Live Review: Perturbator, Snorri, DJ Amnesia

Dim the lights, pump the smoke, ignite the magenta neon; the neo-'80s synthwave movement has arrived on Perth's sandy shores. Testuo foreshadowed its arrival, with cyberpunk fittings to match the aesthetic.

The enigmatic DJ Amnesia mixed up a cocktail of our favourite tunes, tweaked to the dark side of the laser lights and featuring gateway tracks to hook in first-timers; a canny play by the promoter. Stranger Things Theme made the most prominent appearance, turning heads and tapping feat.

The following act Snorri were a weird fit for the night, undoing the masterstroke of the previous billing. They're a replicant of the '90s Norwegian black metal church-burning scene, a poor version of a bad sound in possibly the worst environment. You can't hang it all on Snorri, they played their blackened hearts out, but there are plenty of bands in this town alone who do this thing better and the billing threw them under a bus.

We returned to our scheduled programming with French cyberlord Perturbator, a real treat for synthwave lovers as a first-of-its-kind experience. Synthwave has been bubbling for some time now, but it's previously enjoyed mostly on a private level, so it was good to see a packed house for one of the movement's pioneers. Dark, heavy tracks ruled the night. Neo Tokyo and Disco Inferno kicked off early, both much heavier and dirtier in a live scene that expected. Fan-favourite Future Club dropped and received loud cheers from the now-fully converted crowd. Technoir from 2012's I Am The Night showed just what a driving force Perturbator has been. Flat out one of the best single acts we've seen in an underground scene for a long time.