Knowledge Music’s recent foray into midweek clubbing nights continued its successful run with none other than Alix Perez featuring on the decks at Shape Bar. Punters were provided with a glimpse into the future of tech-driven drum n bass. On the back of his hugely successful debut LP 1984 released in 2009 and his most recent EP Dark Days, it was a chance to see Perez at the top of his game, as right now he is without a doubt one of the leading producers/DJ’s within the international DnB scene.

The night started with a very impressive opening set from local DJ Deflo; not the biggest name on the local circuit but in my opinion one of the best selectors our city can boast; mixing with vinyl and impressive beat-matching. Furthermore, his track selection was very suitable, setting the tone for the rest of the evening brilliantly. Next up on the decks was local DnB stalwart Muller; a regular DJ at many drum n bass nights in Perth. His beat and phrase matching were spot on; and he provided an eclectic mix of both popular recent tunes and a couple of old school bangers; without delving into dance floor friendly cheese levels.

Some confusion with line-up times meant Alix Perez didn’t take to the decks till just after 11pm; yet by the time he began, the dance-floor at Shape was considerably packed; quite a feat considering it was a mid-week gig. Perez utilised CDJ’s for his entire set (as one would imagine regarding the number of dubs he threw into his mix) and the tone for most of the set was reflective of the minimal/techy rollers he has been producing for the last few years. For the first 45 minutes Perez didn’t relent, keeping the tunes coming hard and fast with impeccable mixing skills and well placed rewinds for some of the more epic drops. A brief foray into the slower BPM’s of dubstep, including Shogun Audio label-mate Icicle’s ‘minimal dub’, provided a nice bit of variety to the set. When Perez dropped a few older tunes, from the likes of Dillinja, Total Science and even one of his earliest tunes Dubrock. Other highlights included hearing the cuts from his latest EP Dark Days, including the songs Behind Time and Dark Days as well as dubs from the likes of scene leaders Break & Spectrasoul, and collaborations between Alix Perez & Noisia. One particular favourite moment for myself was hearing Jubei’s VIP remix of Patience mixed into a double drop of D-Bridge Inner Disbelief and Alix Perez Contradictions.

Perez wrapped up around 12:30am and local Vitriol took over for the last set for the night; As a relative newcomer to the local scene, he did a great job keeping the flow from Perez’s set, with some tight mixing and well chosen tracks keeping the remainder of people left on the dancefloor happy. Much respect to the Perth locals, all punching well above their weight with regards to skills behind the decks. All in all I would strongly consider Alix Perez’s set to be one of the best I have heard this year in Perth in terms of mixing skills, track selection and the ability to keep the dance floor moving and interested. Furthermore, with the high caliber of local DJs on the bill, and the extremely fair price of $20 on the door; I would go one step further and consider this one of the gigs of the year for the DnB scene. Big ups to the crew at Knowledge Music for continuing to bring international DJ’s to our shores and putting on such great gigs.