The first edition of Pitch was the perfect festival debut
The Australian event had us enchanted all weekend long
11 St Germain 'Rose Rouge' (Spiller Rouge Mix)
Axel Boman, Béton Brut, Monday: Monday morning came around with disjointed thoughts of the night before and a rapidly approaching set from the Studio Barnhus co-label-head from 11am-2pm. The crowd was pretty thin in the early stages as some rested and others hit the road back to Melbourne or elsewhere. But those still dancing in the sand were treated to some sublime tribal rhythms and disco edits to ease themselves into the final day of an all quality inaugural Pitch. SB’s ‘The Washint,’ ‘Got To Be Loved’ by the Soul Reductions and Max Graef’s ‘BE’ all kept hazy heads feeling as fresh as possible on a Monday morning after three days of partying. A pitched down play of the Spiller Rouge Mix of St Germain’s ‘Rose Rouge’ (Shout out The Identification of Music Group) was a dreamy highlight as the crowd swayed into their last moments with John Talabot and Wolf & Lamb b2b Soul Clap still to come.
12 Alphonse 'Smokey'
John Talabot, Béton Brut, Monday: Dance moves were starting to get delightfully weird and off-kilter in a mix of exhaustion and elation as John Talabot took control of Béton Brut for almost the final four hours until 6pm, Monday, after which Melbourne good-times purveyor CC:DISCO would close the festival. Shoes off in the sand, dirt and dust that had coated everyone’s bodies throughout the weekend, the tribal percussion, African chanting and disco-orientation of Alphonse’s ‘Smokey,’ just released on (Emotional) Especial, was apt as the scene took on an instinctual feel as everyone lost themselves in the music. The Spanish producer slugged out some low-slung techno to keep the crowd energised right through till the end, while Wolf & Lamb and Soul Clap went b2b with some classic NYC house over at Electrum, leaving us in complete awe on the long journey back to civilisation at what we’d experienced in the Australian bush as Pitch exploded onto the global event scene.
Scott Carbines is Mixmag's Australian Digital Content Editor. Follow him on Twitter
