- Despite only several visits Honkytonks holds a special place in my heart. Each gig held there seems to excel above anything else on offer in Melbourne. Therefore, I was extremely pleased to hear that they would be playing host to Germany’s own Michael Mayer. At this point I must make my first confession. Before this gig I had never had the fortune of hearing a Mayer set. However, I did have it on the highest authority that he would satisfy all my ever growing minimal house needs. So with the recommendation in mind I organized the guest list to avoid any potentially embarrassing situations at the the notoriously picky Honytonks’ front door.
I arrived at what I thought was a reasonable hour only to find everyone was obviously still at home blow drying their hair. The place was surprisingly empty, which left me worried about the night’s turn out. My attention was soon shifted however, by music that could only be described as deep. Instantly I was dragged into Damian Laird’s set. It was a struggle to pull myself away from the rolling basslines. Then I suddenly realized how long it had been since my last drink and promptly headed to the bar. By this stage (about 12:30 now) Honkys was actually quite packed. All this time I’d been so drawn into Laird’s music that I hadn’t even realized. Soon enough the room wasn’t just ‘quite packed’ but now absolutely rammed full. It was at this point I realized that I was losing precious fluids faster than I could take them in due to the fact that the temperature bordering on 40 degrees Celsius. Time for another drink. As the clock ticked on, the deeper sounds gave way to some minimal goodness with all the clicks, bleeps and squeaks any minimalist could ever need. By this stage I was wondering when Mayer would be coming on, but soon forgot about this when I noticed Mr. Laird had been joined by Mike Callander. The minimal delight continued and before I knew it the German was behind the decks.
Straight out of the gates he aimed to please, with some of the most monotonous grinding house I’d heard in a long time. (I should point out at this point that in the case of minimal I see the word monotonous as a complement). The whole way through his set we were treated to some of the filthiest (again, in a good way) of sounds. The glitches and bleeps were constantly returning and the energy of the set never seemed like fading even when the music would change up to something a little more melodic. Each mix saw an almost faultless transition in both beat and mood which is becoming rarer by the second. The crowd seemed to be perpetually excited, with the occasional peak or trough in the vibe. No matter if he was dropping tracks by Depeche Mode, The Streets or some of his own creations the crowd, myself included, did not want him to stop. And stop he did not. Mayer’s set reportedly went on into the wee hours of the morning, lasting for around 5 hours in total. It is here I must make my second confession. Much to my own disdain I was forced to retire early due to a rare virus which causes slurred speech, loss of balance and may cause the sufferer to experience periods of rowdiness.
I’m not sure I’ll ever forgive myself for missing the end of such a fantastic set. Not only was the International act serving up tracks that were exactly to my liking, but he was also well accompanied by some fine local talent. I’m finding it increasingly hard to find music that entertains me in Melbourne. However, the performance put on by Michael Mayer, Damian Laird and Mike Callander makes me wonder if I am just not looking hard enough.