mezzanines

Given the endurance of Royksopp’s slow-burning ten-year career, which has spanned four studio albums and some enduring singles that include Only This Moment, Eple, and the haunting What Else Is There?, it seems curious that the Norwegian-based duo have never managed to make it down to Australia before this year. Jesus, we might be far away, boys – but we don’t bite? What gives? Our poor feelings!

So, here’s the deal. I took on coverage for this event not knowing too much about minimal and techno – I’m more about two-step beats, filthy basslines and smaller, more intimate crowds when it comes to clubbing in Melbourne. However, somebody once told me that once you stagnate when it comes to trying new things, you might as well be dead – and with a burgeoning interest in the more established genres of techno and house, a line-up boasting internationals like James Zabiela, Robert Hood, Midland and Tom Budden at Brown Alley seemed like the perfect place to begin my education in house and techno.

“All we’d wanted was for two hundred people to come see us at the Tote,” Dan Whitford of Cut Copy told an enraptured crowd at the Palace Theatre last night, with an air of sheepish satisfaction. It’s been three years since Melbournian electro-pop act released the massive In Ghost Colours, propelling them into the international dance scene with their shimmering anthems for 2008, Hearts on Fire and Lights and Music. And three years since they last played a headline show in their hometown.

Before headlining Future Music Festival, still riding the highs from the release of their 2010 big-beat/psychedelic effort ‘Further’, the Chemical Brothers were kind enough to grace Melbourne with a full-length sideshow at the Rod Laver Arena on the ninth of March, supported by Art vs Science, James Holroyd and Zane Lowe of BBC Radio One.