Live Review: Pure Perth

Last year when Carl Cox announced to the world that he would be taking a step back from his heroic touring schedule, electronic music fans were worried that "the Godfather" may soon be eyeing retirement. Both his 15-year residency at Ibiza Space and Global podcast ending worried fans further. However, it seems that Cox is focusing on a less is more lifestyle, by expanding his curated Pure festivals.

Previously, Perth had missed these shows, with past events limited to the east coast only. However, this year we were lucky with Cox bringing over three heavyweight producer/DJs in the form of Eric Powell, Noir and Adam Beyer. Between the four, you have the label bosses of three of the biggest names in techno: Bush, Intec and Drumcode.

Habitat have really stepped up their game recently. They are pushing the quality of their bigger shows with amazing visuals and sounds. It looked like their "cube" had been repurposed for the night to provide a fully LED encased DJ booth, floating screens and three lasers.

It seemed a shame that Eric Powell played so early on in the night. Previous sets that we have caught by this techno stalwart had been blistering and hard. However, ever the professional, what was on offer was a lower energy, funkier tech-house influenced set. With a smattering of vocals, this set up the evening by filling the already absurdly slippery dance floor (who in their right mind decided polished aluminium is a dance surface?). 

Taking control next was Noir who pushed the set in a "darker" direction (funny that). Deeper drums, tom fills, and heavy, heavy bass were on offer. A great set that finished on some squelching acid lines and galloping breakbeat tech.

Finally, it was time for Carl Cox to take to the stage. This is a man who loves his audience. With a microphone always handy, he sent out love and hyped the crowd. At 54 years of age he's no spring chicken, but with over 30 years of experience he knows what the crowd wants, and he delivered. A consummate tastemaker in the techno and house scenes, his set reflected his vast record collection. Personally, the set was a little stale in the midsection, with not a lot of variation and little movement or change from driving beats. This did not matter to the crowd, however, with his set going nearly 30 minutes over time. This could have been due to him having too much fun (or possibly some technical difficulties with Adam Beyer's rig being set up behind him).

The previous three acts had been playing on a simple rig of two CDs, a mixer and a few Traktor controllers. Beyer took to the stage with an arsenal of four CDs and a mixer. While the previous acts had been doing a traditional track-to-track mix, Beyer built his set-up using loops and effects. Although the crowd seemed to dissipate after Cox left the stage, those who stuck around were witness to a pounding and aggressive set. Beyer mixed the overdriven 909 kicks and heavy percussion Drumcode that he's famous for with synths and arps from other producers. A definite highlight of the night.