inthemix | Event Coverage | The Colour of Sound @ Room680, Melbourne (17/10/08)

I hate Melbourne. I can’t live here any longer. I go out for a few drinks and some tunes on Friday night, and suddenly it’s Sunday afternoon and I only just got home and I have a review to write. Actually, that isn’t quite true. I did pop home every now and then to change clothes and have a little rest, but what I’m trying to say is… that were so many good nights and great DJs in Melbourne to begin with, and then the Interview crew came along, with a few notable extras, to take over Room680 in all its refurbished splendour. What’s a dance fan to do?

Room680 has always been a favourite of mine. I went to Frantic parties at the club, and 5am was born (and died) there. It had been a while though since I’d stepped inside, though, so you can imagine my delight to discover how wonderfully they have redecorated, reorganised and reinvented themselves. The furnishings are tasteful, the main dancefloor is bigger, the front room is cozy and inviting, and the upstairs smoking area is fabulous. It comes complete with a dairy cow on the roof, along with lots of comfy couches. So comfy, in fact, that there were people who had trouble getting off them.

It seemed fitting that the Interview crew should launch its newest venture, The Colour of Sound, at such a stylish venue. They have brought together a group of local DJs and placed them beside some big names from around the country and from overseas. It was unfortunate that the headliner, Basic, was unable to make it, but Ozzy from Tribeadelic stepped up to the mark and provided his own variety of party trance, featuring crossovers into pumping trance and his trademark rocking psy. Thank you so much for filling in, I hope it won’t be the last time. Liquid, who played before Ozzy, set the scene with party psy as well.

Before moving onto the music, I feel I must try to describe what it’s like attending an Interview party. It is more than a party, it is a community of like-minded – and open-minded – people, coming together to enjoy mature electronic dance music. The people who attend Interview – and by the looks of it, The Colour of Sound – know their music. They know their genres, they know what is good and bad. They will make up genres to suit themselves, such as JulesPlees classic description of Tetrameth’s “psygressive” sound. “Don’t you mean progressive psy?”, I asked. No, he meant aggressive psy, but I would have to say it was also progressive to a point.

Back to the topic at hand, tucked away in the luscious front room Thad Lester was quietly mixing up a storm. Thad, better know perhaps as the co-founder of Push on Sundays, played what he described as tech prog house, but others label it deep prog. Anyway, to hell with the genres, as whatever Thad was playing it was superb. His knowledge of music and his love for the dance scene shines and we are very lucky to have him in Melbourne, quietly maintaining the equilibrium between politics and what really matters; decent thumping progressive sounds, all delivered with a smile and humility.

At this point I retired to the upstairs smoking area and caught up with some old friends from the Frantic days, and it was great to see an impressive number of ITMers out and about. Our lovely leader Kat joined us along with divid3d who took the photos on her fancy new camera, anja, lingfish (our resident geek), the beautiful Miss Mel , Pat (the trance guru) and another Pat recently arrived from Canberra, just to name a few. Nothing makes me prouder than seeing the ITM community supporting local clubs and DJs. You guys are a great example to all punters out there.

Decoy had taken over from Thad in the front-room and was keeping everyone nice and chilled with his minimal tunes crossing into more progressive sounds from time to time. Someone mentioned Decoy going from minimal to maximal, and it seemed pretty spot on to me. There was nothing minimal going on in the main room, though, as Mr Interview himself Ben Evans (or half of it, along with the charming Blinky) was going mad on the decks. Ben was supported by Wavemotion aka Sasha Petrovic.

Wavemotion is Sasha’s psy alias, and after years of playing and producing house in all its forms he is now branching into the psy sound. If Friday was anything to go by, the combination of Sasha and Ben is going to be phenomenal in the future. The place was literally jumping for the entire set, and I could see a lot of new-comers to psytrance being converted. It was psy in it’s original, unmistakable form, but with loads of wonderful new sounds being brought in on top of the “doof, doof, doof”. All of us who go to outdoor parties could happily stomp along to this for days on end.

I have only good things to say about Evans. I have watched him develop over the years from an enthusiastic kid with big ideas, into a warm, generous and talented young man who has achieved some of those big ideas, and with many more to come. His set reminded me of why I love psytrance so much, and I can’t wait to hear him play more of it at Earthcore and Interview.

Something quite amusing happened early on in the evening, I think towards the end of Tetrameth’s set or the beginning of Sensient’s. There was a technical problem with the sound (that is, there wasn’t any) and it was a good minute or so before anyone noticed as everyone was chatting excitably to old and new friends. I think this is another pleasing aspect of the Interview parties. The music is important, but so is the friendliness of everyone who attends.

I didn’t stay to listen to Sonic Boom, originally from Venezuela but now living in Melbourne. I did, however, hear the first half of another ex-pat, South American Chwen in the prog room. He had to diversify from what you’d usually hear him play in order to maintain continuity, but I am sure I detected some psy elements sneaking in. It is always a pleasure seeing Chwen with his lovely smile, but next time bring the Mrs please!

All in all, I would say that the opening night of Colour of Sound was a great success and congratulations to everyone involved in producing this event. A special mention must be made of the decorators, the main floor was magical. So, that’s how my weekend started, but it doesn’t explain what I ended doing for the rest of it… that’s a whole different story. God, I love Melbourne!