Upon meeting Pnau (Nicholas Littlemore & Peter Mayes) I was utterly devastated (and a touch embarrassed) to discover that ‘all this time’ (read: a couple of years) I’d been mispronouncing the name of their duo.
For the record, its ‘pah-nau’ (with an optional accented twist on the end if you’re feeling particularly exotic). I’m devastated, because this little twist of fate has severely limited my ability to whip out amusing little puns like pnau and then or the vastly popular, right here, right pnau.
Oh well.
Pronunciational discrepancies aside, I was ‘well keen’ for a night of eclecticism – whether it was the 70s and 80s inspired disco latin funk of their debut album Sambanova, or the darker, moodier, more experimental elegance of Again.
Chris Fraser warmed up the crowd with his usual serving of electro/funky/tech house, allowing the punters to whet both their musical and alcoholic appetites.
I’m a little hazy as to when exactly Pnau came on (I think I may have whetted my own appetite a little), but when they did – they certainly made it known to the crowd.As Ableton was fired up, a long intro of trippy, experimental noises signalled to the crowd that this was going to be something ‘a little different’ from the usual Friday night electro/tech house/breaks fare.
Showcasing material from a significant proportion of the dance music spectrum, Pnau drew the crowd into an eclectic mix of 80s inspired synth-pop, tough electro breaks, warm progressive tunes and what could also be described as noise (in a good way).
I’d like to say that I recognised most of the tunes – but they were, for the large part, mashed and blended well beyond recognition (also in a good way).Featuring some nifty vocal accompaniment from Mayes, the duo kept the crowd bopping along. Though there were moments when the obscurity worked against them, the music was energetic and highly infectious.
Before I knew it they were dropping the tough booty-rock beats of We love the fresh kills and two became one as Jeff Drake grasped the musical reigns with all his might and rode the crowd (again….in a good way) into the night.
It’s easy to see why Pnau have cemented their place in the international dance music scene. Their rise from budding bedroom producers to playing with the likes of Fatboy Slim and Darren Emerson is both impressive and understandable. Expect more from these two – whether its pnau, or in the near future.
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
pnau says...
as my username may suggest, i'm a massive fan of pnau. they were the reason i got into dance music, sambanova was the first cd i ever bought. anyway, as you can imagine i was pretty psyched to see them finally in canberra (they came here late last year and i missed them!!!! i almost cried!). for me, they tottally lived up to my extreamly high expectations. however, i was increadibly dissapointed in the crowd. when they played 'we love the fresh kills' there were about 5 people on the dance floor!!!! i'm ashamed of you canberra!! how could you let such incredible music go to waste? you better not have blown it for us real pnau fans, i can't imagine it's much fun playing to an empty dance floor so i can't blame the boys if they don't feel like rushing back to canberra anytime soon.