Tornado Wallace, Mic Newman and more are among the leading names in what is arguably one of the most vibrant house music scenes in the world at the moment. Tyson Wray explains.

the boys! great read and well deserved.

Love all parties involved! Good to see Melbourne getting the respect it deserves!

The lads!

Nice one guys! Congratulations. Respect and love from north of the border.

for hipsters by hipsters.

lol

I moved to Melbourne from the UK a couple of months ago and been surprised how many big names are playing in the city each week across not just house but bassy stuff too. Looking forward to getting involved

I moved from glasgow a couple of months ago too , to be honest I've found the house scene pretty lacing in comparison but I'm finding more events that play pretty decent techno. it's just that the drugs aren't very good.

What techno events are there to go to?

One of the cities I have on my bucket list. A mate just told me they will have Mr. René Pawlowitz by the end of the year.

great read and well deserved.

EDIT: Just out of curiosity, who are the young vinyl DJs playing soul, detroit techno and house? I'm really interested in hearing some names. I'm 18 and have never met anyone my age remotely interested in solid dance music let alone vinyl.

At events the youngest people I see are in their early 20s.

It is usually too much to handle it all. Keep up yo!

Electric Owl, MTC, darkbeat, Likes of You, Sunny (when they happen), technoir (when they happen) all play differing shades of techno.

Also, check out ebb&flo, they put on a monthly night that is all about the music, very deeeeeeeeep, they have a party this Saturday actually.

Some of the best sounds of recent times have come from Melbourne in my opinion. Keep up the good work.......

Lewis, Mic and the Melbourne Deepcast guys rock!

i used to live there, loved the place and really miss it, probably my favorite city. was really impressed by the animals dancing parties at meercat basement, on the strength of those alone i think it's fair to say that the city has got something going for it at the moment. is always going to face difficulties though, high cover charges for international acts and parties often being on a sunday evening i always found a bit offputting.

i'm not sure what tornado wallace is on about referring to melbourne as 'this humble city'. if the traits i'd attach to your average melbournian, humility is not one of them.

lets not forget smalltown..

Nice.

In my box but didn't think about "where from" on the map (wouldn't have known it): Tortoise, Tornado Wallace, Mic Newman.. -it's nice to know now that they've got quality outputs coming from another part of the world!


and...


Not applicable. That shouldn't be applied to anything anymore. The "hipster" tag doesn't mean a thing. This is something that people who feel that they are not included in something can throw around like bums removed from social status while stuck amongst society; Haters outside of club windows; people that just walk around all day on their phone chatting to mysterious others while including comments about everyone they pass, size up and make fun of while....they've got nothing to do but chat until the person on the other end has to go......(nothing but H8R chat)

and...


Now that's a true undergound reveal.

on ya lads. great read about a great city

Big hup the G train!

great read... i think the success of the guys mentioned comes from them doing their own thing; making and playing the music they love. nice work!

Please, you're going to tell me that you don't see the clique that surrounds these producer/deejays? If you don't walk the way they walk and do as they do you aren't welcome. a-groove is referring to is the 'scenester' element to these guys.

Interesting read. The extra 2 million people they have over Brisbane obviously help a lot. I'm due for a visit when the right party is on at some point later in the year. Post uni I'm thinking that is where I'll be moving to.



Stick to it, soon enough you meet people.

Pllease what? See what you've been focusing on...NO I DON'T SEE IT. I only know them by their outputs and that's what I've focused on...THEIR MUSIC (....the MOST IMPORTANT THING).

Not sorry if I can't taste the flavour of the H8R-aide people spill on every forum topic. I became familiar with them because I liked some of their songs, which I picked blindly or because it was on a label I liked.
Not all of their tracks, just enough to be focused on what they offered in music terms....something from them to play!

I, personally am not lookin around at their friends and doubtin' about while mentally knitting a bunch of sweaters for their voodoo dolls. They are known because of their musical outputs and so what if this and that person happens to associate them...dumb people get all jealous about things not important. We aren't talking Chuckie and Steve Aoki....

