by Showtrotta

Does it Offend You, Yeah? @ Webster Hall (more by Chris La Putt)

Hopefully you had a good Labor Day weekend in dance. I started mine off with two great deejay sets at Santos last Thursday night. The first was Pharrell'. It was before 11:30 and he already had the floor getting progressively more packed and moving to a set that was surprisingly more melodic and on the groovy house/slightly discoey side than I expected from one of the Fluo Kids. Around 12:30 33hz played a set. It wasn't the best I've witnessed from them. Their usually fun and pleasant retro-pop jams seemed less lively and sounded fuzzy which I credit largely to a robot voice effect they used on the lead vocals for the entire show. Close to 1:30 Alan Braxe went on and treated the crowd to a set that was the perfect balance of classic and updated French house with tasteful hints of electro. We were having such a good time that I don't remember too many tracks specifically, but a few he played were his and Fred Falke's remix of "Bossy" by Kelis. He teased with, but never fully dropped "Music Sounds Better With You". He played "Lumberjack" by Alan Braxe & Kris Menace, and the banging ending of his set consisted of Soulwax's "E Talking" into "Hung Down" by the Presets (both of whom are touring and will be in NY soon-ish). The whole time Alan was really getting into it - clapping, smiling, etc and the crowd reciprocated, mirroring his enthusiasm as they hit the floor.

For me the weekend wound down from there. Saturday I caught a half hour of Hey Convict!'s set at P.S.1 which was decent and very disco-oriented. I took James Chance and the Contortions' set that followed as an opportunity to get some food and hang out, as even after listening to a few songs, it all just sounded a bit too improvised/noisy to me. By the time it was nearly 7:30, I think I was as excited as I've ever been (or will ever be) to hear Matthew Dear. His set with Ryan Elliott started off much more energetic and banging than when I saw him at One Step Beyond a few months back and for a few moments I was feeling optimistic about the set. Unfortunately that was short-lived as things started to sound too repetitive too quickly. There is also something about the beats and effects in Dear's style of music that sounds very sterile (to me).

On a more positive note, there is plenty going on this week again:

Continue reading "the Thursday night in Dance, 'new' Chemical Brothers"

DOWNLOAD: Pharrell (Fluokids) live set (MP3) (via)

Pharrell (Fluokids), Das Glow, & Guillame (Fluokids) @ La Scala Paris

FIXED TONIGHT WITH BOOKA SHADE

The Fixed Fellas have given us 2 pairs of tix to offer up to you lucky kids to see Berlin's least minimal minimal-tranceologists live tonight at Studio B. Email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Booka) with your best description of Booka Shade's music by 5 pm for a chance to win. Include your full name for list, and we'll email back two winners.

My People Don't Dance No More party at the Vault at Element tomorrow night is now FREE if you rock the cycling theme: a helmet, a little cycling hat, a jersey...spandex on a case by case basis. Prince Language will be our special guest DJ and will be rocking the disco bike party theme.

Check the Early Week in Dance for a full rundown of the weekend in NYC, or if you're going to a festival in the US this weekend, be sure and represent - check out some of the amazing dance bands.

MUSIC

• Palms Out Sounds' Sample Wednesday featuring Daft Punk's "inspirations" is not a bad listen in preparation for next Thursday
• DFA's Death From Abroad label launches this month with releases from Altz + Mock & Toof (upcoming releases from Bo'Tox and Gucci Soundsystem) (check Myspace for samples)
• Swing by Electric Zoo for a ton of Herve and other Switch-y fidget house tracks and remixes
• Mr. Nagy has a Cobblestone Jazz live set up at Devil in the Details

• FACT Magazine's Contemporary Fix is now updated regularly and is a fantastic read
• More FACT Magazine: Bang Gang Deejay's label profile article
• One more FACT: Herve interview
• Ewan Pearson is putting out a 2 CD compilation of his remixes as "Piece Work" on !K7 in September
• If you have been listening to dance music since at least the turn of the century, you probably have a Global Underground compilation hidden away somewhere for posterity's sake. The GU label finally takes it digital only with their next release "Digitized"