The Bakery
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Another year, another huge celebration of Perth’s best local music and their unrelenting supporters, RTRFM. The annual Radiothon Party took over Northbridge with a slew of Perth’s best and boldest musical talents from the technically brilliant to the joyful and boppy. It was a wondrous night of support for the radio station responsible for nourishing and growing the local music scene.
Like a two for one mix of Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl, the drummer and vocalist of Puck, with his grungy vocals and thumping drums, got the celebrations cranking early. The three piece’s solid set moved from chuggy to drone, to pure loud rock, tempting the crowd away from their conversations and into the hall to bask in the warm reverb of some lovely raw vocals and perfectly executed rock.
The oddly named Race To Your Face brought elated surprise and even a few gasps from the audience as this flawless instrumental duo seemingly effortlessly created intoxicating melodies. These enviably talented musicians stunned and hypnotised with their technical, jazzy drumming and layer upon layer of gorgeous riffs and sounds. This guitarist has stunningly mastered how to use loop pedals to create a wall of blissfully powerful resonances. Adding humility to their seriously perfect set was their clever and quietly funny quips between songs.
Although a seemingly difficult task to follow the last band, the flawless musicians in Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving did anything but disappoint. With their strong, emotional, melodic, and hauntingly beautiful set. Flowing from deep and soulful to heavy and pounding, this energetic group gave everything they had to each brilliant song. The most colourful keyboardist around juggled tasks, also creating electronic hisses and squeals, adding to the full, thick sound.
Well-loved indie pop group, Sugar Army, looked out to a packed room, the venue now bursting at the seams with music revellers eager to enjoy the fun, happier sounds and songs for the night. A great upbeat band but still with a rocky edge, these boys kept the energy up and continued the RTRFM love in. Smooth, unfaltering vocals, catchy riffs and a fun vibe showed fans and newcomers a like why they support this stellar band.
Fun yet soulful indie rockers Emperors had great love for ‘R, mother fucking T, mother fucking R’, and boy did the crowd bring the love for them too. The pitch-perfect vocal harmonies were an absolute treat, bringing cheers from the crowd. An oldie but a goodie, View From The Sun was a welcomely softer song, sweet and melodic, reminiscent of Something For Kate but with a slight rockier edge. The crowd was captured by songs from the bands 2012 album Stay Frosty, the irony of the current weather conditions not lost on most shivering revellers, who did indeed want ‘the fire in our bones’. This perfect performance solidified their position at the top of the bill for Perth music’s night of nights.
