Melbourne Music Week has a phenomenal track record – bringing to the city some of electronica’s finest acts and always within these gorgeous, esoteric and often otherwise-underutilised spaces. I’m always impressed with the care and effort that goes into Melbourne Music Week and this year is no exception: the Queen Victoria Market’s a stunning setting for this week’s Melbourne Music Week – a crucial, beloved piece of Melbourne’s history and culture that for the next seven days, act as a gig space.
After getting lost numerous times I find myself in the heart of the Melbourne Music Week hub, tucked within the J, K and L sheds at the QVM and featuring a sweet little selection of bars, food retailers and quirky little spaces to sit down and chill out during those respites from the rapidly-filling dancefloor. It’s lovely – but the only problem with the Queen Victoria Market’s beautifully expansive, high-ceilinged setting is the sound isn’t quite good enough to fill the space up entirely. Even Matt Radovich’s killer track selection and trademark heavy-hitting sounds pulsing through the air as I walk into the venue feel not quite as forceful as they should be in the wide space.
This becomes particularly apparent when Timeline take to the stage amid an ear-shattering roar from the crowd and begin their two-hour slot – fuck, you can barely hear anything from the back. I ditch my friends and wiggle through to the front of the crowd for a fuller view of the stage and am rewarded with a truly immersive aural experience. Underground Resistance is a name synonymous with techno, and for good reason. But to describe what Timeline brings to the stage as merely techno is to completely miss the intent of their performances. Yes, the sleek rhythms and relentless, meticulously-crafted grooves of techno form the backbone of Timeline’s performance, but what the boys do most spectacularly on stage is to meld the disciplined structure of techno with the illustrious history and the adventurous spirit of jazz music in Detroit. Mark Flash behind the wheels of steel keeps the rhythmic backbone of the two-hour performance alive, but the beauty of Timeline’s performance is in the glorious, unpredictable layers of instrumental improv that come courtesy of Mike Banks and Jon Dixon on keys, alongside De’Sean Jones on the saxophone.
When Beat spoke to Dixon in the lead-up to this gig, he spoke about how their performances followed a vague setlist, but was structured such that the group had room to take the performance in a direction that suited the crowd and their own moods on the fly – and Timeline took Melbourne for a wild ride. Dixon and Jones in particular at the front of the stage look blissed-out and full of euphoria, eyes closed and working off each other as they pulled out those old, well-worn and loved Underground Resistance classics, refining and editing them – when Strings of Life gets dropped halfway into their set it’s like you can feel the electricity in the air, and in the middle of one extended jam, Dixon comes to the very front of the stage to freestyle off his keytar in front of the barriers and the kids go fucking mental.
It’s wild, unpredictable madness that’s a testament to the enduring power of Detroit’s musical legacy, both within techno and beyond – and Flash closes out the night with a big shout-out to the kids in Detroit of yesterday, today and the future, those present are left with a powerful reminder of the fundamental role the Motor City has to play in the evolution of music at large.
BY MIKI MCLAY
Loved: The beautiful space – proper old-school warehouse vibes.
Hated: The resulting sound quality.
Drank: Water. Come on, it was a Tuesday night.
