Disco has made a resurgence in the past couple of years. Not necessarily through flairs, afros and rollerdiscos, but through the heart of disco; its music. From re-edits of old classics to new disco house hybrids and Nordic space disco, the genre is enjoying a second coming of large proportions. It hasn’t been the disco pop classics like YMCA, Stayin’ Alive and Mamma Mia, but the slighty more underground disco of Moroder, Soccio and Russell that isn’t found on Mum and Dad’s Disco Megahits CD.

This type of disco is being showcased every week at London’s Horse Meat Disco. Started as an attempt at replicating the gay US disco dens of the ‘70s, it has taken a life of its own, operating for over five years. The who’s who of modern disco royalty like James Murphy, Dimitri from Paris, Cosmo Vitelli and Greg Wilson have graced the Horse Meat decks and the original DJs of James Hillard and Jim Stanton packed up their records and came down under to give fans a taste of what Londoners got to experience every week.

Tonight they arrived at Perth’s own gay disco loft Connections to play a two hour set and headline a bill that included femme pop fatales Brash and Sassy and a drag queen catwalk show. Opening DJ Kitty did a nice job of getting things moving for the night. His set didn’t force things forward to early and included some Fleet Foxes, the Aeroplane remix of Coyote’s Too Hard. Moving things up a notch with The Boogie Corporation remix of Ilija Rudman’s Under the Water, Pilooski’s masterful edit of Frankie Vallie’s Beggin’ and The Juan Maclean’s epic single from last year Happy House. The mixing wasn’t rushed and the listeners definitely appreciated it with notable head nodding and foot tapping. The night had it’s first groovers when the Brash and Sassy girls entered in all their resplendence and started to get thing moving.

With some plugging in of keyboards and guitars, the Brash and Sassy trio of Ava, Gennaia and new keys player Guy Kristos launched into their set with diva-like grace. The hardworking group, that is yet to quite crack the mainstream, did a fine job of bringing some class to the evening and the crowd were duly appreciative. Their set, which included the Blondie-esque You’re Coming Home and the more sinister electro of Questionnaire, kept the modest crowd moving with spectral shadows grooving on either side of the catwalk. Finishing with their storming soon to be released nu disco single No Milk For You, it surely won’t be long until we’re hearing a lot more about Brash and Sassy.

After Brash and Sassy, instruments were quickly removed to clear the runway for the drag queen catwalk extravaganza. Extravaganza probably doesn’t do it justice with six and a half foot queens dressed in all manner of fantastical creations, strutted the runway like peacocks, throwing adulterous stares wherever they went. A very intimidating but mesmerizing sight with many punters hooting loudly, others were attempting to pick their jaws back out of their laps.

Following on from that truly eye-catching spectacle, a man who is truly one of the Perth underground’s most valuable assets took to the wheels to spin some more disco delights. From his origins in Cassette, Bourgeois Bogan and Shape, to his Pocket Disco radio show and more recently Sexy at the Republic, Petro Vouris has been at the forefront of most chic music adventures in this city. He always brings a sense of class to any venture and his music taste, most notably in disco, is hard to argue with. Not missing a beat and looking resplendent in a white blazer and freshly trimmed ‘tache, Petro reveled in the atmosphere and gave a classy but brief one hour of power spanning old and new disco before handing over to the English headliners.

Hillard and Stanton took control with a minimum of fuss and got to work on their vinyl replication software to get things cooking. The kick drum was hard and punchy and the dancefloor started to really loose inhibition after getting their way through their first half dozen $10 Becks. The temperature rose with the BPMs and people got on to the catwalk to dance, a couple of the drag queens made brief appearances and hedonistic disco was certainly back in Perth. Throughout their two hour set the HMD dudes played mostly old underground disco with a sprinkling of new tracks and a couple of edits but at no stage letting the quality drop.

Even though it was a moderate crowd in attendance for the night, it was good to see an apparent mixture of Connections regulars with some first timers letting nothing matter but the music. Young and old, gay and straight were there to have a good time and celebrate the inclusive nature of disco and I for one hope there are more shows like this in Perth in the future.