MOS "Annual" 2002 @ Various Venues, Perth (26/10/02)
Amongst the raft of Delirium’s “brand” parties – Digital, Sonik, Plastik, Elektrick et al – it would be safe to say that its Ministry of Sound “Annual” parties are anticipated more than any other. For many, one of the “Annuals” would have been there first experience at a dance music event: the accessibility and huge worldwide recognition associated with the MOS brand has meant that the parties would always attract a fair portion of first timers.
Adding to the unpretentious pull of the MOS brand has been the tradition, in keeping with the nature of the brand itself, to stack the lineup with recognisable, marquee names. With names like Fergie, Ferry Corsten, Tall Paul (x2), Chicane, DJ Heaven and Anthony Pappa, Annual parties are the best bet that any newbie could hope for, for a non-intimidating night of dancing amongst like minded punters.
It’s a formula that has some history to it. The first Annual, held in 1997 at the Planet Nighclub, is seen by many as the introduction of dance music to the mainstream in Perth. Those who were fortunate enough to get in that night were witness to a rammed nightclub, rocking the rafters to Frankie Foncett and DJ Heaven. The next year saw a venue upgrade, to the heritage listed Gilkisons Dance Studio. Again, the party peeps showed up in their droves, stretching the old building to its limit, with more than 2,000 people trying to traverse its narrow stairway at some point during the night.
The 98 Annual was the first time that the now famous Belmont Park was used for a dance event. For anyone that had been to a Perth event prior to that one, the 98 Annual was quite a watershed. Using only two rooms, Tall Paul, Chilli Hifly, Gemini and others managed to pull in 7,200 people – a record which has since been exceeded, but certainly ushered in a new era of mega-parties.
After the success of the 98 Annual, two further MOS Annuals were held at Belmont Park, as the event was steadily built out into a multi room bonanza, and non commercial names like Fumiya Tanaka, Technasia, Alton Miller and Dom and Roland were added to the MOS mix, to introduce a bit of flavour to the experience.
The announcement of the 2002 Annual came with the news that this year’s party would be held across the three city venues that have seen rather a lot of combined action this year: Metropolis, the Globe Complex and the Old Berlin. Expanded to five rooms, this year’s Annual also looked set to deliver more variety than any preceding it…..
Plastik Tekno Room : (Old Berlin)
Reviewed by Ricksta
Ministry of Sound’s “The Annual” tour is well marked in the diaries of clubbers as a time when big name trance DJ’s grace our shores. However, techno seems to be increasing in popularity amongst these mainstream club goers. It is therefore only natural to provide a variety of styles to appease the electronic music connoisseur, hence allowing for this selection to be sampled at the big commercial events. This year’s event incorporated a live set, much like last year’s effort. With any luck, this tradition will continue, thus mixing up the DJ sets with some quality live production work.
The decor in the Berlin hadn’t changed much since the last Ministry event, with the giant head still dominating the wall above the VJ booth. However, the ash (fairy lights) had by now turned into a trickle running down the wall. At this early stage of the evening, it is typical for the lighting to merely swirl around the room. This time, the lighting emulated that of a rotary phone, with the dial spinning in a circular motion, endlessly dialling an unanswerable phone. There was also massive distortion from the speakers at the onset, though this problem was soon sorted out. The glow crew were out in force again, with glowsticks, glowropes and even a glowball being kicked around in a game of soccer. All of the colours of the rainbow were on display to provide hours of fun for those who so required it.
Puff was spinning up the tunes in this early slot. Rather than easing the crowd in, he was setting the pace early, banging away the beats for the early gatherers. Puff played an assorted selection, including several old favourites, with a nice layering of (dare I say it) La La Land over the entirety of another track, providing for a ‘remix’ of both tracks. He also allowed for a couple of melodic tracks to break up the mix. Towards the end, he threw in a brief intermission, with the lyrics from CDB’s Let’s Groove confusing several people in the room, before spinning out and banging away the remainder of the set.
Next up on the decks was Nic Tan, picking up the pieces of Delirium’s techno line-up in what will hopefully be a continuing trend. Mr Tan provided a ‘sikk’ selection, playing much harder than his predecessor. This seemed to clear the lurkers from the room, though the real techno massif turned up soon afterwards to show their appreciation. Nic made use of several tricks, throwing down plenty of spinbacks and fader cuts for maximum effect. Nic’s selection was also superb, including The Subjective’s Critical bouncing around the room, and Gerd’s Arkests Blaze to polish off the mix.
