Planete takes over Section 8 while Lounge continues the countdown to its final night.
It’s the first long-weekend of the year, which, as it has for 22 years now, means it’s Rainbow Serpent Festival time. One of the original, biggest and most respected bush-doofs in Australia, Rainbow continues to fly the flag for large-scale but community-minded dance parties with something for everyone. The music varies from psytrance to techno, disco to live funk, future-beat to folk-tronica with stage installations that are internationally second to none. With well over 100 artists on the bill, you’re gonna wanna head to the website for the full lineup, but of particular note is Dutch psytrance originator G.M.S, celebrating 25 years. But the celebration will be a bitter-sweet one – G.M.S was a duo until mid-last year when original member Joseph Quinteros AKA Bansi lost his battle with cancer at 42. The festival goes down from Friday January 25 to Monday January 28 out in Lexton, Victoria.
Back in Melbourne, there’s plenty to do too. Here’s some highlights: On Thursday January 24 at Section 8, local galactic deep-house producer Planète continues his residency. This week features Adonidia playing a live set of his groove-laden house music, Asha, with a secret guest to be announced. How mysterious. On Friday January 25, local musical encyclopedia Moopie heads up the bill at High Voltage VII, going down at Boney. Moopie’s been a much-respected staple of the Melbourne scene for many years now, never afraid to take punters on a sonic adventure through genres and tempos. Backing him up is Fibre Optix, Zjoso and DJ Tiba, kicking off at 10pm.
On Sunday January 27, Lounge’s fourth party in its final series of 29 parties before it closes, Plexus, is set to pour some thick gluggy diesel in the tank and let rip with some heavy techno. They’ll host two of the heaviest live techno hitters currently doing the rounds in Melbourne, ACM and Mickey Nox. Backing them up will be selectors Consoles, Edward Richards and SFBM. On the public holiday on Monday January 28, Animals Dancing are hosting a day party on the Evelyn Rooftop, featuring the UK’s Tapes, exploring the outer reaches of dub and mutant dancehall. Also playing is Mind Leaf & The Herbalist which is Sleep D’s dub alias, doing a very rare live-set for the occasion. If that’s not enough to get you in the door, two of Melbourne’s finest selectors will be soundtracking the rest of the day – JNETT and Otologic. Kicks off at 1pm.