So, like I said...the hipster and scenester comments reveal focus in the wrong places.. It's about the music, the article was about Melbourne...they've now been spotted on the map.

I believe 98% of these arguments are just gorilla tactics to heat up a topic.

There's no clique, they are very open guys with a ton of talent who do their own thing. Melbourne eats itself with this kinda hate, but it just goes to show that they're doing something right.

Peace

I'm not saying their not talented, they are, I'm happy for them that they are doing what they love to do and wish them all the best.

But there is a definite amount of elitism in the club scene, more so than anywhere else I have experienced, and yes, this is a constant theme around Melbourne but this is exactly what I'm referring too. I am not saying it is totally the producer's fault that they have this around them, this discrimination happens with every form of club and as long as humans are involved; ostracism will forever be present.
It is just so evident in the likes of the deep house/nu-disco clubs around Melbourne.

I may have miss-worded my first reply but this was the point of it.

There's a big world out there - find your way.

I see this as a pretty interesting debate really. On the one hand there's undoubtedly of excellent music being made and events being held, but on the other hand there seems to be a bit of an accessibility problem for people who don't have a type of 'entry point' to this music. I think david10d and simc are good examples of this sentiment I've noticed from a number of people, of being removed from this particular community despite enthusiasm for the music. Personally I think it's a bit simplistic to dismiss it as hatred/jealously for people more involved/cooler than themselves as runningoutofspace suggested.

Some questions this raises for me:
Does this occur more in Melbourne than other cities? If so, why?
How much does this have to do with Melbourne's culture, economy and/or geography?

Here are some points which come to mind - I'd like to know if anyone has any thoughts on them.

- Melbourne has long had a more significant 'rock/pub music' culture than 'dance/club music' culture (not to discredit the history of dance music in Melbourne - but I do believe there has always been a bigger market for 'band music' than 'dj music'). This is particularly burdensome for youth or people on a low income, due to what I would consider a difference between the costs of being involved with each type of music. Unfairly general examples of where I'm coming from would inculde buying a guitar and amp compared to buying a full djing and production setup, or buying drinks at a pub compared to a pricier club. Drugs associated with dance music often seem to be more expensive as well.
- On the supposed 'cliquiness' - most of the reaction seems to be more directed at people's fashion sense, waking the walk, etc. It could even be seen as a kind of jealousy against people perceivably cooler than oneself. Perhaps this has something to do with the 'tall poppy syndrome' which is often noticed in Australian culture more broadly, and is characteristic of responses to popularity within music circles in Melbourne.
- Physically Melbourne is very low density, with many people - again youth in particular - living in suburbs where connecting to this music in its physical dimension (I'm talking record shops, parties, etc) is pretty difficult. This is especially bad when it comes to going out, due to a huge lack of late-night public transport for most people, and pretty severe taxi prices (back to that point about personal finances above).

Of course this is all very general, and what is and isn't included in this scene (for lack of a better word) is hard enough to figure out already, but what do people think about those above points in relation to Melbourne specifically? Anything important which has been missed? Melbourne is my city and music is my preoccupation, I want to try and understand their relationship as best I can.

No one is stopping anyone from turning up to any single one of the parties or nights held by these guys. All are welcome. I really don't understand....

Like all the others, this city story went out to everyone that reads RA. Most of us don't live in the city and read these stories only recognizing these guys by their work or sets witnessed in the past. Thank you for shedding a different light but these things weren't being looked for and don't instantly hit home to people outside of the city who haven't experienced the issues.

I get it now and know it's not jealousy but IMHO, it's still not good to "$#!% in your own backyard" either. Throwing even a little amount of dirt puts you out there as interrupting the celebration with spontaneous animosity about something no one was thinking about. Like "Debbie Downer" skits, if you know what that means but if you don't it just know that sometimes you have to realize that it's "not that kind of party" going on in here. It was a positive piece on something going on there and being from the city with something else positive to share would have gone further.

The "hipsters" and "scenesters" personally bugs me..I think it's a misguided jab that pigeonholes. No one can solve these types of issues this way. Things like this happens in every city and after every RA city review. "It" happens or has happened in just about every city itself at many times.