David O picked up the remainder of Nic’s set, giving his last track a stadium feel with a reverb effect, before beginning his own set anew with an electro intro. Mr O’Reilly certainly put in a big effort for his set, cutting up his first track alongside another electro record, before rolling on into a banging techno set, harder again than Nic’s set. David O made full use of the three decks, going sick on the fader cuts, and using mad skills to liven up the crowd. A couple more electro flavoured beats were interspersed, with Vitalic’s You Prefer Cocaine rolling off the decks, alongside techno tracks such as Alessandro F’s Car Crash. One of his tracks initiated some kind of weird ass bassline through the speakers when introduced. Though clearly unintentional, it sounded pretty damn good. David O kept up a fast-paced set, around the 145 bpm mark, making the most of his time behind the decks, with lots of tricks and the odd echo effect thrown in for good measure. Although not an entirely flawless set (disappointment was plain to see when errors crept in), it certainly went down well with the assembled crowd in the lead up to the coming features. This is certainly one of Perth’s premier techno DJ’s.
Voiteck last graced the western shoreline two years ago, playing in the main room of the Globe at Soulfuric. Those two years have allowed him to increase his repertoire, with the set-up on stage including a Roland synthesizer, as well as a couple of other machines that were given a thorough workout throughout the course of his set. With no DAT evident (refer Devilfish), Voiteck kicked off with a wavelike sound, adding a 4/4 banging beat before launching into an aural assault of the senses. Voiteck moved from one spectrum to the next, with no breaks between tracks, thus providing an extremely smooth roll throughout. In actuality, it sounded like one long, continuous track. He also never allowed for any flat moments, at some stages changing up to a punchy beat, and even cutting across to a broken beat complete with kick drums and other assortments of drum codes banging away. Voiteck also made frequent use of the flanging effect, driving up the intensity experienced by those present who just wanted more.
The man himself had a good rapport with the crowd, using some kind of weird hand gestures to either motivate the crowd or tell his equipment off, I’m not really sure which. The crowd size was fairly decent at this stage, filling about half the room, allowing for plenty of room to move. Voiteck went well over his allotted time, to the amusement of Umek, giving him reason to scratch over the top of Voiteck’s set to try and hurry him up. However, Voiteck felt no pressure, finishing off with a slowed down beat and more flanging to the roars of the crowd. This set was definitely a crowd favourite, winning over their approval in just one and a quarter hours of frenetic action.
As noted, Umek Uros had by now stepped up to the decks, taking over from the live action recently witnessed. Kicking off with a vocal intro, Umek launched straight into a monster of a set, making up for any wrongdoings dished out at his previous visit. Umek put every effort into this set, laying down a phat track selection, minus many ‘cheesy’ tracks witnessed on prior occasions, and absolutely banging the crap out of the speakers. Umek also brought with him his support crew, namely Valentino and a couple of other guys, who spent the first half of the set bouncing around behind the decks, working the crowd, which was by now occupying about three quarters of the room. As with his other visits, FX Whore, err, Umek brought along his own effects machine, hooking this up prior to commencement. With this device plugged in, as well as the standard 600 model, Umek had access to a multitude of features, including echo, reverb, flange and delay to name just a few. And boy did he use them. Most tracks had some effect featured, much to the delight of the majority of the crowd (chinstrokers excluded). Some extra special features included echoing a sampled four beat selection, then speeding up the echo to lift the bpm count, leading to a drum roll sound that was duly lapped up by the assemblage. Add to this the usual fader cuts and equaliser tweaks, and there you have one hectic set.
Despite the many effects included, for better or worse (a matter of opinion after all), Umek did display superb mixing abilities. Working the three decks like a pro and slamming down effects with great precision does require considerable skill, and credit is given where it’s due. Also, laying down this many effects allows the DJ to stray from the norm of just mixing tracks, and effectively allows him to remake tracks, sort of like the Final Scratch technology. One example came late in the set with the inclusion of Lanicor. Umek sampled four beats and then cut it down to two, then two one, thus remixing the track. Whilst this remake was playing, he restarted the record and played it over the top, which did sound quite classy. Umek rounded off the set with another of his tracks, Protax (!), and handed the decks over to his fellow partner in crime.
