Let me start by saying that Thursday nights are tough – and I should know after being one of the co-promoters of Hellfire which did more than its fair share of Thursday nights back at the now infamous Blackmarket. So you’ll understand when I say that I entered Dripping Wet Pussy with a feeling of trepidation (‘promoter empathy’ I call it), but before long I realized that for a wet, midweek night, this little night of dirty, rocking electro was kicking some serious butt!
The crowd was eclectic, but filled the space nicely and interacted with each other well. There were goths, industrial types, a spattering of fetish, some great flourescent-clad vixens, and a whole bag of people who defied easy description. The midweek night added a cruisy, relaxed feel to the space which has been made much more open-plan since the last time I went to an event at Club 77… quite the perfect place for an intimate night of music.
While I waited for the first act, I enjoyed listening to two of my favourite DJs, Lanny K and Miss Yetti diverge from their usual harder style in favour of a gradual progression from electro (including some great early 80s electro-funk classics) to both new and old rock’n’roll and some amazing hybrids. Their multi layered mixing made it pretty hard to work out exactly what tracks were making me wanna dance so badly, but a poke and a prod got them to divulge that their set included tracks from uber-cool bands like Franz Ferdinand, Echoboy, Diska, Relaxed Muscle and even a Van Halen classic – most unheard of on a dance floor, but the crowd certainly lapped it up.
The first act, Mink Engine, came all the way from Melbourne, and they were styling! Extremely cool and sophisticated to look at, and their whole kit packed into a bag the size of an airline stewardess’s take-on luggage! They played a set of laptop-electro meets Mac-rock (on the cutest set of matching ibooks) combining the better elements of Kraftwerk, Chicks on Speed and Queen of Japan. Catchy vocal phrases and funky bass lines met with an eclectic pop sensibility – and they even did visuals too (the Tokyo flavour of the images delighted me)! I’d have to say too, that they are one of the few acts who manage to create a more inviting sound when playing live as compared to a recording!
The second live act, Cherry 2000 are a Sydney based outfit, made up of the individual personas of Andy Rantzen (of Itchee and Scratchee fame) and Rachael Chaos. They were the hosts of the evening, and still found the time to do a killer set. The vocal stylings (or rather beltings) of Ms. Chaos’ voice just keep gettin’ better and better, and Rantzen’s guitars (even though there aren’t any) keep getting louder and raunchier! He even managed a great ol’ rock-n-roll guitar solo (or three) complete with heavy feedback, giving the esteemed Ms. Chaos time to do some fire swallowing. (Made me wonder if gargling fuel is her vocal warm-up?)
In Cherry 2000, the 70s punk aesthetic is very much alive and kicking, and when it’s mashed up with electronic wizardry from Rantzen and a lead female vocal with HUGE balls from Chaos, what they make is (in their words) a ‘fucken brilliant’ album. Incidentally it’s called ‘Kidnaped in LA’ and it’s out on the queerest new label on the block – Ear Pimp Records – and if you wanna get a hold of a copy (and if you like rock’n’electro, you really should) visit: https://www.readysecure4.com/users/earpimpcom/Submit_Order.htm or if you don’t believe me, you can listen to it by clicking here.
The final act, Old Des Peres, could well have earned the title of my new favourite band! Their live show, completely unique and unprecedented, can only be described as an incrediblye bizarre fusion of highly charged, rock’n’ dance beats (typically Melbourne in flavour) wickedly matched with stolen, familiar samples (ala Avalanches) with the furor and frenzy of a Public Enemy meets James Brown Gospel Revival. Throw in the antics of a Machine Gun Fellatio stage show, the twisted (and often meaningless) sick humour of a Sodom Circus performance and a blender or two (no joke) and you’ve got the next big thing in live dance music! Old Des Peres are made up of brothers Kynan (Old Des) and Kiron Robinson (Mr Ection) plus Kynan’s wife, Michelle Sorbello (Luva DJ). They were there launching their album ‘Preserved’ but honestly, you gotta catch these folks live.
Finally, this reviewer was driven from the venue at 2am, when Club 77’s management made the poor choice of ousting the electro-rock DJs booked by hosts Rantzen and Chaos in favour of their own in-house DJs who chose to follow a Fat Truckers track with a Billy Idol ballad! A really baaaad choice of ways to end an innovative night of music and performance that up until then had kept the dance floor totally rockin’.
