Grand final weekend and the subsequent day off on Friday, means a bunch of extra events will be running Thursday night since we don’t have to be at work or school while nursing our collective hangovers and dancing muscles.
The big one is Smalltown with Charlotte De Witte, DJ Koze and Gerd Jansen at B3 – the new carpark venue at Etihad Stadium. But that one is sold out so you’ll have to trawl the usual sketchy means to find a ticket or beg your promoter mates. At The Toff they’ve got a Rhythm Section label showcase with the illustrious leader himself, Bradley Zero, trekking over from London. Backing him up will be Neue Grafik from France, locals 30/70 and Prequel. Not many tickets are left so get onto it quick smart. Over at Xe54, British duo Camelphat are backing up their monstrous set at Listen Out festival last weekend. At My Aeon in Brunswick, Techno Time are amping up for their first birthday bash with Mike Callander, Dylan Griffin, Aves Volare and heaps more. Plenty to choose from my friends.
In other news, Melbourne Music Week has just announced their lineup and it’s a god damn doozy. We knew that Leon Vynehall was locked in to perform his latest album Nothing Is Still with a ten-piece string ensemble at the Melbourne Recital Centre. We now know that he’ll also be DJing alongside British cinematic beat-maker Rival Consoles at the Melbourne Music Week hub at ACMI. The reptilian legend of techno Jeff Mills will be making an appearance, bringing his long running audio visual show The Trip to the hub, splicing improvised musical sketches in with effected vintage sci-fi footage in a fashion that’s quintessential Mills. Swede DJ Seinfeld will be throwing down with a slew of locals in tow, many of whom he featured tracks from in his recent entry to the DJ Kicks compilation series. The Operatives will be hosting a night featuring UK veteran producer Mark Pritchard, alongside the punishing yet deeply satisfying sounds of American producer Eprom, and UK hip hop queen Nadia Rose. It all goes down Friday November 16 until Saturday November 24.
Max Cooper’s new album came out a few days ago and I’m quietly obsessed with it. There seems to be so few artists in electronic music who genuinely want to push the depth of meaning behind their creations and the manner in which it’s consumed. The new album is called One Hundred Billion Sparks, and is the conceptual result of locking himself in complete isolation for a month in a tiny Welsh village. The final collection of outputs is a sonic and visual analysis of what makes us human, created in collaboration with a large team of visual and video artists. In short, it’s super cool. If you’re someone who needs convincing that electronic music can be more than just strobe lights and drops, check out all the videos and his manifestos behind each track at onehundredbillionsparks.net.
