Contort Yourself with Ciel & Mr. Ho

Contort Yourself returns to the town hall, Echo & Bounce, for another crazy Friday! As usual, going full throttle. This time we've got two of our all time favs, Mr. Ho & Ciel, alongside one of our favourite locals, who we've been plotting and scheming to get on board for a while; Felix!

Starting off in the courtyard, the party then moves to the loft where Felix, Ciel and Mr. Ho will take us deep into the night. This one is gonna be massive!

Introducing our artists

Ciel

CIel has been operating for quite some time as a member of the greater Canadian Dance Ecosystem™, and is quietly one of the most accomplished artists to ever emerge for the Great White North. Whether it be through her many excellent releases on labels such as Peach Discs, Planet Euphorique and !K7, her co-curation of the excellent label Parallel Minds and firm commitment to the DIY cities of her native Toronto, or her involvement with the legendary Discwoman collective, Ciel is a strong role model for what it is to be a modern artist. 

Sonically, she is difficult to pin down, but operates within a lysergic, house-centric realm full of tech rollers, cheeky trance, sleek New York vibes and much more. This is all held together by a dreamy, distinctly femme atmosphere that we cannot get enough of! We cannot wait to see what she has in store for us!

Mr. Ho

Hong Kong-based Mr. Ho specialises in after-hours grooves and bleepy, laidback breaks, disco and house. Alongside a slew of releases on his own “Klasse Wrecks” imprint, Mr Ho has also contributed releases to legendary record labels 禁 JIN and Neubau Vienna.
Klasse Wrecks

Mr. Ho runs Hong Kong imprint Klasse Wrecks alongside Luca Lozano. Operating for over ten years now, the label has released music from an array of heavy hitters, such as Roza Terenzi and FJAAK. If you’ve frequented the bins at Echo and Bounce, especially in the early days (anyone remember Winn Lane?), you’ve probably stumbled upon a Klasse Wreck and given it a spin.
Boasting an impressive roster, the label are also responsible for putting out some of our personal favs, issuing deeps cuts from the likes of Privacy, Johanna Knutsson and Marco Bernadi over the years.

Aunty Stan & Felix

On support we have local heavy-hitters Aunty Stan & Felix. 

Based further south, on Yugambeh land, Felix is an act we've been keen to bring on board for a minute. A rising star in the Gold Coast dance scene, Felix has shared stages with a number of Contort favourites, such as Nice Girl, Eden Burns and Hashman Deejay! 

Glad we managed to tee it up, and extremely excited to have Felix and Stan onboard!


Exhibit: Year in Retrospect


From 6 to 8pm, join us in the loft for the soft launch of our publication: "Year in Retrospect"! We'll be exhibiting a tonne of material from our forthcoming zine up in the loft; like an art show I guess?

The retrospective publication features unseen and classic images from the Contort visual world, photos and write-ups from our besties/club photographers Katy Chan Dyer & Chris Love, extended artist write-ups and other fun Contort Yourself shit!

Important Information

Contort Yourself exists so we can all have a safe space to get twisted, at our own leisure. We want to reiterate that our events exist as a queer space where everyone is welcome. We recognise the need for an action plan and will have a team on the night working door and moving through the venue to ensure a comfortable night for everyone. If there is anything that bothers you or needs attention, do not hesitate to reach out to Logan, Jo, Angie, our door staff or any of the Refuge staff.

We are so excited to be collaborating with echo&bounce to make this happen. Please respect this space which is so crucial to our community. We want to remind our guests that the venue is fully licensed with a bar (so please don't BYO)! For this particular event, we ask that you please enter the venue via Jacob Lane (the courtyard). 

As settlers operating on stolen land, the need for us to show up, support and listen to our first nations populations has never been more urgent. To this day, we continue to live under the colony of so called Australia. We need to challenge our notion that representation is enough and instead focus on returning systemic power to first nations groups in our communities. Amplify black voices, do not speak over them. 

We want to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we will gather, the Yuggerah and Turrbal people of Meanjin. Our events take place on stolen land. We recognise and pay respect to elder’s past, present and emerging. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. Always was, always will be.