- Founded in 2010, Melbourne Music Week is one of the city's youngest music festivals. With lineups that feature major international artists as well as local acts, plus free and family-friendly events, films, seminars, and pop-up food stands, the action is centered around a different bespoke venue each year. Last year's edition was held at a semi-spherical dome on Birrarung Marr, and 2012's took place at an abandoned building in the CBD. As good as the music was at the latter, the untried space suffered from severe sound issues.
This year faced a similar fate, with stellar names (Oneohtrix Point Never, Optimo, Pachanga Boys, Tangerine Dream, plus locals Andras Fox and Roland Tings) housed in a space that left something to be desired. The venue was a roped off section of Queen Victoria Market—essentially a car park with a tin roof. Organizers had done little to transform the space aside from bringing in a stage, a bar and portaloos, and covering the whole area in MMW-branded sheeting. With muddy sound, bland surroundings and a prompt midnight curfew, it felt like a last-minute stopgap.
Nonetheless, as day five of the festival approached, excitement for Underground Resistance was palpable. On the night, the crowd inside was large and diverse, with every third person sporting a UR t-shirt. Warm-up came from Melbourne Techno Collective founder Matt Radovich, who played a solid set of welcoming tech house. Moving from grinding minimal through housier offerings, it was well judged for the timeslot and left the atmosphere primed for the main attraction.
Underground Resistance presents Timeline is the Detroit collective's current priority, a quartet led by UR founder Mike Banks on keys. Their set began with DJ Mark Flash introducing the night ("Hello Mel-Born!"), before spinning a short and very sharp set of classic Detroit techno. Fast, sleek and suitably big-room, he played some of the most energised music of the night.
With Flash's plates still spinning, the Timeline members filed out. First, De'Sean Jones on saxophone, followed by Jon Dixon on keyboards. Both wore matching ties and waistcoats, a nod to UR's love of jazz. Banks was last to emerge, inviting the biggest round of applause from both on and off the stage. From the off, Dixon and Jones sparred like vintage soloists, the frontmen to Flash and Banks' rhythm section. Percussion, including plenty of bongos, came from either machines or records, with Banks focusing on the more anchored, low-end synths. Highlights from the two-hour set were many, though Jones's performance on "Jupiter Jazz" was arguably the show's peak. This segued beautifully into "Transition," whose seminal synth stabs proceeded to tear the roof off.
As good as these tracks were, the frenzied sax solos grew tiresome after a while. Right on cue, a shift in mood reenergised the crowd, moving from a scorched take on "Hi-Tech Jazz" through to a slice of keys-heavy boogie and an extended, almost Balearic rendition of "Return Of The Dragons." The quartet performed with such dedication that it was difficult not to get swept up in the moment. And at times, during those rare moments when Banks and Flash were left to fend for themselves, they sounded fresher than ever, with Banks sending sheets of glassy synth (like on "Orbit") over distorted 909 patterns. To close, Jones and Dixon took centre stage for a show-stopping rendition of everyone's favourite UR track, “Knights Of The Jaguar.”
Photo credits: Lucas Dawson Photography