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Reviewer: Richard Brown
Renaissance Winter Ball 2003
UK super-club Renaissance visited Perth for the first time in a
while, and came with an exciting line-up for tek, prog and breaks
fans. This was due to the presence at the Globe of James Zabiela,
Infusion and Phil K. Drum 'n' Bass lovers were also provided for,
with Doc Scott again returning to our fair city. On a cold, dark
evening Renaissance and Delirium provided a red hot night out.
Infusion and Perth dance music fans share a mutual affection, as
the Sydney trio have set off some of our town's wildest ever parties,
such as was the case during an epic set at Sci-Fi last year. The
lads launched into proceedings, as the shouts of the adoring crowd
accompanied dark twisting snares and dreamily layered effects. Unfortunately
a couple of minutes into proceedings, technical problems in the
complex array of equipment became evident, and an intermission was
needed. Thankfully the guys managed to get things in working order
within about five minutes and everyone seemed to have a sense of
humour about the initial hitch. "Hope you enjoyed our first
set folks, I think we're ready to start again now," Jamie joked,
before dropping a darkly atmospheric breaks baseline, and churning
the crowd back into action. The tunes gradually blended into the
tribal tek sound that Infusion tend to favour, with the mixing duties
handled by Jamie Stephens and Frank Xavier, while Manuel Sharrad
worked multiple live elements over the top. The number of things
going on at any one time is a key reason why many label Infusion
the best electronic act in Australia: sounds ranging from tough
driving baselines to moody swirling synths are all delicately constructed
together with such complexity and intelligence. As well as this,
the sound is always accessible and directed squarely at what the
dance floor wants to hear. Manuel provided atmospheric live vocals
over the top of some of groups highly evolved production numbers,
such as the sinister "Starwater, It's Alright", which
has recently been picked up for UK release by Adam Freeland's label
Marine Parade. The group also dropped the JXL reworked version of
their hit "Legacy", and of course the ever animated middle
man Jamie pumped his fist and bounced along to many of the tunes,
as is his custom.
Infusion rocked the Cazbar throughout their two-hour performance,
and there was keen interest in what would be chosen for the encore
track. Many in the crowd had fond memories of the act's exquisite
rework of "Great Southern Land" (which was a highlight
at Sci-Fi), and wanted to hear it again. However Infusion chose
to go with a new remix of Shiloh's "Will You Ever Come Around?"
(the Infusion vs. Gwill Morris mix). The original version of this
tune was a pleasantly ambient little number, but this remix has
been morphed it into an absolute dance floor killer. The chunky,
driving progressive breaks baseline and awesome breakdowns concluded
Infusion's show in fitting fashion.
Main room duties were handed from Australia's finest, over to a
DJ who is perhaps the UK's scene's best and brightest new recruit:
James Zabiela. James enjoys the mantle of "leader of the new
breed" for several reasons. First of all he's only 23, but
has been tearing up dance floors in arenas such as Space in Ibiza,
John Digweed's Bedrock nights, and a variety of other super-clubs
around the UK, Europe and US. This youngster was handpicked for
such glory by none other than Sasha, who heard a mix tape of James'
given to him by Lee Burridge. Sasha has since been using Zabiela
as his warm-up DJ in most performances recently. Another reason
this Zabiela is representative of an evolution is his awesome technical
skill and cross-genre approach. He has been a key figure internationally
in tearing down barriers between progressive and breaks sets.
The set started off in dark, chunky break beat territory and stayed
there for the first forty minutes or so, as Zabiela warmed things
up. He wasted no time in displaying the heralded technical mastery,
showing some of the most impressive scratching I've ever witnessed.
James has stated that to keep the scene alive, dance acts have to
become "…more than just a DJ who mixes between records".
Thusly Zabiela is a big fan of adding samples and effects on the
fly, as well as utilising the multitude of tricks the CDJ-1000 offers.
A massively talented Aussie who in fact processes many of the same
positive attributes as Zabiela is Phil K. The man from Melbourne
was playing at the same time as the UK youngster, but due to big
name internationals playing the other two rooms, the breaks area
unfortunately became more of a thoroughfare during Phil's set. A
small group of devoted fans grooved in front of the stage, but despite
Phil's brilliant skills he wasn't able to generate much atmosphere
on this night.
I didn't get to spend much time upstairs in the d'n'b room, but
all reports suggested Doc Scott was reliably excellent. Again, heat
was an issue in this area, but the atmosphere was frantic and happy
all the same.
Back in the main room Zabiela entered the mid-stages of his set.
The sound became more 4 by 4 oriented, but still was silkily transitioned
into a number of big breaks tunes on numerous occasions. The airing
of the techy, high-octane bootleg with the ever looping sample "Nobody
Listens to Techno or Disco" was one of the highlights, and
the scene in the Globe certainly contradicted the rather ill-informed
vocal from Eminem.
As the clock ticked to 5:00 am and James entered the last sixty
minutes of his three hour performance, he slowed the tempo a fair
bit, and dwelled in moody breaks territory for an extended period.
This came across as an odd choice given the frantic pace of Infusion,
and the fantastic energy that Zabiela's own set had exhibited through
the middle stages. Given that fatigue was setting in for many around
this time, the more downbeat pace was probably not the best choice
for keeping everyone focused.
In the final twenty minutes however, James got right back on track,
playing some excellent, uplifting progressive house in the Bedrock
tradition. For his final track he dropped the dynamo cut "Xpander
vs. Cowgirl". It took the end-of-night troopers on a starry
ride, and also provided a fitting tribute to mentor-figure Sasha,
that could be noted by eager trainspotters.
Renaissance returned to Perth in fantastic style, and was an excellent
gathering of DJs to represent where electronic music is right now,
and the direction it's heading toward.
Richie Brown
Contact : Richie Brown
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Renaissance
Sunday 1st June 2003
Presented by Delirium. After a two year absence one of the UK's
most popular clubnights and one of Perth's favourite visitors ...
Renaissance ... returns to town.
Renaissance Main Room :
James Zabiela (UK)
Infusion (2 hour live set)
plus Chad D; Warren 10; Boy; Kriece
Loaded Dice DnB Room :
Doc Scott and MC Justiyc
plus Concept; Muller; Greg Packer; Diamond D
33 and 1/3 Breaks Space :
Brewster
Phil K
plus Wato; Dazz K; Koosh; Buex
Tickets: $33+BF (earlybird); thereafter $42+BF.
Venue: Globe.
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