Choosing an entire room full of luminous, colour-shifting walls to host the second instalment of Tronic this year seems like an apt choice by the live electronic music collective. As the pink hues and pastel greens shift and meld into electric blues, it feels like a set from the Tron movie rather than the basement of a hotel in the swanky end of town. It’s their second time here in a five year history, and the fact the last gig was swamped by random Spanish and German tourists [nations with a reputation for (A) – Partying till 10am, or (B) – electronic music], it begs the question, why so long to return dudes? A question they may be asking themselves after tonight…
Entering the venue slightly late due to transport issues (sorry Get Effect, I’m sure you were brilliant), we’re greeted by the aforementioned nest of lights, tripled in effect by a visual experience from Euan Mackenzie. Controlling his laptop adjacent to the stage, he uses various gadgets, sliders, buttons and touch pads to make images flash wildly over the huge back drop behind the artists, blending and crashing into each other. Like if your favourite movie/ childhood cartoon (Bucky O’Hare?) were turned into a fireworks display.
Setting the soundtrack to this is initially B-Tone, who DJs a set and keeps the tempo between changeovers with bleepy, scratchy tunes. Also including ‘Underpass’ by John Foxx. Good stuff. But Tronic is more about the live acts on offer, and as soon as B-Tone finishes a decent set, ESQ takes command.
Equipped with a laptop and a specialised controller, his entire set is one huge build up, starting off with sea-like waves of chords and top end melodies that recall Apollo missions in the peace of space. Bass shadows lumber in and out, and half of the set is all about tone and texture layering and shifting – like coloured mercury in a tilting maze game. This gradually builds up and up with more drums, theremin like “woooooos!”and eventually full blown Mr Oizo style bass. All this time Euan the VJ is flashing up random pictures of, yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger: in his pants and in his prime – making the experience very surreal and a prompting a girl to shyly request to “touch the Arnie button”.
Voltergeist may have been a bit green; having a million times more buttons on his Novation Launch Pad than Euan’s gadgets; none of them were attracting the ladies like “The Arnie Button”. However, this array of flashing squares were creating a lot of techno sounds which – judging by the crowd reaction – were at least winning over the ladies ears if not their touch. And it wasn’t just the ladies taking note, with his minimal sounds, dubby breakdowns and 80’s vocoded synths flying about all over the place, Voltergeist ignited the crowd and got everyone dancing. Even the curious freeloaders from the upstairs bar swamping the venue and refusing to pay couldn’t help but move – maybe the Spaniards and Germans heard Tronic were back?
Wrapping up the night is I Am Blip who goes on until 2am (and I’m sure way past that at the various after parties if those tourists were involved). Focusing the start of his set around a wood block sample (old skool?– No – Primary School!), he sets the mood for a percussive assault, with his entire military neatly contained within the metal box of his KORG Electribe; a legendary synth that has been going and going for a decade now. Using phase effects he adds a strange melodic sense to the percussion and snappy snares. Moody organs and zany FX operate in the background like spies in a warzone, but it’s the sheer force of the drumming artillery that has the crowd pounded into the dancefloor until the UN come in and chuck us all out.
We’re left wondering what basement these electro-warriors plan to invade next?