Comments on: Travelogue: Sydney, Australia

By: Nick D

Nick D — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 15:45:33 +0000

Sunshine,

What you witnessed is the truth with the Sydney scene today. Basic purveyors of deep house, in all its glorious forms, are in desperate need of a good venue for appreciating it. There are random nights every few months where we get a chance to get down to nice sounds without any pretension, but on the whole it’s more about what DJ is top of the UK charts or what clothes you’re wearing.

Your time in Adelaide sounded really nice and relaxed – what better way to see a country than experience it with some locals, and a family at that. You can’t beat Aussie hospitality with a few cold beers over a nice smokey BBQ.

I know many people in Sydney that would have loved to hear you play, if only we knew you were coming out.

If you ever head to Oz again, you definitely need to head to Sydney to play a gig. But more importantly you’ll need to head to Byron Bay (8hrs drive north from Sydney, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland). Whenever I head up there I imagine the Dubtribe Sound System playing a ‘doof’ (outdoor rave) in the bush with all the ‘hippy kids’ and spending the days hanging out on the beach. Byron is the place where you guys would fit in so well (I can only imagine).

The Sydney house scene needs a wake-up call but, hey, the Thai food is good!

By: sunshine

sunshine — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 19:51:13 +0000

Yes, I agree and understand what you mean. I think that much of this was an emotional response to the “meeting” I had with EMI in Sydney, and their feelings about House being dead as a viable music genre.

The idea of house music being over is pretty silly actually, but i can understand how it may not be a commercial opportunity at the moment. If selling compilations to young people is where the money is, and youngsters want to get off on bigtime party jams, then it’s just as well.

I suppose that i am overly sensitive and fatigued by years of always feeling like to love a community, and contribute to the whole, as opposed to a genre within it is a fight against the current. Maybe “deep” and even “house” are not the mots du jour, nor will they ever return as the Naked¬© Brand of excitement they were for a minute there, but that’s not such a bad thing.

Indeed, reinvention, and celebration of the people who actually do want to gather, communicate, drum and dance in a new and positive way is totally where its at.

And, as always, if it’s not happening… then it’s time to make it happen.

I can dig it.

By: Ariel

Ariel — Thu, 21 Apr 2005 16:20:41 +0000

I ran across similar feelings recently when I tried to find a nice underground party to take my 16 year old cousin to. He’s just emerging into the dance community, and had only been to enormous commercial trance parties in convention halls. When I started poking around for what I’ve always called “hippy raver parties,” I realized that the weekly parties I used to go to at the Lish House simply do not exist any more in the Seattle area. Sure, there are Oracle Gatherings, but they happen only a couple times a year, and cost $40. I’ve had to acknowledge that I’m not the only one to have wandered away from the scene — it appears that many organizers have, as well. We’re clearly at the “death” end of the cycle.

…the good news of course is that a rebirth (of some sort) must be around the corner. I’m doubting it’ll look like what we’re accustomed to, but I’m confident that it’ll be there.