Hiline & The XL presents Joyryde @ Ambar Nightclub
by Tyner Brown
On the 12th of August, HILINE (as a part of their 2 night bender) hosted one of the fastest growing producers on the bass-house scene, Joyryde.
Joyryde is a kid at heart, and has self-coined his bouncy signature sound “Brad Pitt House”. He had amazing energy – he looked like he was having the time of his life the entire set, and the crowd responded accordingly. Everyone was belting out all the one-line vocal breaks and rap rhythms in his tracks as if they were throwback classics. The crowd was vibing, everyone was jumping, and at no time during his set did a track fall flat.
With a late-ish set time of 2am, the crowd was yearning for Joyryde to begin after a professional warming-up by Invoker. Joyryde gave those before him a shout-out, before cueing up his “Swurve” remix of 4 Real by Destructo. The crowd, in anticipation of the first big bass house drop of the night, sang along passionately, however, as soon as the first kick hit the entire club jumped – and didn’t stop jumping – for the next 30 minutes. Every track he played over this period was bouncy, high-energy bass house and the crowd loved every second. He went through a bunch of his biggest tunes dropping Speed Trap, Hari Kari and FLO, my personal favourite of his. Towards the end of the bass house section he played arguably his most successful track, his “Put It In Reverse” mix of Jauz’s Feel The Volume, which Jauz favours in his own sets ahead of the original. Joyryde hyped the crowd, counted down the drop, and completely trolled the crowd by dropping into Spandau Ballet’s slow ballad “True”, similar to Mash’d N Kutcher’s famous viral video troll. He had a quick laugh, spun it back to the start of the build-up, then let us enjoy the track proper – everyone lost it.
After the troll he decided to take the set away from bass house. He smashed through dubstep, rap, and trap, mixing lesser known tracks while also including the big tunes of those genres – M.A.A.D City, Skrillex’s remix of Red Lips, Work. He even managed to squeeze in a little Melbourne bounce and hardstyle, most likely as a nod to the Australian audience. He then calmed the crowd in preparation to bring us up for the last few tracks, by dropping 110 Moombahton. For the close, Joyryde brought us back to the genre we all came for – bass house. He dropped Fuel Tank and THE BOX, and had the entire club kicking it on the dance floor and having a good time. Finally, second to last he played Wonderwall to the entire crowd singing along and closed with Shut Down by Skepta, which I personally thought was an odd choice, however it left no sour taste in my mouth.
All up, Joyryde was up there with my favourite gigs of the year, he worked the crowd, had great energy, great songs, and it’s not hard to see how he’s had such a meteoric rise.
by Jacob Colangelo
After discovering his bass house bangers earlier in the year, Joyryde definitely lived up to my high expectations of his first visit to Perth. The night began with high quality sets from local Ambar dj’s, whom included EMAS Alumini Boneflip and Invoker. Invoker got a huge cheer from the crowd when Joyryde gave him a shoutout and commended him for his excellent set. Ambar was packed, rivalling crowds on nights where Boombox Cartel and Valentino Khan played.
Joyryde went full throttle and straight into hard bass house dropping his signature tracks like Speed Trap, Fuel Tank, Hari Kari and his famous ‘Stick it in Reverse‘ remix of Jauz’s track Feel the Volume. The set had a perfect combo of bass house, dubstep and Pop songs, with Drake’s One Dance and Desiigner’s Panda getting the crowd singing every lyric. Joyryde finished with a flourish with his ‘Swerve‘ remix of Destructo’s 4 Real, Flo, Getter’s 666!, Hoam and finally The Box. Joyryde was one of the best nights I have attended all year, only getting beaten by Flosstradamus and Boombox Cartel. He is a must see when he returns to Perth.
Speakeasy presents Command Q @ Jack Rabbit Slims
by Pralay Bajaria & Ben Giddings
The duo Command Q have come a long way since their hit single D1LL1GAF caught the attention of artists such as Flosstradamus, Jack U and RL Grime. Their “We Are Animals” Australian tour starting off in Sydney and eventually making its way back home was a tease to their fans waiting in Perth, who were anxiously watching previews of Lou’s voluptuous moustache bouncing up and down as he tried to head bang. It was definitely worth the wait. At first hearing the name Command Q I thought I would be walking into a night presented by a couple of guys jumping around on their Apple laptops (command + q reference lol) but instead I was blown away by a truly dynamic set, one which was able to completely capture the attention of everybody within Jack Rabbit Slims. Using a combination of cymbals, drums and decks they were able to create a live show that most would have never experienced before. The seemingly endless flow of energy that emanated from the duo was contagious, as could be seen in the faces of those who flocked to the mosh pit as Shaun and Louis emerged onto the stage. If you thought their song “Getting Lit” sounded good playing off a YouTube stream on your iPhone 5s you got handed up from your mum when she got an upgrade, you were wrong. Not only did the atmosphere intensely lift as the jingle bells sounding intro started playing through Jack Rabbits speakers, but Shaun playing the drums gave it a more powerful, energetic push giving the show a rare edge. All I was thinking the whole time is how friggin’ awesome it would be to see your teacher playing this shit up on stage (Yes, they both teach music and yes, they would host the worlds most amazing excursions).
People are looking for different experiences everyday. Especially in the music industry artists are constantly looking for new sounds to make people feel different, to create an altered reality. It’s safe to say Command Q have been able to affect a lot of people with their music, not only their students but all of their fans. Even when they played tracks from well known artists such as RL Grime and JAUZ, they never failed to add their own twist using both electronic and live percussion (and a shitload of confetti). Going into any night at an event or club you will naturally have expectations and some idea of what is about to go down. Not with Command Q. Their ability to turn heads with their unique vibe is such a strength for Command Q and they are able to create something that will be fresh and new for any city of the world.
