Easter weekend has often been notorious for serving up a plethora of clubbing events, with promoters and punters taking advantage of the long weekend. This year has been no exception with a large number of high profile international artists making their presence felt in town. On a perfect Easter Sunday night we were fortunate to have two of techno’s biggest current names, Joris Voorn and Aril Brikha sharing the bill for a highly anticipated event put on by Soma corp and Hardware. Staged at the Prince Of Wales in St Kilda, a nice sized crowd turned out and put their dancing shoes to good use in support of a high quality musical lineup. I must admit I had some initial trepidation on the choice of venue. Based on the enthusiasm generated for this gig, particularly in the Melbourne forum I was concerned that space would be an issue. My doubts were soon availed however, the crowd was neither too big nor too small and there was always more than adequate room to move.
Upon arrival we made our way past the back bar and out onto the balcony. The majority of the crowd were enjoying the good weather as they waited for the main room to kick into action. Soon enough we found ourselves on the floor grooving along to the sounds of local stalwart Dave Pham who was doing a good job of building the vibe with a solid set of darker-tinged minimal beats. Anticipation was gaining for the nights’ first international act and by listening to the crowd reaction you could tell that Joris was in the house.
Joris Voorn is undoubtedly one of the hottest producers and DJs presiding over the techno landscape at the moment, his profile rising even more since his last tour down under for the Digital Festival. I’m yet to hear or read a negative comment about this man, his signature deep tech house and techno productions along with his incredibly tight mixing skills leading to a universal respect amongst the techno scene. Witnessing him mixing in the flesh only confirms this, each track blending seamlessly into the next, his movements around the decks almost robot like in their speed and precision. Joris seems to maintain a very focussed business like approach to performing, his concentration evident to those watching. However he still maintains a playful edge, often bouncing around and occasionally looking up to smile at the crowd. His set started off and builded gradually with a slightly tribal theme, almost teasing the crowd as he raised the intensity of the music.
The first half of the set was deep and groovy, a strong sense of funk consistently maintained. As he reached the latter half more melodic numbers were introduced, noticeably a cracking recent remix of Jimpster’s Dangly Panther. The remixing role was reversed on another solid tune, that of No Revolution with Technasia giving it a workout. One of the biggest reactions of the night came from a remix of a newish Underworld tune that he has been regularly dropping in his sets for the past few months. The track in question Crocodile has been majorly beefed up with a jacking electro bassline by Oliver Huntemann and it worked a treat on the locals.
Joris Voorns productions, particularly his recent From a Deep Place LP have been standouts and have really contributed to bringing the deeper more melodic side of techno back. The DJ set I witnessed was more minimal than what we’d expect from his productions. It would seem like some of the deeper more emotive aspects he brings to his productions were absent from this set. Overall though a very danceable and enjoyable set, Joris created a great energy in the room and showed just why Melbourne town loves him so much.
Well if Melbourne loves Joris then the man who followed him (Aril Brikha) certainly isn’t short of fans either. Playing 100% live his own unique brand of deep melodic techno, it was a welcome return for the Swedish maestro who last graced these shores for a memorable performance at Honytonks in 05. Opening with Berghain on Kompakt records his set consisted of many tracks off his most recent album Ex Machina on Peacefrog records. Arguably his most renowned track and local anthem Groove La Chord also got dropped and received a rapturous response from the crowd. Interestingly his most controversial release Winter (which has had some older fans and purists up in arms over its very trancey composition) drew a good response and also appeared to have a cheeky acappella chucked in over the top of it! Perhaps he was poking fun at the critics of his track or maybe he’s just a fan of motown, nevertheless both he and Joris seemed to get a kick out of the strange warped male vocal of The Supremes You Keep Me Hanging On . Let’s just hope Aril and Kim Wilde collaborations aren’t on the cards any time soon!
In a contrast to Joris, Aril seems very loose and relaxed up on stage. Throughout the set he was all smiles, dancing along and often making eye contact with dancers up front. Just like his music, Aril seems to give off a warm and uplifting vibe, it’s easy to see that he’s quite a humble guy. It was also great to see the affection shared between the two international guests, they obviously have a lot of respect for each other as was indicated by their friendly embrace. But during Aril’s set the crowd seemed to get a bit emptier. Perhaps the long weekend was starting to take its toll or the drop in tempo contributed. I really enjoyed Aril’s set but as great as it was it did seem to create a big drop in the energy and tempo created by Joris. When he previous DJ finished it was still ‘peak time’ in the clubbing scheme of things, and the sudden shift in BPM’s did cause a bit of a shift in the dance floor. It’s hard to say if Aril could have gone on later but perhaps it would have been a smoother transition. Similar comments were raised after Gui Borrato followed on from Sven Vath at a recent gig. Both are fantastic artists but with quite different styles and tempo’s to their music.
Christian Vance was on next and he took off where Aril left off, keeping things very deep and once again showing why he’s one of Melbourne’s premier live acts. By the time Mike Callander came on for the close there weren’t many punters left, and this reviewer was left to stumble out into the early morning with a smile on his face.
A notable mention goes out to the production side of things with great visuals provided by Soma. The sound was also top notch, very clear and a big improvement to the very bass oriented rigs I’ve experienced at the POW before. Not sure what happened to the side room (it was pretty much empty when I checked it out) but it does have a very strange placement that doesn’t make it easy to find. Overall a top night, and a very well produced party, in which there wouldn’t have been many people leaving not being impressed by the quality served up for them on Easter Sunday.
