Christmas can be a pain in the arse. Whether it’s the reminder that your family is thousands of miles away or putting up with your drunk uncle ranting about Trump while simultaneously hitting on your girlfriend, we’re fortunate enough to live in a city that doesn’t completely cut-off our favourite avenue of escapism over Christmas – so get amongst it.
On Friday December 23, Australian acid house/techno pioneer Honeysmack heads up Acid Space with fellow veteran DJ Spacey Space at New Guernica. Honeysmack’s hardware heavy live sets have been the stuff of legend since the early ‘90s and are compulsory listening for any acid house head. Also playing the squelchy stuff is Acid Safari, Eddi Example, Togar & Arro, Alex Cram vs Scotty Pesticide and Shannon Briggs. Also on Friday, Bunker presents The End: Our Final Mercat Show and it’s a fucking loaded up whopper of a lineup. Charlton (Poverty Is Violence / Mord Records, NL), Jordan Peters (Immersion, NSW), Elisabeth Dixon (live), Adrian Bell, ACM (live) and Jake McDonald. If you’re a techno head, be there. I have nothing witty to say about it.
On Christmas night, Technoir is back at Lounge. Now in its 12th year, it’s a safe haven for Christmas nightmare escapees or those looking to cap off a ripper day. For some, it’s a tradition of sorts and maybe the beginning of one for others. The lineup sees veterans and fresh faces alike with longtime residents DJs Dee Dee, Simon Slieker and Ranjit Nijjer, as well as scene stalwarts DJ Kiti, Matt Radovich, Qualé and ACM popping his Technoir cherry with a live set. If you’ve blown all your cash on stupid gifts for obscure nephews, don’t worry, it’s free before midnight.
Boxing Day brings the mighty C’Grade party back from the grave, sticking to the tried and true formula; Tornado Wallace and Otologic playing all night long in the Mercat basement. With Mercat set to close forever in February, this’ll be a bittersweet reunion. Although, the Facebook event mentions “the last one..probably,” so who knows, maybe the Farnham spirit lives within C’Grade and we’ll get another last ‘last’ one. Elsewhere, Glamorama is bringing the heat with their Odyssey Boxing Day Party. Featuring an esteemed selection of local curators; Andras, Sleep D, Shedbug, Adrian Bell, Chiara Kickdrum, Nali and Elliot of Marco, it’d take something serious to fuck up the vibe here. You’re spoilt for choice here Melbourne, merry fucking Christmas.
