Despite only laying on infrequent visits to Wire, Pretty Pretty Good have established a reputation for serving up brilliant, sweaty nights. This visit, headlined by the Berlin-based Palms Trax, was no different. Considering the night was hosted on a freezing Wednesday, the event was hotly anticipated. Long queues swamped Wire’s tiny staircase with those turned away at the doors so keen for entry they were offering far over face value for a ticket. It’s clear that people were desperate to go and the event which followed proved why. Billed as a techno night, Palms Trax played mostly Detroit techno and house, but also threw in Italo house tunes and even a couple of bassline tracks that got a great response. There was some disco, acid house, Balearic, and funk as well, over the top of the obligatory woody, thumping kick drum. For those unaware, Palms Trax is a DJ and producer who rose to fame with his EP ‘Equation’, released in 2013. He’s currently touring, having touched down for another PPG event in Sheffield the night prior. The next time to catch him in the north is at Warehouse Project’s upcoming Dekmantel event, an event already creating a huge degree of anticipation.

Despite the overall genre of music being techno, there were a myriad of other elements. Bubbling old school acid house 303 synthesisers mingled with staccato piano chords, and even a couple of a tracks bucked the trend with the inclusion of vocals. This was all delivered from Wire’s supremely fantastic sound system. Usually you don’t notice sound quality too much at events like these but Wire’s is a cut above the rest. The low ceiling and fairly narrow room meant that the sound hit you in the gut and kept going. This, coupled with the copious amount of dry ice and moving strip lights, meant Palms Trax set was an intense and thrilling experience. Here’s to hoping he returns to Leeds in the near future.

Will Ainsley

Image Credits: James Reilly Photography