Review: Mount Kimbie at the Naval Store

Mount Kimbie (DJ set) at the Naval Store
w/Mira Nala, 2Lubly
Sunday, June 8, 2025

Arrival festival has brought a breath of fresh air to the Perth winter schedule, with a diverse set of musical acts spanning folk, shoegaze, punk, and points in between. The closing act played to the theme with something new again in a DJ set from electronic-come-alternative stalwarts Mount Kimbie. Expectations for any folk or rock-based leanings could be left at the door, as this was an unabashed night of techno in what was a treat for long-standing fans.

The venue’s bridging playlist was a fine selection of IDM tracks from the likes of Leon Vynehall and Polygon Mountain. It was the kind of music, flitting between techno, house, dub, and ambient, that defined the different personalities of the night. Opener Mira Nala covered the more ambient and downtempo end of the spectrum. Set up with three rows of controllers and with cables coming off his synths, the vibe was a bit cyberpunk, and the music was made to match, an often beat-less set of tracks that evoked mysterious and overwhelming landscapes. Pastoral-sounding pads and synthesiser arpeggios, some rising in pitch as if up a spiral staircase to the heavens, were the order of the day.

Next on the bill was 2Lubly, who brought the club element of the night to the fore with a much-needed injection of energy. Where Mira Nola was the brains, 2Lubly were the brawn with a set of hard-charging and fun tracks that nevertheless featured some very intelligent selections. It opened with the iconic Cycle 8 by The Grid and got more and more party-like from there, with the set climaxing with a remix of Don’t Cha and One More Time, alongside disco-tinged banger I Need It by Scruz and a cheeky quote of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas theme tune. It was interesting to hear cultural variety in the grooves too, with indigenous sounds, Latin grooves and eastern flavours all featuring, the latter exemplified in the featuring of Layla by Omar Souleyman.

With the crowd swelling and energised, Mount Kimbie came out for the main set. Or more accurately, member Kai Campos. The band’s more indie-tinged output took a backseat here—Campos has shown via recent work such as his DJ Kicks compilation and recent City Planning release (one half of Mount Kimbie’s 2022 double LP) where his electronic interests lie. Campos also eschewed any vocals and served just DJ duties here. Indeed, he didn’t even speak a word and let the music do the talking.

Thankfully the set was worth it: a carefully curated and sequenced set of largely Detroit techno bangers that had the feel of a boiler room. Given the early 8pm start time, it was an early-night treat for those in attendance, and given the band’s longevity, also a blessing for some of its older and wiser fans.

The set kicked off with an immediate rise in volume, and the key-driven Comet – Deep Mix by ZZ BANKS set the stage for some progressively more blaring and heavy techno, acid lines burbling under the surface. The pace was unrelenting, and the songs playful with their use of techno tropes, such as the handclap overdrive of Landmark’s Only Solution. The synth stabs and building beats of Fred Serck’s Electro Techno gave way to a cavalcade of 808s on the lovably retro I Wanna B House (Mike Dunn, Johnny Aux).

The set was a love letter to the timeless charm of Detroit techno’s mechanical beats and retro-futuristic synth bleeps. A remix of Hardlife by techno legends Underground Resistance featured plenty of vintage clipped acid snatches and science fiction synth bloops before Pace Control (Boy Berger) set an atmospheric mood with a never-ending whooshing phased synth. An army of rolling snares built to a spectacular crescendo before the iconic Mount Kimbie track Made to Stray, which had the audience cheering and singing along.

The sequencing of the set was excellent with its push-pull of tension and release. Stray marked a peak in the set, and then we headed into more aggressive territory. Summer Bed (TWR72) was a mechanical monster, with the playful and squelchy and breakbeat-driven Join My Team (Luca Lozano, Mr. Ho) providing relief before Stupid Things I Do (Randomer) turned up the pressure once more and segued into 90s deep cut Black Circles (Mike Dearborn). Heavy tribal beats then gave way to the wobbly bass of Flav (Urban Myth Remix) by Big Bird, a garage track carried by a sweet organ riff. Truly (Sovereign) saw an ingenious transition, an equally classy garage tune with a similar organ sound. The organs carried into Carbonated by Mount Kimbie for the second peak of the set.

Once again, the set stepped through gradually harder and danker techno cuts. There were the relentless hi-hats and handclaps of Tekno Mind Port (AceMo) and Panic Mode (Frequency), which lives up to its name with its alarm-like whooping synths, and the synthetic drive of Scum 3 -03 (X CLUB), the dubby Exopaq (Malin Genie, Frits Wentink), and the minimal excellence of Untitled 04 (Leod). The breezier Feeling Groovy (PJ) gave way to a softer landing for the set. The spacey and euphoric synth arpeggios of Super Dark (Dixon Mildred) prefaced a return to garage sounds with the heavy breakbeats of Restless Sleep (Josi Devil) and the Mount Kimbie remix of Nia Archives’ No Need 2 Be Sorry, Call Me?

As the lights came on and punters shuffled out, it felt much later than the set’s 10:15pm close. Bleary-eyed under unforgiving downlights, those in attendance had plenty to rest and reflect on thanks to a night of dance music that balanced brawn and brains, intensity and euphoria.

MATIJA ZIVKOVIC

Photos by Adrian Thomson