13/12/2003 @ the Gaelic Club
Sonic Animation
Soma Rasa
Tim Boffa
organisational mishaps aside, whose fault that was i will not further speculate, but the important thing was, we got there in the end. nice, tiny little gig in a nice, tiny little venue. things were a bit too small, in fact. the opening act, Soma Rasa, had a tough time trying to get the crowd moving. big ups to our Ben, true pioneer massive, taking the first steps on the dancefloor, but it was not to be till at least another half hour later. big ups to Soma Rasa too. deserved better crowd support. i'll be up front next time, i promise.
then as Soma Rasa packed up and no name dj (Tim Boffa) dished out more banging breaks & tech, the little crowd that had built up began to dissipate. but we weren't about to piss off back to the back now. i didn't come to chat, i came for the music. is every dj playing out Freeland tracks these days?
the new Sonic Animation, first time in Sydney since Homebake 2002, traded Robbie & Theo for a new third member. a set chock full of new shit that has a very rock'n roll flavour, a psychedelic rock'n roll / techno. think Chemical Brothers circa the Surrender album, but of course with their own spin and quirky humour. and it's so lazy comparing them to Chemical Brothers. let's compare it to last week's Pnau gig instead. Sonic's got a more old school sound, no live instruments, no jazzy bits, they just come on in with banks of machines and bang it out. the bass doesn't stop even for the "quiet" new tune This Is Not A Love Poem. and that's really just what this world needs these days, not more of that "intelligent dance music".
as we left without waiting for an encore, 'cos we got trains to catch, i was surprised that the turn out wasn't all that great. but hey, music isn't about money and quality isn't related to success. i wish them all the best, but i didn't mind having the extra dancefloor space, and the crowd of true Sonic fans were quite lovely and up for a good time. i doubt they'd be worried about not selling out the venue. Judging by the night's performance, the new album's full of hits and within a year i'll probably be packed in the dance music tent of Homebake cursing the younger kids around me as Sonic tear out another killer headlining set.
and when they launch their album properly next year with a run of proper shows, i'll be back again, mark my words!
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