Upon entering one of Melbourne’s more illustrious live venues, The Forum, my first impression of Sugar Mountain festival is 'wow'. Not so much 'wow' in terms of a complete transformation of the venue, which I had kind of been expecting, but more so the wonderful vibe and the amazingly gorgeous flock of girls and boys. Sugar Mountain sure looks to have captured the imagination of Melbourne’s hippest folk.

The Sugar Mountain press release billed it as an event to “celebrate the diverse creative forms of music and visual art, with a focus on the natural meeting points between”. This proclamation might have been true for the arts savvy punter, searching for something other than the plethora of music on offer, otherwise the small dedicated arts section on the mezzanine didn’t seem to be much of a lure to the passerby. The music was surely the main attraction anyway, so let’s get to it.

Yellow Fever (www.myspace.com/yellerfever/music) start 15 minutes late due some technical difficulties, but once they’re up and running they deliver a sound that belies their two-piece minimalistic approach. The art-pop duo from Austin, Texas (USA) deliver a tight set, highlighted by “Bermuda Triangle” and “Cats and Rats”, but are abruptly cut short after only five songs. The technical difficulties appear to have come back to haunt the group as the stage manager signals their time is up. What a shame.

I soon work out the format of the main stage; 30 minute sets followed by 30 minutes of set up for the next band... So, with 30 minutes to spare I head off to see what else was on offer.

The second and only other stage was located on the upper level of the venue, and being a theatre, it offered an intimate sit down vibe where Gaudy Romp feat. Footy and Lochie Bradfield served up a unique offering of big screen moving images, soundtracked by live instrumentation. The visceral sounds delivered by the live drums and two pianos created a sense of tension in the air, as audience members were exposed to an intense mix of imagery featuring nudity, cock fighting, aboriginal elders, vast deserts, children wrestling, and everything in between. It almost felt like being part of a real life horror movie.

Following on from this, it was time to head back to the main stage for some local Melbourne flavour, as Rat vs Possum arrive with all guns blazing. The five-piece appear in a sea of synths and laptops as they laid down their own brand of tribal-electro. Second track, “Pills”, had the crowd dancing and chanting along to “I think I love you but it might just be the pills”, whilst the back-and-forth female and male vocals worked a treat on tracks like “War”. The band used some interesting props during the set, with front woman Daphne Shum playing drums with a random Doc Martin shoe found on stage, all while the squawk from a rubber chicken was used to open the final song of the set. Not having seen the band live before, the all out aural assault on my eardrums was a pleasant surprise, none more so than during “Animals” when four of the band members were pounding drums at the same time.

As a sidenote, you can download a copy of Rat vs Possum’s debut album, Daughter of Sunshine, on a "name your price" basis (read free) here: http://ratvspossum.bandcamp.com

Hailing from Vancouver (Canada), No Kids (www.myspace.com/nokidsband) serve up a tasty treat of chill-wave, which can only be described as dreamy. “For Halloween” arrives three songs in, and it’s at this point I sensed a melting of the collective female hearts - singer/songwriter Nick Krgovich is one smooth dude. It’s obvious that the ladies love No Kids (insert your own joke here). The visual art on the big screen behind the band was matched perfectly with the music, as visions of psychedelic coloured trees blended well with the velvet-y arrangements favoured by the band.

As day turned into night, it was with great anticipation that Young Magic took to the main stage. Fronted by Isaac Emmanuel, a New York based Aussie, the band is riding high after recently inking a deal with well-regarded US label Carpark Records. Young Magic opens with a frenzy of noise, as two electronic drum pads were being bashed to within an inch of their life. The first thing that grabbed me was how good the four-piece looked – they certainly have the winning combination of good looks and killer tunes to boot. The excitement reached fever pitch as “Sparkly”, taken from the band’s recent double A-side single (You With Air / Sparkly), exploded with thundering drums and haunting vocals, creating a lush wall of atmospheric sounds.

As the band was midway through “You With Air”, I saw a noteworthy correlation between the soaring vocals of the Young Magic frontman and another experimental Australian artist, Goyte. The comparison is especially relevant given the visual aesthetic that is so prominent in both artists’ performances. It must be said the band's arrangements are well suited to the venue. Their penchant for starting songs with stark minimalism and then progressively building to an explosive climax sits well with the brilliant acoustics of The Forum - it was a stomping performance.

