Perth is a funny place. It can be like a bubble at times, and then it’ll be ahead of itself in other things. The Bourgeois Bogan (BB) crew have certainly done a fantastic job of bring some more leftfield acts to Perth, playing at their home at Shape. After some sterling shows, including LCD Soundsystem, Matt & Kim and numerous festival after parties, it is shaping up (pun intended) as one of the most individual spots on the Perth nightlife circuit. Starting the night before, it was a huge weekend at the old Up Bar, “bringing it like it’s never been brought before, 13 international DJs, Bands, and more local talent than you can throw a stick at.” Tonight was a strictly DJ night though with locals before and after the two headlining acts, the Sex On Substance (SOS) trio of Omid 16b, Demi and Desyn Masiello, along with DJ T.
Arriving upstairs to a relatively bare room, there was only a few drinkers and listeners so it was clear that it might not be the best selling night at the newish venue. Doing his darndest to get people going was Perth’s #1 progressive DJ, Robot resident and all round nice guy, Sean Chee. The ‘Cheetah’ was delivering some deliciously spacey and minimal house that definitely deserved more respect than it was getting. With seamless mixing and some grooving behind the decks, ‘Van Chee’ was putting on a show, except there was no one to see it. Perhaps this was due to the delightful beer garden at the rear of the venue, which always seems to attract the majority of punters earlier in the night. With a Japanese-style pagoda providing comfy chairs underneath it, the outdoor area appears a popular spot to have a chat with friends.
Midnight quickly arrived and it was time to head inside to see Get Physical co-founder and electronica elder-statesman Thomas Koch, aka DJ T. It is unclear whether he is any relation to national tool and breakfast presenter David Koch, but ITM is doing its best to investigate. Along with Get Physical co-founders Booka Shade, DJ T is a purveyor of the finest minimal/tech house going around. It was no surprise that the majority of tracks he started with were unknowns, as I’m sure he would have his finger on the pulse of many underground releases. Starting off slowly with some ice-cold space disco, it took T a little while to start his Bunsen burners, but he kept the dancefloor steady without a lot of enthusiasm. After about 45 minutes things started to really get going and T started to flesh out more of his tracks with extra percussion and some rumbling basslines. But, unfortunately for T, it was a little too late as the crowd had already started to thin out with many heading upstairs to catch the start of SOS.
This brings me back to my opening line about the fickle nature of Perth party-goers. A genre like electro has been a Perth favourite for years, with the Cassette crew regularly pulling good crowds and now BB carrying the torch. Yet something like minimal/tech house doesn’t really seem to have taken off here yet, not like it has in the rest of the world. DJs have been absolutely killing it with the genre all over the place, but it hasn’t had quite the same effect in Perth. The Robot nights, also at Shape, have not being drawing the crowds they certainly deserve, and tonight a real pioneer of the scene was left with a handful of punters enjoying his perfect mixing and track choices.
Pretty much everyone had disappeared upstairs to check out English trio SOS. Advertised as a “DJ alliance comprised of Londoners Demi, Desyn Masiello and Omid16B. 6 decks, 3 mixers, 2 laptops, utter mayhem,” the concept of a side-by-side DJ set is nothing new, but a couple of world class DJs and a very establish producer was a very interesting proposition. The trio, who are sponsored by Pioneer, have been performing together as SOS since 2004. Omid is a producer and chief of Alola, Disclosure and Sexonwax labels. Demi is coordinator of the Deeper Substance rave and globetrotting DJ. Desyn Masiello is probably the most recognised name of the bunch, his outstanding WMC BBC mix for Radio 1 made countless fans a few years back. There were no doubt a few people here just to see Desyn tonight, but they were going to get a three-pronged aural assault designed specifically to party instead.
Their setup comprised of, probably, an unnecessary 6 CDJs, 3 mixers, 2 effects units, a laptop and an electronic drum pad. It seemed as though Demi and Desyn on each side chose, cued and mixed the tracks and breakdowns, while Omid in the centre would focus on effects, samples and drum pad. Kicking off with upbeat rhythmic house, the boys had the crowd excited from the get-go. Their first few mixes consisted of heavy high-BPM tracks, book ended by huge trancey synth breakdowns that the crowd absolutely loved. Omid then hooked up the drum pad and started going to town on it with his drum sticks, which was great fun except he didn’t seem to be able to get the connection to the mixer right as it kept cutting out with regular frequency. When he did get it going without losing sound, it was impressive, easily switching between snares, cymbals and handclaps. The atmosphere was electric even if the dancefloor wasn’t bulging, the boys hopping between house, electro, tribal, techno and even a little breakbeat.
Even though the moderately sized crowd was keeping the dancefloor going, the sound that the boys were producing was nothing groundbreaking. To be even a little cynical, it probably could have been produced by one talented DJ. At times it seemed like Desyn and Demi were having trouble finding things to do and spent long periods looking through their CDs, though to their credit, they always looked like they were having a good time. On the way downstairs for a drink outside, DJ T was still toiling away behind the decks to a few loyal dancers. It may now be the case in the title of a recent track by Dirty Disco Youth, ‘The Kids Want Maximal’, which highlights that electro is still #1 in Dullsville.
