We Love Sounds @ Hordern Complex, Sydney (08/06/07)

Just when I thought it was time for me to hang up my electronic music festival shoes for good (I am getting old compared to the average punter who attends festival these days after all), the We Love Sounds 2008 lineup was released. It read like a who’s who of good music: Stephan Bodzin, Hybrid, Marc Houle, Gaiser, Lindstrom, *Ellen Alien*… and that was just the artists playing in The Forum. I ran around the room like a madman, let out a little bit of wee and when I finally calmed down, decided that I’d have one last fling with massive parties at We Love Sounds 2008, knowing that the Sounds Group haven’t let me down yet.

It was worth it. The crowd was friendly, (mostly) respectful of others, up-for-it, and (mostly) musically educated; the lighting and stage production in each arena was top notch (especially in the Royal Hall Of Industries); the sound was perfectly tuned; lines for every facility from food and drink to toilets and first aid were very short; the staff were happy to go out of their way to help you; and the music was (mostly) very, very good. It felt like a real music festival aimed at a variety of age groups, not just an overpriced party for young kids which just so happened to have some loud music at it (and not much else). Anyway, with that little diatribe off my chest, let’s get on with some music talk shall we?

Utah Saints brought something good (OK, bad joke) to the table to begin with, but unfortunately slowly went downhill as the set continued. Opening with some excellent old-school ravey goodness (including a very well-timed placement of Something Good), they worked their way up to some crunchy tech such as a remix of Elite Force’s Melodic Hypnotik, but then lost their way with overplayed anthems such as Zdarlight by Digitalism and something that sounded like a remix of AC/DC. Over in The Forum, America’s ubercoolische Gaiser was entertaining those who like their music deeper and more stripped back. Dark, brooding grooves with spacious atmospherics, crunchy, metallic percussion and immersive, rumbling basslines kept the already full room moving in unison, with Half Life being a highlight later in the set.

Norwegian cosmic disco pioneer Lindstrom was up next, and while he may have confused a few punters, those who “got it” really “got it”. It was everything that is wonderful about the rapidly burgeoning cosmic disco sound. There were moments of epic, warm, uplifting musical bliss, sweet dubbed-out spacious grooves, and some excellent proper old-school disco meets new-school tech house cuts that had hips shaking and fingers pointing in the air. Meanwhile in the Royal Hall Of Industries Derrick Carter, the undisputed leader of the Chicago house sound and just an all-round seriously cool guy, lived up to his reputation with a varied set of beats that were united by a common theme: jack. Whether it was deep, funky grooves, warm, vocal cuts, stomping techno (including the excellent The Stick Up by Samuel L Session) or proper old school house, the whole set had those who know what good house music sounds like; jackin’ like they were dancing to a Ron Hardy set at The Music Box.

And still in that same time period, Black Grass were entertaining a small but vocal crowd at the 3D World Stage with a varied selection of hip-hop, roots and funk crowd-pleasers. Their set included some Jurassic 5, Mark Ronson’s Toxic and Lionel Richie’s All Night Long to finish, which as random a choice as it was a fantastic one. It’s just a pity that they were clashing with so many other acts because that no doubt affected the size of their crowd. Up next in The Royal Hall of Industries, Bpitch Control’s formidable duo of Modeselektor proceeded to push the envelope of what can be called ‘dance music’ with a fantastic one hour live set of some of the most brain-melting noise I’ve (and no doubt most of the crowd) ever experienced. Sounding something like a mixture between crunk, (proper) electro, techno and a few hundred synths being thrown in some sort of metaphorical sonic blender, the German duo tore the sound system a new arsehole. The grimey Silikon, the electro-crunkin’ filth of The Black Block and the proto-techno goodness of Suckerpin were definite highlights in the set for the fanboys in the audience, and the inclusion of plenty of material from their latest album surely won them some new fans.

At the same time, label compatriot Ellen Allien was busy working the crowd in The Forum with a set that was essentially the epitome of good programming. Beginning with an excellent selection of proper electro, including a couple of Bjork remixes, she gradually worked her way through to crunchy minimal and tech house, and then in her final half hour laid down some beautifully deep and head-swimming techno goodness. Oh, and she is ridiculously hot too. I think I’ve found my future wife. Meanwhile, the original Prince of Darkness (whoever bestowed that title on Dubfire clearly forgot about this guy) Steve Lawler divided opinions with his set. Sure, it was a solid ride of twisted techno and banging, dark, progressive house, but it just wasn’t that memorable. It felt almost a little too like a look into dance music’s “flavour-of-the-month” sound. For a DJ who for so long has been at the forefront of electronic music and been praised for his uniqueness and uncompromising passion for finding the tunes noone else is playing, it really didn’t feel all that “different”. And the inclusion of Tomass Anderson’s cheesy anthem Washing Up was really just plain confusing.

While Lawler was getting dirty, The Beastie Boys’ resident DJ, Mixmaster Mike, was getting busy behind the decks in The Hordern Pavillion with a formidable display of turntablism. Working his way through more tunes than I can count, Mike wowed the crowd with his ability to cut and paste together a wide variety of sounds ranging from old school hip-hop classics like DJ Kool’s Let Me Clear My Throat to filthy drum & bass. And as Lawler’s set drew to a close, Dubfire*stepped on to the stage to rapturous applause. High hopes were held for the one-half of Deep Dish who has left progressive for minimal techno. Sadly they weren’t met. Opening with a re-edit of his now massive Emissions, the set sadly just felt like a series of four bar loops that did nothing for seven minutes at a time being lazily crossfaded in to one another. One of the wonderful things about minimal techno is its ability to use so few elements to create a complex, interesting sound and one of the wonderful things about (most) of its DJs is that they know minimal tunes aren’t designed to be played for seven and eight minutes at a time: the key is to keep the set dynamic with perpetual mixing and layering. However that being said, it wasn’t that the set was bad (on the contrary, many of the tunes were solid), it just really felt monotonous after a while.

Hybrid were sadly equally as disappointing. A few brief moments of beautiful progressive breaks and stomping melodic tech unfortunately soon after gave way to some very derivative and uninspiring electro house. However Steve Porter & Lee Burridge’s quirky Dirty Panty Ho Wrestler was a late highlight in an otherwise forgettable set. But the above was quickly forgotten when 8:30 rolled around. Bonde De Role and Stephan Bodzin both provided an excellent end to the day and left many leaving the festival on a high. Bonde De Role did exactly what everyone expected: jumped around on stage like a bunch of lunatics shouting out filthy lyrics in Portuguese over booty shaking beats and stupidly over-the-top synths. Yeah, it was pretty damn awesome. No, I’m not being sarcastic!

Stephan Bodzin on the other hand turned everyone’s brains to silly putty with a live set that was beautifully constructed using Ableton Live, a touch-screen midi controller and some sort of metal rod that created sonic madness. I think I even saw a bit of someone’s frontal lobe sliding across the floor around 9pm. Whether it was with epic, uplifting melodic goodness such as Treibsand and Callisto, bassline-driven techno work outs like Liebe Ist, or loopy, percussive stompers, Bodzin grabbed the crowd firmly by their balls (let’s face it, it was mostly guys at that point) and tightened his grip until people were begging him to stop. But he wouldn’t, and whether they’ll admit it or not, they were glad he didn’t. A memorable set if I’ve ever experienced one.

A long, fun day deserves a long, in-depth review; and you just got one. To put it simply, We Love Sounds 2008 made me feel like maybe I’m not too old for festivals just yet and proved that making the music the main focus of a day out really does work. Gold star for you, Sounds Group.