With an increasingly inclusive and diverse ethos across the board of parties and gigs, 2017 often saw flourishing local talent playing alongside seasoned veterans, and it was bloody excellent. Yes, we lost the beloved fire-hazard that was the Mercat Basement back in February, but in the end, it was just a room. The party will go on. We thought we’d shine a strobe light on some of the new and old faces that made Melbourne the epicentre of the Australian electronic scene in 2017.
SHOUSE
When was the last time you saw a songwriting production duo perform with a choir in the club? Shouse had an incredible year playing live, releasing songs and throwing parties with their OpenShouse series featuring local and international DJs and producers across a variety of genres. They’ve just released their track ‘Love Tonight’ that features guest vocals from members of Client Liaison, Habits, Banoffee, Oscar Key Sung and more.
Habits
It’s hard to know what to say about Habits, they’re a beautifully weird package of electro-goth-punk party jams that when combined with their on-stage personas (and outfits) become an important representation of progressive ideals in music. Or, without the wank, fucking cool. 2017 saw them playing bloody everything and gaining the intimidating reputation they deserve.
ACM
ACM plays hard-out uncompromising techno with a huge rig of synths and drum machines. There’s plenty of people doing the live techno thing, but few on this planet are doing it as well as ACM right now. 2017’s seen him go from a solid opening act to outgunning the internationals he’s frequently supporting. We wouldn’t be surprised if 2018 saw him explode overseas.
Brooke Powers
Powers was DJing everywhere in 2017 and has become a pillar of the LGBTQIA+ community, co-running the Spank! parties and holding down a residency at Le Fag. The queer party scene seems the strongest it’s been in years and that’s a testament to people like Powers who live and breathe the scene they create – providing an incredibly important outlet of freedom for those who quite often need it.
Sleep D
Although Sleep D ended their weekly party ‘Mania’ in August 2016, the Frankston lads still managed to be an almost permanent fixture in the Melbourne house scene. They extended their repertoire to semi-frequent live shows and released a number of records on their label: Butter Sessions, including Domestic Documents Vol. 2, a collaborative compilation alongside Noise In My Head, spotlighting underground local talent.
Beatrice
After being selected to be part of Red Bull Music Academy in 2016, Beatrice did anything but rest on her laurels. Perhaps her greatest achievement of 2017 was her work with the ‘Barkly Desert Cultures’ multimedia program in the Barkly Region of The Northern Territory. This led to the formation of Kardajala Kirridarra with women from the Marlinja and Kulumindini communities, producing their album and performing at festivals and events around Australia. Outside of that, she continued DJing her brand of bass music around Melbourne, doing live sets with a more chilled vision and playing in the band Haiku Hands. Busy enough for you?
6am At The Garage
Running a weekly party is hard, but Liam and Benny of 6am At The Garage have been doing a stellar job of not only being resident DJs at Lucid, but handling the booking and running their blog as well. Every Saturday night at Lounge the boys are backing up some of Australia’s best selectors and performers with the occasional international guest. Lucid had some big shoes to fill when Mania finished up, but they’ve done a killer job.
DJ Kiti
Kiti’s a veteran techno DJ and a Melbourne legend. From warming up to headlining; a festival to a 50 capacity room, Kiti’s got you. Her love of music is infectious and Melbourne is lucky to have her.
Honourable mentions because the internet isn’t big enough to list all the people that make Melbourne awesome:
Matt Radovich, Post Percy, The Dial Up Crew, The rest of the Bunker crew, Animals Dancing, Stable Music, Mike Callandar, Sundelin, Chiara Kickdrum, Misty Nights, Daydreams, Simon Slieker, Andrew Till, the Club Derange crew, The Operatives, Wax’o’Paradiso and all the bloody rest of you we’ve missed.
