Nobody could be certain of what was to come on Friday night when Ramadanman made his first appearance in Perth at Shape courtesy of Knowledge Music. Though it seemed he had been booked for his talents in dubstep production, the man is known to dabble in a wide variety of musical genres and the direction his set would take was anyone’s guess. The last dubstep artist to grace Shape with the deeper, minimal, more “boundary pushing” style similar to that of Ramadanman was Appleblim, and the turnout for that even was less than desirable. Which is why I was so excited when I arrived at Shape to find a packed out room around midnight. Break it down for the full review.
With the dancefloor in full swing already, Rekab seemed to be enjoying himself laying down some funky beats including No Warning by Distance. Pretty much everytime I’ve commented on a Rekab set I’ve mentioned how good of a job he does at complimenting the headline act and setting the vibe just right. Tonight his set was solid as always, though he did take it a notch or two on the heavy side towards the latter part of the set, ending with some pretty pumping bass monsters which resulted in a slight dampening of the atmosphere when Ramandaman man took to the decks around 1am.
Starting with a hip hop track before moving into some abstract house, Ramadanman had trouble keeping some punters on the dancefloor, several opting for a beer or a cigarette until a beat they felt more comfortable with rolled around. This wasn’t a problem for those who approach music with an open mind, as we were now given a little extra room to shake it on the dancefloor. The London based producer certainly took us on an eclectic journey (sorry to use that word); moving through wobbly garage and breakbeat with splashes of Brazilian baile funk and tunes reminescent of South African producer Mujava. It wasn’t until the last half hour of the set when the familiar dubstep beat was dropped. His own popular tracks Glut and Tempest were thrown into the mix along with the dark and dirty Wobble That Gut by Skream. The 2 hour set was brought to an end by what sounded like a Roots Manuva remix. Ramadanman man’s ability to mix togethor such diverse tracks so smoothly and while maintaining the flow was a pleasure to witness. And it was great to see a solid crew who were up for something a little different dancing right through to the end.
Rounding out the night was none other than Perth’s golden boy of drum ‘n’ bass, Shock One, who tonight was to turn his hand to dubstep. Launching straight into some hectric electro synth sounds, the vibe in the club was turned on it’s head once again. Shock One’s set probably would have sounded more appropriate coming after Rekab’s as he quickly mixed through the latest ear-bleeding, mid-range synth and wobble bass tunes. Shock One played it fairly safe, dropping the right tunes to keep most of the punters rocking out, though not really doing anything for those who delve a little further below the surface of dubstep. Redlight’s MDMA and the Skream remix of DJ Zinc’s Killa Sound were probably the most intellectual and different moments of the set. Nevertheless, he succeeded in keeping the club bouncing til the wee hours.
Another successful notch on the Knowledge Music belt. The only criticism of the night being perhaps the lack of flow between warm up, headliner and closing DJs. However, this may have been a clever and tactful move by the promoter to encourage a few extra bodies into the club by using two established and well liked DJs to beef up the bill. Judging from the great turnout, it would seem this paid off.