The other half of the Recycled Loops duo, Valentino Kanzyani, seems to have matured a bit since his last visit 11 months ago. He now actually looks like a DJ (nb this is not intended to stereotype the way a DJ should look, it’s just a personal observation). He also plays like one. Assigned an early set at last year’s GCSSS meant that he couldn’t go out hard and heavy, keeping it smooth and steady for the entirety. This time around he got to play the closing set, continuing on from Umek in a remarkably similar fashion. The banging tracks continued, though not cut across as quickly as Umek, thus allowing for extended playtime. Apprentice FX Whore also made extensive use of the effects, but tended to cut out of echoes slightly out of phase with the beat. Valentino laid down a classy selection, with Adam Beyer’s instrumental mix of Manipulated getting the once over. He also laid down many a spinback, including a ten second rewind, which created many smiles on dials.
The second half of the set was a bit disappointing in terms of skills, with several mixes mashing up the speakers, causing some grievances on the dancefloor. However, the track selection was still there, with the Ben Sims remix of Freash People, as well as a second playing of a track from Marco Carola’s Question 9 EP. Valentino also tapped into the high frequency EQ’s on occasion, topping out a particular track and winding it back to break up the mix. As per usual, the Berlin closed right on six o’clock, with Valentino winding off the set with a slow-paced beat and accompanying zipper wind down, dragging everyone back down to earth from another top night.
Clubbers Guide to Breaks Room : (Metro Sky Bar)
Reviewed by Rafe Roberts
Well the last weekend of October is traditionally huge in Perth as it plays host to two of its biggest parties, Pride and Ministry of Sound. This year’s Ministry of Sound had a massive 5 arenas spread over 3 venues that pretty much catered for whatever flavour of dance music you might be into. Heading into town after watching the Pride parade, it was obvious that tonight was going to be huge as we passed one of the biggest lines I have ever seen outside the Paramount. With Northbridge completely packed, at around 10pm, I braved the line outside Berlin, got my wristband and headed towards the Skybar within Metro City.
Even this early in the evening, the place was pretty packed and the punters were already hyped up and ready to party. The Skybar is actually an extremely small part of Metro City. There is a small balcony area outside which overlooks the street towards the Entertainment Center. The interior consists of a circular style bar with a few tables around the edge. The east side of the room opens out over the foyer / entrance area of the club. In the eastern corner is the DJ booth and a very small section for a dance floor. This was definitely the smallest area of the whole event and all lighting and decoration was very minimal. There were a few lights above the DJ booth, which shone on the dance floor but basically, that was it. I did however notice a lot of InTheMix flyers scattered around the bar and neighbouring tables, which was good to see.
As the Skybar was extremely small and also had an open-air area into the foyer of the club, the sound level was kept fairly low. This was disappointing for the dance floor as, whenever I heard an old Plump DJ’s or Krafty Kuts track, I just wanted it cranked up loud. However the advantage of the low volume was that it was very easy to have a conversation with someone without having to shout. As the room was small, it quickly became very crowded which also impaired any major dance floor booty shaking action. Due to the low volume and the lack of space, the vibe for the room became very social. During the entire evening, people were eager to introduce you to themselves and all their friends: the entire room was full of people meeting people and increasing their circle of friends.
At every break beat gig with a big name breakbeat headliner I am always amazed at the quality of our local support DJs. This time it was local boy Koosh who had me thinking “Wow Perth breaks rock considering how small our town is.” For those of you who have not seen Koosh play before, there is one really distinctive thing about his DJ style. Koosh goes off! Behind the decks Koosh is bopping away to his tracks and shaking his thing. He has the biggest smile on his face, every time I see him play, and this night was no different. It’s almost like no matter what the punters are doing it wouldn’t matter to Koosh, ‘cause he is having a great time grooving away as he pumps out the breaks. Koosh played a wide range of tracks, including the track with the vocal line “endless pleasure in a limousine” and that new track Feeling Kinda Stange, by the Drumattic Twins, which was a great build up track that had the room buzzing.
