Paradise is a brand-new festival with two nights and three days of local and interstate acts among the high altitude and low temperature of Lake Mountain’s Alpine Ski Resort.
There was no better place to catch the best of Australia’s emerging bands, especially when lazing on a brown grassy tobogganing slope with other like-minded music fans as you all simultaneously wondered whether anyone would notice you ducking off to pee in the bushes.
It’s that casual attitude that summarised the vibe of the weekend. Paradise was a festival for the low-key punters rather than the $400 gumboot-wearing crowd. The lack of festival image-conscious people made for a nice vacation. It was a festival for genuine music lovers.
The whole event had the vibe of an open venue gig – like something you would attend at a botanical gardens.
Bands Godwolf and Them Swoops got the best of the early crowd on the first day. Most of the attendees left their tents in time to catch the five-piece Godwolf, who looked like they had emerged from some kind of mystical dubstep cave, and would return there when they finished playing.
Elizabeth Rose was a vision on the first night and got festival goers in the mood to party after their initial ‘shit it’s cold!’ shock upon arrival. Playing new songs as well as her first hit ‘Ready’, Rose also impressed with her rendition of the 90s dance track ‘Rhythm Of The Night’, a song she covered for triple J’s Like A Version.
Under the modest inflated roof of the main Paradise stage, Client Liaison were reminiscent of tropical fish in an outer-suburban community centre fish tank. Their electro-pop and Michael Jackson-style dance moves enticed the midnight crowd who were ready to dance away the chill.
The duo emerged in puffy attire, though this soon came off in favour of the usual colourful blazer donned by the frontman Monte Morgan, and by the time the song ‘Feeling’ was performed, the crowd had almost/kind of forgotten that they were freezing.
Another group out of their element were DJs Naysayer & Gilsun, who usually have visuals to accompany their set. As Paradise was low on the technical razzle-dazzle, the two opted to play their deepest and creepiest house music instead. Personal taste aside, the two are talented DJs. The witch-house style beats was a good fit for the festival, and the atmosphere of the out-of-season ski resort was matched perfectly with the ghostly-white bony trees that surrounded the stage.
The next day brought the sunshine and the indie-pop band I’lls, who were welcomed by the esky-ready crowd as they performed in the early afternoon. Electronic group Squarehead were up next and seemed nervous on stage, apologising for the technical mishaps (while oblivious to the male audience members frequenting the hill behind the stage to urinate). Indie group The McQueens played an upbeat set afterwards, though perhaps with one too many covers (including Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Ray).
House Of Laurence were a nice genre change from the electronic and indie groups on the bill. The band were seen lounging on a grassy mound before their set, and appeared just as casual on stage. Their psychedelic style was less acid-trippy than what others in the genre seem to be producing (namely, the bands trying to imitate Tame Impala). It was good psych-rock mood music to lie down to.
As the sun went down, the somewhat overlooked Clubland room became enticing with electronic and dubstep artist Leaks kicking off the evening. Contrasting dubstep with sweet lyrics, the audience that piled in from the outside cold could only look on in quiet awe as Leaks blushed and announced song titles like ‘Often It’s You’ and ‘I Care.’
Soon the room became an unrecognisable sweaty mess as Lucianblomkamp, Friendships, and B.O.O.M.A pumped out a mixture of club, house, and B.O.O.M.A’s ‘juke’ music (which also goes by the term ‘ghetto house’ and ‘booty music’, to give you a better idea).
Back outside, Forces had drawn a crowd who eagerly awaited the duos industrial dance music. While the weather proved somewhat awkward for Client Liaison’s image, it only enhanced Forces’. Percussionist Thomas Henderson looked more menacing than usual in his dark sunglasses, daring the wind to blow harder.On stage, vocalist Alex Akers moved like a fly caught in a spider’s web, his eyes twitching for full effect.
At times, one or both members would suck from a metal object and blow out white smoke. After a few discussions among the crowd, it was decided that whatever the object was, it was from the future – and it made Forces look so unbelievably cool.
Last up on the second night was Animaux and No Zu. While Animaux impressed with their big-band brass sound and strong female lead vocals, No Zu were so hot that the saucepan constellation up in outer space would have felt their effect.
Typically, experimental funk like No Zu is best played in ‘heat beat’ weather, but there’s something to appreciate about a group who are willing to strip down to a mesh singlet, no matter the climate. The set ended all too soon with ‘Fa Foma Fi’, and the audience felt every drum hit from one to six.
The final morning saw a trickle of the remaining festivalgoers head down the slope to catch the last bands. Experimental rock group Hollow Everdaze cracked jokes between songs and made varied cultural remarks such as “our vinyl is blue…like the sky” and “fuck these flies”. Their unconcerned attitude only made the audience like them more.
When the morning was over, there was a lot of grumbling heard on the way back up the slope – which may or may not have also been the sound of stomachs due to food trucks not having showed up all weekend. But despite normal mishaps for a first time festival, Paradise was one of those crazy lab experiments that turned out to cure something. Get your fix next year.