Know that going into a gig with these guys on the lineup, you will come out with a new perspective on DJ performances. I guess that leaves one thing left to say: It’s Command Q Bitch.
Hideout x Chamber presents Yahztel @ Villa Nightclub
by Jeremiah (James) Dibble
My first exposure to Yahtzel was back about two years ago when a friend of mine showed me his collaboration with LDRU called The Only One which was pretty gnarly jungle tune that took me by interest into Yahtzel with his funky jungle feel. Who knew that a year later, the epic duo signed to OWSLA would that would be Carmada took roots from collaborations like this. Hideout and Chamber brought in Yahtzel which got me noticing the level of commitment and raising standard of the event night. When browsing through Yahtzel’s Soundcloud before the show I was interested and somewhat surprised as to his funky style that is cute in a way to me. I would have never have guessed that this was one half of Carmada. Maybe that’s his naughty side.
So the stage dimmed down as a figure with the OWSLA jacket walks on stage, long goldilocks flocking around as he gains focus on the decks. Yahtzel was on as the crowd gazed in anticipation of the Australian artist that had come a long way from his solo project. He started playing some trap tunes around the 140 mark and they were honestly heavy tunes for his style which I did not see coming. The tunes he played were not that reminiscent of his style and apparently LDRU’s set was also heavy according to my mates who had attended his show. Yahtzel took me by surprise as he dropped heavy club-friendly tunes and this contrasts the style of music he usually writes on his Soundcloud. As the set went through, me and my friends noticed the wide and vastly contrasting array of songs styles he played and looked at each other in confusion. Starting off with heavy trap and then moving towards the house tempo mark with some funky disco-like tunes. However the highlight of most people’s nights probably would have been the final of Carmada’s Maybe as Yahtzel got on the microphone to hype the bitches up. The night went by quick but even after Yahtzel left, I was surprised to see the crowd stay and catch some of JCAL’s set, another Perth producer who has been gaining a lot of attention recently.
Overall, Yahtzel’s set reminds me of how diverse a DJ he is and how much variation in styles he probably takes influence from despite his own music being very different. Bottom line is, do not expect Yahtzel to play any relaxed or chilled sets when he is live because his shows are not what they seem to be…
Hiline presents Rickyxsan & graves @ Villa Nightclub
by Jeremiah (James) Dibble
Months before the Australian tour of graves and Rickyxsan I saw the Hiline promotion of these two artists which had me double-blinking against the screen as I could not believe that my biggest inspirations were coming to my little city of Perth. Both Rickyxsan and graves were easily my top five pick of favourite producers in the game right now and I had been following them like a desperate fanboy on their socials and every single track they put out in the past year, you can bet that my friends are sick of me frothing and probably annoying them with my enthusiasm for both of these guys. Rickyxsan started his earlier days in festival slash party trap but I had become a dedicated fan to his evolved wonky Dubstep Rickyxsan flow. Graves had caught my attention with his gnarly camel-moaning basslines that pounded through the heaviest sub-basses in tracks such as Dope but his collaboration Tiger Blood with MYRNE also made me realize this kid has way too much talent up his sleeve.
The act before graves was definitely pumping and people were moving alright. Friends of mine were doubtfully questioning whether graves is going to get fucked over by the already-high energy of the previous set. I had faith and waited as the short Hawaiian bass-lord got on the decks and plugged his laptop in. Holy fuck. Did he blow the hole out of the building. I’m not quite sure what track he started off with but the kick and tempo of the song was super high in energy like around the 160 and above mark and the 808 just absolutely fucked everyone’s faces right off. Hands in the air, the mosh was a bitch and people just gazing upon the dankness that was graves. There was a noticeable increase in energy levels from when he came on and I was absolutely frothing as the tunes he was playing. Graves began playing a lot of tunes that were known to his dangerous style such as The Plague and The Holy Mountain. A lot of the songs he played has a reminiscent style similar to Holy Mountain, Dope and Silver Fox. Most of the songs he played were in the 160-175 range which was cool tempo to give the bounciest vibes and deliver a unique energy that was special to the style of graves. His live show made me realize how much better his music sounds live and it definitely gets people messed up from it.
Next up for the night was another idol of mine-Rickxysan, motherfucker. His set was interesting to see as he just dove straight into his wonky Dubstep style and he didn’t give anyone a warm up. Just straight to business. As I caught a glimpse from the second floor, it was tight too see all the faces glance towards him as he bounced that Rickyxsan flow through the speakers. Rickyxsan delivers a unique style of ‘drap’ or ‘trapstep’ that just has that swing sure to get your body moving to the fucked up synths and unpredictable rhythms that will sure catch you off-guard. Some of my most memorable songs by Rickyxsan that he played were Trippy and Gotta Lean Back. I was outside for part of his set so I’m not quite sure if he played Gettin’ That but holy shit that would have been a sin not to. I was a retard going out to the chill-out zone during part of Rickyxsan’s set but at this point the night had started to drain me as my shirt was getting drenched in rave sauce.
I honestly do not know how to summarize this night up more other than the fact that this night is probably going to be my favourite and my most inspirational artists I will ever get to see for another year or so. It was saddening to think that for the rest of the year, I wont be seeing my top five biggest inspirations for producing from graves and Rickyxsan. Rickyxsan and graves are artists who have shaken up the game with a unique style to me that my ears absolutely froth and I cant wait for these two to take the world by storm. I hope that these crazy dudes return back to Perth sooner than later. For those that missed this show, look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you are making the right decisions in life.
