free*land had the crowd responding well to their live instrument formula for electronic music. The MC and vocalist working well in the live environment to give a well polished performance. However, the set programming seemed to lack flow. From fast to slow, electronic to grungey it didn’t seem to gel very well. This didn’t stop the crowd from enjoying numbers such as Heel Toe, Smells Like Freeland (with milli vanilli guitar playing), Big Wednesday (unceremoniously cut short), Supernatural Thing, and of course We Want Your Hole. Definitely a well received debut for a band that are only going to get more popular.

Whilst some hip hop beats came across the system, the crew of Nitin Sawhney’s performers quickly scurried about setting up for another Perth debut. Coming from an anglo-indian background, the obvious first thought is the shared heritage he has with Talvin Singh. The indian influences in Nitin’s music fuse with acoustic, south American, house, and r&b. His three LP’s ‘Migration’, ‘Beyond Skin’ and ‘Human’ have been universally applauded by both followers of mainstream and electronic music. His performance was a breath of fresh air with Tina Grace providing outstanding vocals throughout the performance. Complimented by the traditional indian vocals of Divinda Singh and sensational percussion, the performance was different, inspired, and organic. A rare treat in the otherwise baron wasteland of electronic performance artists it may have been, but on this day it simply fit into its position amongst other quality acts. Following 3 encore tracks including one acoustic number, Nitin Sawhney and his band finally finished 45 minutes over time.



This wouldn’t have been a bad thing if it hadn’t cut short the time Tom Middleton. Middleton is the man behind the sound of the cosmos. His sound fuses smooth organic house, broken beats, nu jazz, garage, and electro all into one sound. Dissapointingly, the crowd all but abandoned Middleton, only a few who remained were lucky enough to witness the definite highlight of the day. Nu Jazz is the direction he went in with chilled beats and natural basslines. Obscure samples and strange old records were in abundance throughout the set. Despite Moloko’s sound crew being complete and utter prats and sound checking on the front of house over his set, Middleton continued to battle on. Towards the end of his set he stepped it up with some harder and faster breaks, but still maintained the vibe he had established earlier.

It’s a hard job being the headline act at any festival, especially on their first trip to Australia. It didn’t seem to phase Moloko too much. Moloko’s rise to the top of the electronic and pop world may have been meteoric, but they are certainly not new kids on the block. Having existed for the most part of the 90’s, Moloko first caught everyone’s attention with the international number 1 “Sing it Back”, they followed it up with another smash “Time is Now” and “Familiar Feeling”. Moloko opened up with amazing lighting and well polished stage presence. Roisin’s voice translated well from the studio onto the stage (As is evident by her recent nomination as Irish Female Singer of the Year). Obvious house and acoustical influences have served to corrupt their sound making it somewhat jazzy, somewhat latin, somewhat housey, and altogether unique. However despite a high energy performance the atmosphere seemed to be lacking in some way. Perhaps this may have been an act that would have benefited from playing in the amphitheatre. Along with all the material “Do You Like My Tight Sweater?”, Moloko played some new tracks as well that were equally well received by the enthusiastic crowd. But lets face it, everyone just wanted to hear “Time Is Now” and “Sing it Back”, they got it and plenty more in the same vein. It did seem to drag on at times though.

The main stage at Good Vibrations was a rarity in that it had big names in all their respective scene’s, all played good sets, and they were all very different from the last. Hopefully this will be a sign of things to come of Vibes’ new incarnation.