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GALLERY + SET LIST: Harbourlife 2013

25 November 2013 | 12:19 pm | Tony Kingston

Harbourlife is an essential festival for any dance music fan, the venue’s beautiful surroundings allowed for a perfect setting on a warm summer’s day.

Harbourlife is an essential festival to attend for any dance music fan. The venue’s beautiful surroundings, consisting of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, combined with sensational house music really allow for a perfect setting on a warm summer’s day.

Throughout the festival's existence, we’ve witnessed some unforgettable sets from some of the world’s best electronic artists including KASKADE (2004), MARK FARINA (2005), DERRICK CARTER (2006), SWITCH (2007), FELIX DA HOUSECAT (2008), BAG RAIDERS (2009), METRONOMY (2010) and TODD TERJE (2012). I had a strong feeling today wouldn't be any different.

For its 10th anniversary this year, the stellar line up was made up of a solid mixture of old and new house music legends consisting of Detroit pioneers CARL CRAIG and MOODYMANN, Canadian Crosstown Rebels duo ART DEPARTMENT, the UK’s Grammy Award winning JACQUES LU CONT, DAVID AUGUST, FINNEBASSEN, as well as Australia’s very own TOUCH SENSITIVE and BROHN.

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After heavy thunderstorms throughout the week, the weather wasn't looking good at all for Harbourlife. During the morning, it looked like there was no chance of the weather fining up, but luckily the sky cleared and it transformed into a beautiful day.

A very good friend of mine has been raving about Norway’s FINNEBASSEN for quite some time now, so I felt it was necessary for me to head down early to see what all the fuss was about. He began the day quite nicely with the AGORIA remix / DIXON vocal retouch of MARTINA TOPLEY BIRD's cover of THE XX's 'Crystalised' (featuring WARPAINT & MARK LANEGAN) and CRAZY P's remix of MUJAVA's classic track 'Township Funk', which went down an absolute treat for punters.

Following FINNEBASSEN, it was time for the first live set of the day by TOUCH SENSITIVE. With his admirable bass guitar skills and a show which completely sets itself apart from a typical DJ set, it’s no surprise that VAN SHE member Michael Di Francesco is the go to guy in our country’s current festival market.

TOUCH SENSITIVE appeared to be the odd one out on the bill, which was mainly made up of underground house DJs. With the help of the amazing scenery around him, the audience displayed great enthusiasm towards his performance.

It was great to see him opening up with the Vjuke track he made recently, in collaboration with audio visual artist EGO. This particular track I am a huge fan of and I consider it to be one of his best to date. Apart from that, his set was very similar to the other occasions I’ve seen him play and was made up of his funky numbers ‘Body Stop’, the ANNA LUNOE featured ‘Real Talk’, 'Show Me' and 'Pizza Guy' (of course), which had the crowd jumping up and down as though it was a rock gig. He also played his remix of ‘Permission To Love’ by fellow Australian producer HAYDEN JAMES. TOUCH SENSITIVE has a massive future ahead of him as a solo artist and I’m really looking forward to hearing some more new material from the man soon.

Next up was MOODYMANN, who definitely brought the funk with tracks such as THE REVENGE edit of HOT CHOCOLATE's 'Cadilac' and FATCAMP's 'Put A Little Jam On It'. This set was a great way for everyone to ease their way into a groove before the heavier music began.

After seeing CARL CRAIG’s impressive ‘69’ live show at Summadayze and Future Entertainment’s One Night Only event earlier this year, I was very intrigued to hear what selections he was going to come up with today. With loud cheers from the crowd at each drop, CARL CRAIG was seen mixing JEFF MILLS' 'Bells' into DJ ZENIX's 'So Funky' and also played tunes such as his own take on FAZE ACTION's 'In The Trees' and DELANO SMITH's 'Wires'.

The Australian debut of 23 year old German house producer DAVID AUGUST was up next, who Resident Advisor described as "like NICOLAS JAAR but less experimental". He commenced his live show as the sun was beginning to set and progressed through tracks from his ‘Times’ LP. Some big fans in the front row showed their full dedication to him by displaying a massive hand drawn banner over the barrier saying 'True Romance', the name of his 2011 track released on SVEN VATH's Cocoon Recordings. The highlight of his set was hearing the classic 'Moving Day' and the finale of his set, which featured some live piano and a gentlemen riding a giant inflatable swan in the water close by.

I had seen ART DEPARTMENT play three times before Harbourlife and on each occasion they seemed to create an incredible vibe throughout their set. One particular moment which really stood out for me was when they dropped DAFT PUNK’s classic track ‘Alive’ during the final moments of their 2012 Parklife show in Sydney.

That was such a memorable set for me and I can even still picture the crowd cheering enthusiastically as one punter was drinking from a shoe while he was simultaneously being piggybacked by his friend. ART DEPARTMENT gave us an electric set featuring the acid house number 'Love Your Illusion' by ERIC VOLTA, DEETRON's 'Orange' and 'Al Trajlin' by FRANCISCO RUIZ TAGLE. Overall, it was a quality performance of throbbing tech house with a well demonstrated stage prescense by the two.

It was clear why Fuzzy picked Stuart Price (aka JACQUES LU CONT) to close the night’s proceedings. His explosive BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix would have to be in my top 10 mixes of all time. Stuart also has a proven track record when it comes to ending a festival on a high, as I witnessed during his intense sunrise set at Sonar Festival in Barcelona last year. He always has a CD wallet full of bangers and I couldn’t wait to see what he had in store for us at Harbourlife.

JACQUES LU CONT blasted his way through 'Feeling For You' by CASSIUS, KOLSCH's 'Opa', Hysteresis by SHAROOZ and his own production 'Into The Night'. I've seen the man DJ on a few occasions and one of the things which really stands out for me during his sets is his fantastic mixing ability and this was certainly displayed tonight. As the night drew to a close, he spun his remix of 'Mr Brightside' of THE KILLERS, which created a hands in the air moment for the audience.

HARBOURLIFE 2013 GALLERY:

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With (mostly) amazing weather, Harbourlife is one of the best one-day electronic music festivals in Australia. Keeping it simple in the single stage format without a doubt ensures a stress free experience and when you're with some of your closest friends in such a wonderful environment listening to the sounds of enjoyable house music, it doesn't get much better than this.

Words by Tony Kingston

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