The East Perth Power Station has reached an exciting new era, as the raver warehouse it was always destined to be. I’ve resisted making every review so far about the lighting. The acoustics are immaculate. But don’t take my word for it; as another punter told me, “It doesn’t feel like we’re in Perth (derogatory).” I don’t know which rock in Boorloo they’ve been living under, but I’ll spare you my rant on this perspective as I already addressed that in my mag bio.
So, back to this gig. We’re at the Power Station. There are corrugated metal walls, concrete walls, barbed wire. And there’s dance music. Every once in a while, I remember to look behind me, towards the direction the performers are facing, to see this visual tech’s wizardry on the upper metal wall that frames the threshold for the dance floor. It gave me goosebumps on more than one occasion. I didn’t even need to be under the influence.
The program this year is an abundance of electronic musical talent, and dare I say, women DJs. If you think that’s a glib gesture toward a quota, then please swiftly remove yourself from my orbit so I don’t have to waste my writing on you. I appreciate a poster with room to place both performers equally on the same line, avoiding the need to denote which of them is bringing in more punters. Naturally, a flyer is quick to proclaim Maara’s residency in Berlin, as if she’d be playing sparkling hi-hats otherwise. If techno were a wine, then the grapes would be native to Detroit. But I digress.
RAMZi opened the dance floor with atmospheric breaks. Funny that. I was just thinking about breaks at C.FRIM the previous week. That’s the cyclic nature of trends, I guess. Except this set felt completely different from the hypercharged set that C.FRIM delivered. RAMZi brought a smooth and elevated set to gently lift my raver soul from its weeklong slumber. It was the perfect warm-up, gradually pulling people towards the stage. Her sound had this mature quality to it. Some might say it’s chin-stroker music, and there was an elder millennial (or possibly younger Gen Xer) in the crowd who epitomised that. Or maybe you’d call it intelligent music. Whatever. It’s just mellow sounds that you won’t hear in an elevator, unless it’s the elevator on the way to the apartment you’re heading to for kick-ons, as someone plays it on their phone in the middle of their conversation about music.
The only thing I didn’t like about that set was the abrupt end, which was a bit jarring. Presumably, it was due to strictly enforced set times. The DJ’s body language suggested she was also a bit taken aback and probably had a more peaceful fade-out in mind. Every other minute of her set was still pure bliss regardless.
Maara. Image Courtesy Perth Festival.
Maara opened her set with a dark, alluring sound that immediately pulled the crowd, who had been loitering a handful of metres away, right towards the boundary in front of the stage. She seamlessly continued the tone established by the closing tracks of RAMZi’s set, ready to build and diverge down various audio alleyways. Maara’s set started with an eerie sound that swayed into industrial, dipping in and out of various tonalities without a morsel of effort or attachment to rules. The set had an overarching tone that reached for edginess, with crass lyrics that gave a real late-night, deep-into-the-clubverse kinda feel. Like when you’ve been on the dance floor so long that you barely remember the world outside and have crossed the threshold of disregard for whatever norms existed beyond this scene.
Once you’ve gotten to that point where you’ve relinquished your concern, things that would sound edgy barely register. All of this is to say that her sets manage to maintain an upbeat and lighthearted nature, despite whatever sexually charged lyrics are coming out of the speakers. She flits in and out of these techno vocations without losing her playful air.
Boorloo’s infatuation with techno never fails to bring out a range of audiences. The front of the dance floor closest to the stage drew the younger crowds, as it is wont to do. I love how this time of year lures the Perthlings from every corner, as Perth Festival confidently promises us an exceptional selection of artists. She hasn’t let me down yet this year, and I can’t see the spark in our matrimony fading anytime soon.