Young Magic are also offering a download of their debut single, You With Air / Sparkly, on a "name your price" basis: http://youngmagic.bandcamp.com

After such an explosive performance, it was time to head upstairs to chill out to the sounds of blues outfit Brous. Sultry lead vocalist Sophia Brous (www.myspace.com/sophiabrous) leads the band through a collection of new age blues tracks that would make BB King smile. The tunes have substance, but apart from the frontwoman, the band doesn't have style. Sophia must normally be a solo artist, because rarely have I seen such a mismatched band working together. Sophia was dressed in an evening gown fit to walk on stage at any of New York’s finest blues clubs, whereas the rest of the band where decked out like they’d just walked off stage from playing a gig with Tame Impala. “The Lodger” was a highlight, with its haunting echo effects on the chorus’ vocals; I still have the “woo-ooh-oooh” in my head.

Galapagoose, the moniker of Melbourne’s Trent Gill (also a member of Young Magic), was next on the main stage. It was awe inspiring to see the master beatmaker/programmer in action. The man is insanely talented on the drum pads, and can make some incredible sounds with the samples used.

QUA (www.myspace.com/quamusic), another act native to Melbourne, keeps the electronic good times rolling. The first few tracks are blasted out solo with a laptop at hand, before being joined by Ritmo Giallo Ensemble – dubbed as “a fleet of drummers, composed of some of Melbourne’s finest percussionists”. You could say shit got wild with the addition of four drummers! The progressive nature of the tracks were perfect for a crowd who had been so eager to dance all day and night. The build-‘em-up then knock-‘em-down approach worked wonders as the audience lapped the heavy blasts of danceable techno.

Upon hearing good things about New Zealand’s Coolies (www.myspace.com/thecoolies), I quickly ducked upstairs to catch some of their set on the other stage. The raw punk energy was a nice change of pace when compared to the electronic vibes displayed by a majority of the acts on the bill. The visceral howl of the dual front women on “Ghostbaby” was impressive – the girls can rock out with the best of them.

Headliners Virgo Four (www.facebook.com/virgo4) were who the crowd had come to see. Merwyn Sanders and Eric Lewis, Chicago’s (USA) finest purveyors of house music, have been in the game for a minute now. The dance music veterans put together a smooth as hell performance, backed by an unrelenting will to make the crowd get down. Front man Merwyn Sanders asked the crowd “Y’all ready to take a ride?” as the duo fittingly worked their way into “Ride” from their seminal 1989 release, Virgo. Egged on by Eric Lewis’ old school playa dance moves the crowd was in raptures as the dance floor was ablaze with people cutting shapes. Make no mistake, the deep house grooves of these cool cats made everyone’s day.

Following on the main stage were Brooklyn’s (USA) Aa - pronounced "Big A Little A" (www.myspace.com/alittlea). The first noticeable thing about this intense trio is the huge sound they manage to generate. Considering they played The Workers Club the night before, which is a very intimate setting compared to The Forum, it’s surprising that the roof wasn’t blown off the place. Comparisons to Nine Inch Nails are justified, as the combination of industrial noise and electronica mold together to create a powerful live experience. Aa utilise the visual and lighting aspects of their performance better than any other band at the festival - just as it appeared a song was about to end, the sound and vision exploded to make your heart skip a beat. The group pride themselves on combining different styles to make songs that rarely sound the same. In mixing elements of thrash, industrial, electronica and hip hop, they’ve certainly achieved what they set out to do.

Overall, the idea behind Sugar Mountain is fantastic, and the organisers have managed to do a great job in its first year – one can only imagine the involvement that goes into such things. The underground acts coming together in a venue such as The Forum made for a brilliant setting, and it is exciting to think what the organisers will have in store for us next year.

Things I liked: No dickheads! The event was practically free from your usual ’15-drinks-falling-over-themselves-drunk’ bogans. It was a great crowd that appreciated the music and looked after each other whilst dancing the night away.

Things I didn’t like: No food at an all day festival that runs from 2pm until 1am is a little ridiculous - pass-outs were available but seriously, there should’ve been food other than potato chips on offer. Also, $8 was the minimum for a bottle of beer - I thought this was Sugar Mountain, not Big Day Out!

Granted, these are first year teething problems which can be ironed out, but with the over saturation of music festivals on the calendar, basic mistakes such as this can affect repeat business in subsequent years.