PERTHQUAKE
The Mount Kimbie duo played {live} to a sellout crowd at the Bakery in Northbridge on the weekend and the whole night had me impressed from the word go. The gig was supported by special guest Seekae from Sydney and local Move Dj’s. Good system, good dj’s and good vibe.
What happens when you take three of the most exciting, forward thinking and hugely popular bass music artists, put them in a dark room with a few hundred kids ready to rinse, give them a set of decks and let them throw it down on a Friday night in Perth? Knowledge Music must have a gypsy holed up in their offices, as they seemed to predict the unfolding of this situation with extreme accuracy, and had the forethought to aptly title the event, The Blow Out. Yep, shit certainly got hectic as Headhunter, Opiou and Doctor P served up supreme sets and the capacity Shape crowd took to it like junkies to clean needles. Break it down for the full review.
The Big Bad Wolf is coming to town, three big bad wolves in fact. They’re not coming to blow down houses though - they’re coming to blow heads. THE BLOW OUT goes down this Friday night at Shape courtesy of Knowledge Music and features what is probably the biggest, baddest dubstep line up this year. Three of the game’s biggest names; Opiou, Doctor P and Headhunter will bring real bass pressure and the beauty of the line up is that the sounds will span the whole spectrum of the genre. Break it down for more info and a couple of tunes.
Sleeping is overrated. And you shouldn’t be doing it on a Saturday night anyway. So I better not catch any of ya’ll doing it this weekend when the first monthly Don’t Sleep! party rocks the shit out of the newly refurbished Bakery. Don’t Sleep! sets out to bring Perth the funkiest and most futuristic sounds in house, dubstep, garage, and anything bass related from across the globe. The first installment features none other than rising star in the UK bass scene, Deadboy. Break it down for more info and a couple of tunes.
YLEM: Primordial substance from which all matter was formed.
If you’ve been to a dubstep gig in the last couple of years chances are you’ve witnessed a set by Ylem aka Ryan Burge. He’s been supporting some of the biggest names to come to town (Including Reso, Excision, Joker and Pinch) and throwing some sweaty parties of his own as well as keeping busy in the studio, knocking out quality tune after quality tune. He rolls with local music/art collective The Community and has releases on their label along with Alterkation Dubs, Carbon Logic, Bassweight Recordings, One For All Records, Gradient Audio and local lads Paper Chain. Ylem was kind enough to take a few minutes to be the subect of my first Perth producers series. Break it down for some Q&A and a couple of tunes.
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.
London based artist Ramadanman aka David Kennedy is a chap who certainly doesn’t limit himself to one sound. Producing since the tender age of 14, Ramadanman has taken his unique production style through hip hop, house, drum and bass and dubstep. The latter of these genres seems to be where he’s focusing his attention of late, and this Friday night at Shape he’ll be making an appearance (event info here) thanks to Knowledge Music to showcase his brand of lush, warming minimal dubstep, most likely with a splash of his other musical leanings to top it off. Break it down for more info and a couple of tracks.
The last time Dan Stephens aka one half of Nero, just about the hottest production outfit in dubstep and drum and bass at the moment was in town he featured on a bill with 3 other internationals and played two seperate sets over the course of the evening. The first was a high energy ball tearing drum and bass set, and the second was a dubstep set which went down at 4am and unfortunately this reviewers legs just couldn’t go the distance on that particular evening. Saturday night at Shape Nero made his second appearance in Perth this time as the star attraction with a whole two hours to showcase the pair’s work and with the sheer abundance of quality tunes they’ve been putting out recently, this set was sure to be a classic. Break it down for the full review.
It seemed no amount of chocolate was going to weigh anyone down on Sunday night. Or perhaps it was the chance to sweat out those gained calories that motivated dubstep enthusiasts to head to Bar Open. Gracing us with his presence courtesy of the lads at Organic and Watt Hz on this Easter long weekend was “Bristol’s leading man of dubstep” and Tectonic Recordings co-bossman, Pinch. Word on the street said Pinch was packing straight up dubplates and combined with the Watt Hz dubstep policy of additional sub speakers required, a proper good stompfest was in store. Break it down for the full review.
Australian based Aquatic Lab Records have been pushing dubstep and related sounds to the masses since 2006. Having released tunes from heavyweight identities such as Caspa, Rusko, Zed Bias and Cotti, Aquatic are the leading source of fresh dubstep wax in our fine country. Friday night at Shape celebrated the launch of the labels 9th imprint, Cluekid’s re-working of Reggie Stepper’s Drum Pan Sound, a tasty tune featuring a lovely rolling bassline underneath the vocals of the original. With the sounds for the night provided by label co-founder DJ Farj, known for dropping all the big tracks months before they see the light of day and having supported the finest of the UK scene on their visits to Australia, stepper’s were certainly in for a treat. Break it down for the full review.