The headliner for the breaks room was none other than Australia’s own Jedi of the breaks, Kid Kenobi. Sydney-based breakbeat DJ Kid Kenobi has achieved more in the past year than many other djs could dream of achieving after years in the industry.
Kenobi recently released the first breakbeat mix CD ever by Ministry of Sound and has been travelling around the world doing gigs ever since. After taking out the 2001 DMA for Best DJ he is also nominated for another DMA award this year, again, for Best DJ 2002. So, with such a high profile, it was great news to find out that Kenobi would be coming to Perth. It was really unfortunate that Kid Kenobi had to play in such a small venue, but this didn’t seem to bother this Jedi, as Kid Kenobi performed one of the best breaks sets I have ever heard.
“Stadiums, huge stage, thousands of punters…...a jedi craves not these things”. Well, that’s how it seemed as Kenobi played a very diverse set that seemed to keep sneaking up on you, with new sounds and surprises. It was a very long, 3 hour, set that was performed in such a way that made time seem fluid, as Kenobi took us on a journey through old school and new school breaks that kept evolving into new grooves and different vibes. All this served to keep most of the punters glued to the room.
Kenobi had a way of amping the punters up, then introducing some new and interesting tracks, before throwing back into an old school track that would have arms in the air and people shouting out loud. One of my favorite tracks of the set was an absolutely savage breaks mix of Young MC’s Bust A Move, mixing the vocal rhymes over a phat bassline and hard beats, leaving just a tinge of the funky groove.
Kenobi played a lot of breaks grooves that I hadn’t heard before and mixed them into old favourites. An example of this was when he took a track that had the vocal line “technology” repeated throughout, while he gradually mixed in Kraft Kuts track “Krafty Kuts with the ill type sound!” The Skybar got extremely hot at times, with the large number of people trying to get a groove or two with the Jedi. It was just too good to go elsewhere to cool down.
Although I was originally disappointed with the small size of the Skybar, I was so impressed by Kid Kenobi that it didn’t really matter as I was just stoked to have even seem him play. If, like a lot of my friends, you were undecided about going to see this gig and missed out, you’d better make sure you catch the next opportunity you get to see Kid Kenobi. With his profile growing exponentially, it soon will be hard to catch a Kenobi gig as the demand for this DJ is going to outgrow supply and we will be left with only glimpses of this master of the breaks on our shores.
Also keep a lookout for another Clubbers Guide to Breaks that Kenobi is rumoured to be working on!
The force is strong in this one!
Loaded Dice Drum’n’Bass Space : (Globe Main Room)
Reviewed by peto
It was Fabio’s first trip down to Perth and his liquid funk selection was eagerly awaited. The Radio 1 DJ had never been down to Australia and, after a false start last year, we were more than ready for a night to bolster our diverse drumnbass experiences. Fabio is the 2nd in a string of heavyweight drumnbass names making their first visit down here, courtesy of Loaded Dice.
Elle Rollo kicked off the night with what was rumoured to be his last set. He started the night off in liquid funk style, flowing through the tunes as the punters trickled in. The lines weren’t as big as the other venues and many of the Perth crew filtered through the Globe main room and into the hiphop room, behind it in Amplifier. Elle Rollo went out with a quality set, leaving those who have seen him play hoping he can find time for an encore set at some time in the future.
Mystique took over and got into it immediately, with songs for those on the dancefloor: rinsing out favourite’s LK and a Shake Ur Body remix. She also mixed it up with some darker selections, which only boosted the dancefloor, as the early few showed their appreciation.
Diamond D stepped up next to Mystique around a quarter to 12 and, with his first track, he dropped it down dark. Throwing down some nasty new basslines really got the dancefloor moving, as the Globe filled up nicely. MC J Rippa stepped in on the mic, as Diamond D worked through the Ram Trilogy remix of Ed Rush & Opitcal’s Pacman. Dion mixed it up a bit on the night, easing it up a notch, only to let loose with more bass and dark breaks.
At about 1:00am, Greg Packer took control for the warm up spot, the last on the decks at the side of the room. His energy and enthusiasm had an immediate flow on effect into the dancefloor, as numbers filled in and bodies shook to the beat. Influx Datum’s Back 4 More brought out the vocals, as Packer had control with his quick mix and funky selection. J Rippa helped amp the crowd as the dancefloor were loving the fresh tunes. Packer mixed through some of his newer songs including his new latin flavoured piece. Danny C’s new smash the Mexican fitted in perfectly, as Packer had the dancefloor really moving. Just after 2 – right on schedule – Packer mixed out his last tune, the lights faded and the focus switched to the main stage.
