The roughly-monthly club night Plastic Dreams has been chugging away on the fringes of the Melbourne club scene for two years now, popping up at venues like Boney and Francis28 before finding a more permanent home at The Sub Club. To celebrate two years, on Saturday July 14 the team are chucking a big bash, with Butter Sessions label honchos Sleep D bringing their new live set out for the occasion. Exploring a distinctly Australian sounding take on deep and soulful house (minus the American motown samples), a Sleep D live set is always a special occasion, but it’s especially unusual for the duo to bring out the piles of synths and drum machines for events other than their own. Also on board for the night are esteemed selectors Moopie, Zobs Palace and Jess Zammit. Kicks off at 10pm.
Speaking of birthdays, Southbank club Xe54 are celebrating theirs on Saturday – their first in fact. The brand new venue has had a stellar 12 months, having been visited by the likes of Solomun, Sven Väth, Marcel Dettmann, Carl Craig, Gerd Janson, Kevin Saunderson, Mike Huckaby as well as local talent like Andras, Harvey Sutherland, Brooke Powers, Tornado Wallace, JNETT, Sleep D and plenty more. To mark the occasion, Xe54 are throwing open the doors five hours early for a 12-hour marathon from 5pm-5am. Spinning tunes will be Barbutto, Chiara Kickdrum, Cassettes For Kids, Interstellar Fugitives, Sundelin, Dan Bentley, Paul Lynch, James Ware, Myles Mac, Groove Control, Bertie, Mel Mara, String Theorem, Fütwerk, Emily Roseman, Kovac, Edgework, Filippo, Lee Roid b2b with Jackson Ruan and Sanctum.
You might remember the shocking news of fire engulfing a DIY-warehouse club space in Oakland in 2016, while a 100% Silk label showcase night was happening. The electronic music world reeled from the news of 36 punters and artists losing their lives in the huge fire caused by an electrical fault. Fast forward to last week, the two club promoters have now been charged with 36 counts of manslaughter and will be enduring lengthy jail terms. I think this is a solid reminder for a community that heavily romanticises illegal raves in abandoned locations, that fire and safety codes exist for a reason and the safety of your patrons is no joke. If you’re going to throw a sneaky party somewhere, please be smart about it, enlist people who know what they’re doing to help.
