New Year’s Eve in Sydney tends to be a mighty decadent romp. Once the adrenaline (and whatever else) kicks in, there’s no telling how long one’s good-time appetite might last.
That said, it’s wise to get out of the throbbing CBD before the break of day, or else be exposed to the mess you’ve made. Luckily, this New Year’s morning Spice Afloat returns for its ninth year. Simply put, the venerable folks at The Spice Cellar will host a sunrise cruise through Sydney Harbour, which is certain to assure you life is indeed beautiful.
However, it’s not a sleepy boat ride designed to let you re-identify your own reflection. Rather, Spice have thrown together a wicked lineup of underground European and local DJs. At the top of the bill are UK funksters Space Dimension Controller and Trus’me, alongside German house titans Niko Schwind and Oliver Koletzki. This will be Schwind’s third visit to the country, so he’s already familiar with Sydney’s leading electronic music enterprise.
“Every tour I play at Spice Cellar,” he says. “I think it’s one of the best clubs in Australia. It’s a nice atmosphere, the people are nice and the club’s nice.”
Schwind and Koletzki are longtime affiliates; Schwind is signed to Koletzki’s Stil vor Talent label and they occasionally contribute to each other’s studio work. But this upcoming Australian visit marks the first time they’ll explore their collaborative synergy in a live setting.
“We started to produce tracks in September and we’ll play our first gig in Australia,” Schwind says. “We will play live – a live act. Oliver will play all of the harmonies live and I have to do the arrangement stuff in Ableton.”
A few months prior to kick-starting the project with Koletzki, Schwind dropped his third solo LP, Grippin’ World. Over the last decade, the young Berliner has demonstrated a thorough grasp of deep house music. He’s clearly picked up a thing or two from the Chicago house masters, but he’s not afraid to integrate sounds from various other disciplines. For instance, a selection of Grippin’ World tracks feature hooky vocal melodies, contributed by Heartbeat and Lil Magdalene.
“There were a little bit more poppy songs,” he says, “but I don’t want to produce just poppy songs, because it’s not my main intention. I tried on the album to show different sides. Other tracks are more house-y, another track is a little bit more garage-y.”
Since the early ’90s, Schwind’s home city of Berlin has been regarded as the techno capital of the world. But just like Sydney doesn’t merely specialise in opera, the German capital is rife with music of all sorts. “I think you get nearly every style in Berlin,” Schwind says. “You have a lot of different crews in Berlin who make a different sound. For example, there’s people more focused on disco and house and there’s the Berghain and Panorama Bar if you want more techno.
“For a DJ you can nearly play everything,” he adds, “because it’s really influenced from different styles of music at the moment. You have still a little bit [of] minimal influence, you have still the deep house touch and now it’s getting more tech-y again.”
With such a broad palette to dip into, Schwind and Koletzki’s Spice Afloat appearance is sure to allay any worries about the burning reality of a brand new year.
“I’m really looking forward to being in Australia in summer and of course to play on the boat will be fun,” Schwind says. “It will be a groovy, danceable set.”
Niko is playing on the Spice Afloat New Year Sunrise Cruise alongside Space Dimension Controller, Trus’me, Oliver Koletzki, Fantastic Man, Murat Kilic and more on Thursday January 1. Tickets are available here.