Fabio, lit up with nice visuals on an extremely effective backdrop behind him, eased into the first tune. After initial sound and speaker problems, we got ready as MC Assassin assisted on the intro. Dropping some new flavours, Fabio worked himself into the mix, after his off-putting beginning. He mixed through Shy FX and Carlito & Addiction, building up to the massive High Contrast It’s Come to this Remix. The catchy bassline of this conglomerate tune drew out the punters’ appreciation and gained a rewind. Fabio mixed it up with vocal flavours alongside Brazilian beats, and took it down with some big bass – although up until the last tune it was never really heavy. New Roni Size material blended well with more High Contrast tunes, as Fabio seemed to like this Hospital Recordings rising star. MC Xcessive and MC Sev also flexed it on the mic, as Fabio couldn’t help moving to the music. Fabio even pulled out his lighter as the Perth Crew showed respect with their’s too. Close to 5, MC Xcessive helped wind it down as the last tune was upon us. It had a nice intro that gave no hint of the devastating bassline that lashed out, grabbing attention and demanding the rewind. After one more time, the Perth crew showed their appreciation to the DJ and Fabio obviously enjoyed it too.
Sardi plugged himself in for the finishing duties, which he performed effectively, clearly entertaining the remaining punters and more than one local DJ shaking it on the dancefloor. Sardi scratched it up, and mixed in a few of his own tunes from CD. He blended funkier basslines with much darker flavours in the form of Krust’s Kloaking King. Calibre, J Majik and Carlito tunes rinsed through, holding the punters left on the dancefloor. Although Sardi was playing like it would never end, the night had to come to an end and the lights came on after another quality drumnbass event at the Globe.
The Liquid Funk sound is infecting Perth and Fabio showed it by rinsing out the Cott with a surprise set for the surfies on Sunday night. Respect to Loaded Dice and bring on Dillinja, Lemon D & Hype.
Bootnox presents AFro PuFFs (HipHop, Funk, Drum n Bass and Turntablism) : (Amplifier Bar)
Reviewed by CaseyG
One Corridor and 6 Dee Jays.
To get the Amplifier bar as your venue at a multi room event at the Globe is always going to be hard to keep a crowd moving. The room doubles as a big corridor to the chill out room and the upstairs room. Although there was no room being run upstairs on the night, there were still a lot of punters wanting to cool down after the intense workout they were being given by the likes of Elle Rollo, Diamond D, Greg Packer and Fabio.
There could never be a more contrasting scene, than to make your way from the packed main room at the Globe, through to the nearly empty Amplifier to take in the sounds from some of the best turntablists to come onto the scene in Australia of late.
Yes, ‘best turtablists’- and ‘empty room’ – I put them in the same sentence. This was a late addition to the MOS line-up, and that was painfully obvious from the sad lacking in attendance on the night.
I arrived at around 11pm to see S-Man and Doug Disco working on what was basically an empty room. No more than 20 people were in the room (its early I thought, this should soon fill up). Slow beats were on the decks, and as they moved through the set, making their way up to some higher paced numbers from the Beastie Boys, Eric B and Rakim, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, A Tribe Called Quest and Stetsasonic. By the end of their set, they had captivated about 50 people in the room which, sadly, was about as full as it ever got.
Midnight brought Armee of Downsyde fame to the decks. He had a job ahead of him to keep the ball rolling as the crowd was thinning, and for good reason too – there is only so much stop-start-stop-start scratching one can take. But Armee’s technique was just what was needed, it wasn’t intrusive on the progression of the music, so you could still groove along to the beats, as well as get a dose of turntable trickery. He ended his set with a track from fellow Hydro Funk label stable mates and owners, the Resin Dogs – of which Downsyde are signed to.
From here on Samrai took to the stage in a set that showed more turntablist trickery than hiphop beats. It was a scratchfest, and for the most part was too much to keep people there for more than 10 minutes at a time. There wasn’t a lot of progression in the music being played. There was very little dancing, and a whole lot of standing and watching.
