Luke Slater is a name well known to aficionados of proper techno. In his Planetary Assault Systems guise, he’s been responsible for some of the biggest dance floor belters of the past twenty years, notching up five albums and over 22 EPs across imprints as diverse as Peacefrog and Ostgut Ton, and more recently his own Mote-Evolver label. Since starting his own label in 2006, he has released tunes from luminaries such as Marcel Fengler, Lucy, Cari Lekebusch and Bas Mooy, making a strong mark with several forward thinking releases.
With a CV like that, it’s easy to see why the clamour for a Luke Slater tour had been steadily building following his last visit in 2001 (and a painful false start in 2010). A New Year's Day visit to the Abercrombie with the bonus of a purely live set brought a swell of approval through Sydney’s underground, several NYE plans were cancelled or scaled back, and the event sold out a week in advance. With one of the founding fathers of Disconnected, Pete Coyle, leaving for Berlin in February, the gig marked a high point as well as a nostalgic moment for many of us who have stuck with the Disconnected brand over the years.
The setting couldn’t have been better, and a sunny and breezy New Year’s Day, perfect outdoor terrace with a few beers to ease one’s aching liver were enough to get this humble reviewer back on his feet even after a large NYE. The Abercrombie has its issues (poor traffic flow between the rooftop and bar being the big one) but the crowd was tolerant, with a smile and a little patience enough to keep the flow of dancers moving – and move they did, spreading an infectious vibe through the dance floor as the afternoon warmed up. To get a crowd that good on a new year’s day is an impressive feat, and the party people who came out were one of the day’s greatest joys.
A mingled group of both Disconnected and Strange Fruit regulars laid out a huge range of sonic wares over the ten hours I saw; with a line-up as long as your arm, over 15 hours and two rooms on offer, there is no way that the diversity of the day and night can be captured in a review. The darker, sweatier downstairs room tended towards the glitchier sounds of tech house earlier in the afternoon, with MSG laying down some bassier tunes to get the party started. Jay Smalls followed through with some darker, harder grooves. Meanwhile, Dave Stuart and Jordan Deck took things in a more melodic, vocal direction in the courtyard’s sunny ambience, providing a sweeter prelude to the harder live set that Trinity soon cooked up on the same stage.
Kate Doherty proved to be a particular crowd favourite, drawing flocks of dancers into the dank musk of the lower level and into a fast, fine-edged weapon of a set, bristling with filter sweeps and quick cuts. It proved a hard choice between Kate and Ben Dunlop upstairs, who deserves special mention for providing a deadly warm-up for the man himself. Delivering a more Birmingham influenced set which slowly moved the party into a darker space, Dunlop set the stage for Slater’s entry as the night bloomed.
As the Planetary Assault System fired up, the first hail of silver plated hats shot across the dance floor and the crowd went wild; roaring and raising their hands in triumph as that much awaited 909 kick drum touched Sydney’s shores for the first time in a decade. Slater covered all the bases of deep, droning, hypnotic rhythms, soaring sweeps and crashing transitions, as well as taking the pace down in moments to a deeper place, drawing us with him on a true journey that reinforced his standing as a diverse producer of both the banging and ambient sides of techno. It would be a fair statement to say that every eye was turned toward the DJ booth as the press of bodies on the terrace swayed in unison to the roar of the kick drum assaulting the planet.
Far from over, the night carried on with a huge set from Defined by Rhythm, who followed Luke Slater by drenching the dance floor in a four deck concoction of white noise, holding plenty of disoriented dancers upstairs until the terrace closed (somewhat prematurely) just after midnight. Luckily, Mark Craven and Methodix Mainline were prepared to bring the wilderness in from the cold downstairs, and the party moved inside to continue into the wee hours of the morning. With some claiming that the locals outshone the headliner, the event certainly delivered an experience beyond a single DJ set. Expectations exceeded, I slunk home at 2am, battered, slightly broken but with a pretty smug grin on my face and a state of contended exhaustion setting in.
[Photos: Ivanna From Russia With Love]
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