Live Review: Pantha Du Prince, LUCIANBLOMKAMP, Planete

Tonight’s gig is a 100 per cent computer-controlled affair that has these three artists’ CPUs glowing red hot to immerse us in a completely synthetic sound.

Melbourne producer Planète lays down lo-fi house grooves that suggest an old school, Chi-Town vibe. The beats are a little boompty boomp, but Planète’s Dion Tartaglione smothers them with strange, almost alien textures that evolve across his tracks. Planète delivers plenty of floor filler, but only manages to get the crowd politely toe-tapping.

Working much the same equipment, another local producer LUCIANBLOMKAMP delivers a darker and dreamier sound. LUCIANBLOMKAMP’s been a busy boy lately with recent appearances at Paradise, Melbourne Music Week and Iceland Airwaves Music Festival.  Moving beyond the beats, he works with brooding atmospheres and melody to create tracks that come with a deep sense of foreboding and drama. It’s slow burning stuff that brings together the dank futurism of dubstep with altogether more dreamy elements. More than just a producer pressing buttons on an Ableton controller, LUCIANBLOMKAMP on occasion whips out a violin and solos to brilliant effect during Saudade. A deep and dark take on Kylie Minogue’s Slow sees him stepping out of the spotlight and singing, rather shyly, in the shadows. 

The last time Pantha Du Prince played in Melbourne he delivered the Bell Laboratory experience that spectacularly augmented his techno with carillons of pealing bells. His return to our shores sees him going it solo at a table with shock absorbing-spring legs. The set kicks off with a prolonged introduction of atmospheric industrial noise before the beats are allowed to kick in and deliver an exhilarating-but-punishing techno smackdown that strangely seems to have won some credibility with the largely indie-tronic crowd.

Decidedly pre-minimal, Pantha Du Prince’s techno looks back fondly on the glory days of the ‘90s when the Berlin-Detroit connection was in full effect. The irresistible-yet-classic combination of pummelling beats, deep bass and drifting textures set the crowd in motion, a few of which dance as if they are at a rave. While laptop sets can often sound a little thin and grating, Pantha Du Prince’s Hendrik Weber deploys a lot of equipment to ensure his sounds are broadcast to us in full, luscious detail. There’s very little spectacle here, just a dude trying to look mysterious as he stands at a table on a dark stage, but it just feels good as this sound reaches out, wraps itself around us and tightens its grip on our ears without letting go for a solid 90 minutes.