Review – PilotFest 2014

Founded in 2012, Pilot Records has rapidly established itself as one of the champions of Adelaide’s “experimental, weird electronic music”. The local label’s second annual PilotFest was a showcase for their signed talent and friends, providing the finale to the Festival Centre’s Sessions program.

To kick things off, a two hour session of beats, beer and burgers (or nachos) was on offer in the Amphitheatre. Band members and the usual suspects huddled in the shade to the soundtrack of chilled-out dub and glitch beats from No Birds and Slamagotchi, before heading into the Space Theatre via visuals provided by Brad Cameron (Lost City) and Christian Sandor.

Glass Skies’ shredding and looped psych rock was a strong start to the main event. Then Sparkspitter took the stage to the vocal delight of the crowd. Decked out in silk kimonos and makeup, the five-piece pumped out joyful, amp-up instrumental tunes over a looped guitar base, set up by the drummer at the start of each track. Jazz-based electronic band Brokers plied their soulful, sexy, walking-at-midnight-between-pools-of-lamplight music, complete with scatting and saxophone.

Given the calibre of acts up to this point, the dance floor should have been cranking. But the cavernous Space Theatre just seemed to suck the energy out of the front of the stage, setting up a passive performer/audience dynamic, rather than allowing the bands to bring the crowd forth in one heaving, intimate mess. We really needed Oddessa to bring the energy, which he did in Act II of his atmospheric set, but this was rather abruptly cut short by the venue due to some ‘technical issues’ – just as the crowd was really getting into it.

Question Question brought haunting vocals over big, emotional, reverberating synth sounds. And, finally, Urtekk. In the words of bassist Dave Brewer, “we’re a dance band, so don’t be afraid to have a wiggle” – the crowd had no choice but to oblige, with Urtekk’s trademark energy finally lifting the crowd into the frenzy we’d been waiting for all night.

It’s incredible how much influence the venue can have on a gig. Yes, the sound system in the Space Theatre was excellent, and it’s great for electronic music acts to be able to put it to good use. But, having been to Pilot Records events in Arcade Lane and Published Warehouse, and having seen some of the acts on tonight’s lineup at other cracker Adelaide venues like Cuckoo and Ghost Ships, I’m not convinced that Space Theatre was the right venue for this year’s show. If you’ll permit me one more BUT, as Oisima opined at the end of the show, Pilot Records have single-handedly changed the Adelaide music scene. Everything they do is gold. So get on it.