Two of Melbourne's finest purveyors of underground music join forces to present Dixon & Ame for an afternoon of electronica, house and techno.
Dixon (Berlin) Innversions
When Dixon entered the Berlin club circuit in the early 90ʼs, he established his name on the strength of DJing. Back then, confidence or experience based on putting out mixes in the Internet did not matter as much as it does now. You had to do your practice, of course, but when your thing was good and tight enough to take it to the clubs, there were opportunities to do so. But those opportunities meant responsibilities. A residency did not mean playing the same club every once in a while, it meant playing the same club every week. The crowd did not consist of people that wander in and out of club nights and its guest DJs as the weekly hype commanded them, it consisted of people which headed straight to a certain club night because they were sure its resident DJ would deliver the goods this week as he did last week, and the next weeks to come. As long as that happened, there was no need to move on. You made your decision to return out of good experience and you stuck to it as long as it lasted. In such a context, there is no way to learn quicker how to become a very good DJ than by making people dance throughout a set that lasts the whole night, on a very regular basis. If you canʼt hold the crowd for hours then, you fall through. It is learning by doing, the hard way. Dixon did not only learn very quickly, he loved every moment of it.
Starting out low, slow, unfolding the flow, working towards a peak, then working towards another, turning up, turning down, to find the exact point from which to swing moods, to find the perfect way to end what should be a lasting experience. Once you passed your exams in the nightclub school of that era with distinction, you can rely on it forevermore, and Dixon surely did. His residencies then and now are obviously schooled on the stylistic and technical versatility and skills, attitude, stamina and experience based on countless nights honing ways to direct a loyal crowd on the dance floor at will. Hours spent to find and select the right music to achieve the levels of intensity necessary, hours spent to plan the imminent nightʼs structure and proceedings, and then hours spent putting it into action. Dixon was always more than happy to spend this much time on his nights, because he takes his profession seriously. It is exactly what matters most to him. He has always been and he always will be a DJ first. This is the mission he embarked on, no end in sight.
Âme (Berlin) Sonar Kollective
If you havenʼt heard of Âme over the last few years you must have been living on Mars. The German DJ and producer duo of Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann came out of the same scene that gave us Jazzanova and the Sonar Kollektiv, but theyʼve created a sound of their own that embraces house and techno, and is aimed squarely at the dancefloor.
Theirs is a unique take on the dance music blueprint too and DJs across the board have been seduced by the deep, dark and enveloping Âme sound. Whatʼs more, theyʼve only just got started and their best is surely yet to come. Whatʼs most remarkable about ʻRejʼ and the Âme sound in general is that it really does join the dots between house and techno, all underpinned by the influences of jazz and leftfield electronica. The sounds of Chicago, Detroit and New York blend with those of London, Paris and Berlin; think Carl Craig and Moodymann, think Blaze and Metro Area, think Chateau Flight, all shaken and stirred with a special Karlsruhe twist.
“I always describe our sound as a mixture between techno and house with a modern touch but still having that old skool New York and Detroit feeling,” concludes Frank.
The Likes Of You & Soma Corp presents Dixon & Ame
Sunday 20th Feb from 7:00pm - 3:00am
New Guernica, Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Tickets on sale now @ www.inthemix.com.au
Support from Mike Callander, Virginia Le, Andy Hart, Myles Mac, Lewie Day, Tom Evans & Nick Jones & Louis McCoy.
Further information: Johnny Salerno @ Future 03 9686 1166 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
