I arrived at the Foundry to witness Walaris K mid-flight. Immediately I was struck by his stage presence. He was really getting into it and exerting some serious energy. One could tell he was super into his music, and palpably excited, all smiles and enjoying the scene. Consequently, it amped the crowd up, suitable for the uptempo music he was playing. He tunes have a unique sound, but I was left wanting occasionally, songs building but not necessarily delivering. This is a minor gripe though. For such a young producer there’s a lot of promise and potential. And with that enthusiasm and contagious energy, his small, dedicated crowds are going to grow.

After a short break, Melbourne’s Roland Tings launched into his set. He started with a track off his latest EP ‘Each Moment A Diamond’. It was all spectral synth arpeggios, while his drummer splashed the cymbals. Apparently Tings started off playing solo shows, and has only recently added a drummer to his live performances. This was a great move on his part, the live drummer being of exceptional quality, constantly working the high hat deftly. For some reason the sound of an acoustic kick is satisfying beyond words. Tings even shouted out the drummer at one point, describing him as “a powerhouse”. He wasn’t wrong.

After the ambient intro the song extended (with shaker) into the next track. We then got to the meat of the set. For the most part his house-inflected tunes consisted of thick basslines and delayed arpeggios. For his station Tings was getting dubwise on the controls. He was constantly fiddling with the mixer, adding and subtracting layers of dubbed out synth and deploying regen-drops. He’d also played with the filter on his synth, unleashing warm cascades of sound. For the last leg of his Australian tour, Tings seemed remarkably fresh and energetic. He really started hitting his stride while playing ‘Turn Your Face Towards The Sun’, the track building excellently, stretching the resonance as far he could go. The track Hedonist also crushed with its simple, syncopated bass. Wolf whistles and cries of one-more-song were promptly answered. They ended the night in a big way. The extended, nearly ten-minute long mix went down very well, having bounce while bleepy-bloops came in and out. In my opinion, he definitely saved the best till last.

 Hill Folk