- Easter Friday - a day for celebration? Absolutely - celebration of all things electro and tech, with a dash of the organic thrown in for good measure. Melbourne promoters from the old skool days, Hardware, chose the conveniently located Atlantic Southwharf for this year's installment of Digital, an event focusing on two sides of electronic music: the hard, and the not-so-hard (in other words, house and trance). There were five rooms in all, with three given over to various electronic shades of house and electro, and the other two to hard dance. There was a lot of ground to cover, even for someone not planning on spending much time on raising his or her heartbeat to superhuman levels in the trance areas. But, as Yoda said, "Do not try. Do!"...or something like that anyway.
First highlight of the day no doubt for many was James Holden, playing to a full room from 3PM to 4.30PM, a short set for someone not known for the instant energy of someone like, say, Carl Cox, but more do-able than for someone like Sasha. And let's do the math - six internationals in the house rooms alone, plus worthy homegrown stars like Gavin Keitel and Mike Callander playing peak time, as well as a whole host of supporting locals warming up: short was the order of the day, and variety the General commanding it. With some of the changes in each room taking place during the slots in the other rooms, regular watch checking became essential, and mobility priceless.
James made a go of it though, and no doubt had people into the kind of "neo-trance" which his label Border Community is known for, before making a slightly abrupt left turn into some more minimal techno material in the last few tracks, no doubt to help out the next act. The mix of patrons seeming well-balanced in just about every way. It was a cool vibe to get down to fresh tunes. James has come a long way since his early days, and got a warm welcome-off as 20:20 Soundsystem took to the stage with their blend of funk and tech house.
These 4 guys provided the organic to our celebration of all things electronic - with 20:20 label boss Ralph Lawson handling the pre-recorded and effects side of things, Silver City members Fernando Pulichino and Julian Sanza took care of live bass and keyboards, while Danny Ward (Dubble D) impressed with all manner of percussion and drumming. Ralph especially seemed to be into the set, actively moving to the beat, waving his arms and exhorting the room to get into their funky vibe, which they did. Recent well-noted minimal techno hit "Erotic Discourse" from Paul Woolford made an appearance, though with a new groovy bassline over much of it, while the rest of the set really showcased what 20:20's all about - tech funk. Maybe a little slow to move on from track to track, the band was still tight and smooth, so hips were swung, asses shaken, and shouts screamed - roll on our next entertainer, as we moved on to our next musical destination.
Rex the Dog, is not a dog. Well, he is, but the other isn't. If that makes sense, which maybe it doesn't. In any case, while not a DJ either, Rex is a great live artist with tailor-made visuals (including a dog), and a cool sense of humor. Taking over from a solid set of electronic underground house from Gavin Keitel, Rex was active from the start, the standard live-performer's Powerbook taking second place to a small midi unit he at times twisted, and others caressed, when he wasn't jumping up and down or smiling with the room. Fundamentally an electro house artist, and one with quite a few hits under his belt ("Prototype", "Frequency", and "We Live in Daddy's Car" to name a few), he put those well-known tunes together with superb flow and poise, leading us up from groovy, to dynamic, to airy in his set 90 minutes. Getting into an almost trancey vibe near the end, the room did thin out a bit - perhaps not what they wanted or maybe just time for the next act, next room shuffle; his performance was still easily one of the best for the night, and the sort of thing I'd love to see from more producers in the future (rather than suddenly taking up DJing just because the opportunity's thrust into their lap).
DJ T (Thomas Koch) is these days a man needing little introduction. He and his label Get Physical are at the front of the electro house pack. Local Mike Callander had the room moving nicely as our German visitor came on to steer us onward and upward, or so we thought. Get Physical is known for it's stylish electro house, but this time we saw a few different sides to its owner's persona, including darker and harder, as well as the feel good vibe you might've expected. Given that the next performer up was a basically techno DJ, that could've made sense, if the flow had been in one direction. Still, T is a smooth one behind the decks, and made the shifts from funky to hard and back to moody seem to work, keeping the main house room moving as the night wore on.
Last up for our evening, new star on the scene Joris Voorn brought the noise - but what beautiful noise it was. Joris, who started as a DJ then learnt to produce and play live, and now does both, has a handle on a kind of middle ground between groove and power, melody and rhythm, and fun and atmosphere, that's very hard to find. This time he was DJing, however a few of his own tracks made appearances, the biggest being the massive "Incident". Hands in the air moments were had by all, and it was a pretty happy bunch of party-goers who headed out to the various after-parties shortly past 10pm. Like all festivals it had been a small test of wills and time management given the standard of the artists on the day, but we'd seen at least some if not all of what we wanted, and the night was still young.