Selekt was the last act I saw before making my departure. Recently crowned Australian DMC champion, his technical ability shone through, he made it all look so easy. His track selection was getting those in the room excited, with quite a few “sing along” the lyrics. But alas – I had to go home early, missing Kirky’s performance – my poor brain could take not a-a-a-a-a-an-an-an-oth-oth-oth-otherrrrrrrrrr scratch.
Having a turntable room in what is a notorious thoroughfare was not a bad idea really. The amount of people in the room (~30) never impeded traffic to the chill out room, and this worked for both Drum n Bass fans and the Hip
Hop / Turntable junkies on the night. There is nothing worse than trying to get into the music with your favourite tunes on the decks, when there is a constant flow of people pushing past you to get to the other side of the room. (Reminiscent of the Breaks room at Two Tribes). On the flipside, when all you want to do is get to the nearest bean bag – you don’t want to have to wade through a seething mass of groovers.
A few of the people I talked to on the night told me that they were baffled as to why the Breaks room wasn’t upstairs at the Globe. As it has more in common with Drum n Bass and Hip Hop than the acts playing the “Annual Room” at Metro’s and also offered far more room to dance than the shoebox that it was held in. It also would have brought a larger appreciative crowd to the talent on show at the Amplifier.
MoS ‘Annual’ Room (Metro City)
Reviewed by druze
MOS fans were out in hoards on Saturday night for one of the biggest events of the year, the Ministry of Sound 2002 Annual. This main room lineup was set to be one of the best of the year also, with an impressive line up including Mark Dynamix, Tall Paul and Ferry Corsten. The event was split up between three clubs; Metro City, The Globe and The Old Berlin. Due to the recent popularity of MOS in Australia, the crowd consisted of hard core ravers and a large mix of newbies.
The line-up in the main-room of Metro City consisted of Chad D from 9pm till 10pm, Boy from 10pm to 11pm, Kriece from 11pm to midnight, and from midnight the big guns came out; Mark Dynamix from 12 until 2am, Tall Paul from 2am until 4am and Ferry Corsten from 4 am until 6am.
First cat off the hat was Chad D who played from 9 until 10, whose set I missed because the ITM crew couldn’t get there tickets until the Old Berlin opened at 10. I ended up catching the end of Boy’s set, not exactly getting the crowd pumping but that was probably due to the fact that the majority of people were just making it to the club.
By 11:30, the main room began to reach it’s capacity. Kriece played a fairly decent set. He started off a bit shakey, playing some not so crowd pumping tunes, but towards the end of the set he laid the smack down with some solid tracks, creating an awesome atmosphere that got the crowd warmed up for Mark Dynamix, who came on at 12.
By the time Mark Dynamix came up, Metro City was at its capacity and the line outside was still an hour long. Dynamix, the first DJ on the main card for the night, played a decent set. Although he failed to keep the crowd amped at the beginning, the rest of his set rocked – he played some good tunes and towards the end of his set managed to keep the crowd’s atmosphere live and hot.
Tall Paul’s set was expected to be one of the best sets of the night, although Tall Paul seemed to fall short of his usual greatness. He had started off strong, picking up where Mark Dynamix left off, but after two or three songs the Tall man began to tumble. Trying to mix in different genres of dance music, to accommodate the large audience, and mixing them badly seemed all Tall Paul could do. The hardcore fans were not impressed; the rest of the crowd didn’t seem to mind.
The Dutch DJ and an innovator of the global trance movement, Ferry Corsten, took the stage at 4am and showed the crowd what a rave is supposed to be. Laying down some bad arse tracks, Corsten, had the crowd pumping throughout his whole set. He played such roof thumping tracks as Solar Stone’s Seven Cities and Corsten’s and Tiesto’s Tenshi, among others. He finished strong with Punk and, although he wanted to play an encore, the management at Metro City said no, which left the crowd feeling a little empty.
All round, the main-room at Metros still rocked. The dance floor was packed the whole night, despite the music and the poor sets from some of the DJs. My only real criticism would be the amount of people that were let into the club. The bottom floor was so packed that it took an eon to get from one side to the other and the amount of guys without shirts on definitely made the dance floor extra sticky. But like I said before, still rocked, and it was good to finally meet some of the ITM crew too as well.