I grew up in Chicago during the heyday beginnings of House and came into my own while two scenes (Disco Deep & Club) were merging at Loft parties in 93'. I left in 93' and go back home all the time but no matter how much I was a part of that scene, I needed to get out of Chicago to flourish. Basic things like access to the pick of 2nd hand classics and newly released records...people with new ideas, DJ and production opportunities. A lot of great came from what happened after I left, but a lot of heros left, quit or still don't have residencies.


Every city has issues but people that release quality productions only appear as producers to the rest of the world outside of their scene.


FYI, micnewman was in here at some point and I'm sure he read these things..no one can guarantee that he identifies with the issue(s) but he may now know how some feel.

Regardless of how you feel, let's not pretend like elitism hasn't been a part of just about every scene, ever. Unlike the Paradise Garage, the Mercat isn't a member's (and member's friends) only venue. Clearly those who are most involved (the producers, the DJ's, and to a slightly lesser extent the promotors) are going to be recognised as more important to the scene (and I use this term cautiously). This is not going to change, nor should it really - if you feel excluded, get involved. Every one I've had anything to do with in Melbourne has been nothing but incredibly friendly. And, like the article states, often extremely talented.

This is a great post and covers everything on this thread.

Especially agree with your third point. I'm in the south east suburbs and it's a huge pain finding your way home at 3-4am on a weekend. Not only are taxi fares ridiculously high (atleast for me), but getting cab can be very hard too!

Craig_McWhinney, runningoutofspace and deloco - I mostly agree to what you guys are saying about elitism in Melbourne, I didn't really make my personal views clear before. Everyone I've met involved in this House music in Melbourne has been really friendly, and I've definitely never felt excluded or unwelcome. The second point I raised above was meant to address this. I agree the problem is not people acting in an elitist way, but rather the attitudes of those discrediting others on superficial or irrelevant factors. There will always be people perceiving others as 'hipsters' or 'haters' - I would argue that Melbourne perhaps has a higher proportion of the haters than other places. I'd attribute this to the pervasive 'Tall Poppy Syndrome', which I often recognise in my social relations with Melbournians.

As for Craig's claim that "No one is stopping anyone from turning up to any single one of the parties or nights held by these guys", I'd agree entirely. No one person or group are stopping anyone turning up, but I still believe setbacks exist (none of which have anything to do with those involved), such as in the points I raised above.

Finally, a type of confession. When I was younger I often used to neglect going out to such events because I felt intimidated. When I did attend, I had to go alone (all my friends were into 'rock bands') - which meant either leaving before the last train or waiting for the first. The extended periods of time in these spaces, with no one really familiar around made me feel really quite intimidated by the people most directly involved. As I grew older, I became more comfortable in this environment. This came as I acknowledged that this feeling of intimidation was not a result of anyone's actions, but a problem with my own self-esteem. Often the people doing the hating on 'the elite' are really just compensating for their own place-specific sense of discomfort. If more people were to acknowledge this was a result of personal issues (lack of confidence etc), perhaps Melbourne (or the world) would be a less hostile place...

Wow... All this from an article celebrating how some producers from one city are succeeding on the world stage. Of all the clubbing I've ever done in Melbourne, which is extensive, the nights and parties that this group are associated with are the best I have seen. It's all about the music and the party. They are fun, accessible to anyone and not elitist in the slightest. The patrons attending are not there to be seen, but only there to party. Isn't that what we are all striving for? Just ask The Revenge, Craig Smith, Rick Wilhite, Jacque Renault or any of the touring DJs that have played these nights. There is a serious vibe at these parties. And, there is a serious vibe with these producers, otherwise RA would not have written this article.

Let's celebrate the music and share in the party. It's not that complicated is it?

Can anyone recommend some good record shops in Melbourne? Mostly looking for house, techno and bassy stuff.

DMC Prahran, Alley tunes Hawthorne (for second hand house/techno), Profile Music Prahran

great read but i was surprised you didn't cop a mention mike c! great stuff though boys

why is everyone pink?

Cheers for these