This collection of artists provided one of the best We Love lineups of the season for me, as is the We Love mantra - there was something for everyone more or less. A great feature of the Sunday 'family gatherings' as we call them, is the high volume of live acts that play. It's something that really adds to the parties, whether you're in front of them raving you arse off, or sat behind doing the geeky thing and watching how they make each sound. I'm more of the latter, although to me it's pretty much 'ooo, thats got a lot of buttons, thats cool'. Such is my level of understanding of the technology.
On this 'live act' front then, I was taken into la Terraza to find Blondes, and then The Mole rinsing the machines with buttons. The stage had been set next to the usual DJ booth, adding some production with the likes of LED tubes and the like - subtle but great. Truth be told I'm not sure on any of the tracks that were played by these two artists, but I can tell you it was nice, and I shall endeavour to further my knowledge on them in time for their next performance. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
The Italian side of music is usually heavily represented around this time, in reflection of the large amounts of Italians that flock to the island over these few weeks, as was the case with Tale Of Us in the Discoteca. A friend commented that it was cool to hear some 90s style Acid House for a couple of tracks. Which is true as the island is predominantly partying in other musical directions at the moment. The Tale Of Us duo proved to be a great 'warm up' for the Octave One duo... in fact it seemed to be a night of 'duo's' - Octave One, Blondes, Groove Armada. Safety in numbers is it? Anyway, Octave One were the highlight of the night for me. Placed high up on their podium, or throne, in the Disctoteca they got into the groove DJ Sneak style with only the constant head-nod-to-the-beat to show. Things started quite slowly, with some atmospheric breakbeat for all of 30 seconds before things kicked off proper with the Detroit influenced live sound. If you check out our interview with them last year, they talk about their live show and the tech they use. With all the debate over what constitutes a life performance these days, its clear the Octave One lot are truly live - and sounded good!
Over then to the crowd pleaser act of the night, as Groove Armada returned once again to la Terraza. It was clear from the size of crowd in the room for the guys in comparison to The Mole and even James Zabiela that a fair slice of the attendees were here for the 'Superstylin' crew. Of course, they and I loved it. Ive not enough fingers or toes to count the amount of times I've seen them play over the years, so it's cool that things haven't got boring. Classics like 'Push It' by Salt 'n' Pepper were mixed in with some of Groove Armada's own creations - 'Pull Up' for exmaple - and them some less mainstream stuff. Couple all of this with some lasers and live video screens of the duo performing presented in an old skool 80s computer game sort of manner.
Derrick May bossed the Discoteca for me, although after wrestling with the sound for a couple of tracks at the start - we all essentially want it LOUDER - he settled in to his usual groove. He is clearly a man who is comfortable taking control of the vast Disoteca space, on account of how many times he has played, so it's always cool to see a master at work, flowing 'I Feel Love' remixes into the likes of Âme's 'Rej', leading very nicely to tonights highlight of Technasia. If you haven't heard our podcast from him, give it a listen now. It's fantastic. Audion's 'Mouth To Mouth' is undoubtedly an absolte tune, one of my favourites, and sounded great in the room. All in all it was a hugely upligting and driving set, the kind that picks you up when you're feeling a little less than 50%, turning you into a 100% stomping monster. Or something like that anyway.
