DOWNLOAD: Jody Wisternoff - Way Out There, 1/20/09 (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jody Wisternoff - Way Out There, 12/16/08 (MP3)

Housemeister @ Bowery Ballroom - January 24, 2009

I thought the Valerie Collective at Webster Hall last Friday would be nearly impossible to top, but Saturday proved different. The typically rocking Bowery Ballroom had gone rave for the night. Bowery's usual head-nodding, foot tapping crowd was nowhere in sight and upon entering the front of the sparsely filled ballroom it was like seeing a mirage: a range of people from teens to late 30's, wearing everything from brightly colored shorts and tights, tie dyed capes, matching striped hoodies, and nylon LA Gear Jumpsuits...all getting down (on a much too well lit, and nowhere close to being crowded dancefloor) just minutes into the evening! In addition to the crowd seeming very rave-ready to begin with, Housemeister played an absolutely great opening set...very techy/techno-ey in the vein of Boys Noize and totally fresh. He included many of his own remixes, a lot of tracks I didn't know, and some great current stuff (aka Oizo's "Positif") that had everyone accordingly losing it: Vous êtes des animaux indeed.

You could tell the crowd was eagerly anticipating Modeselektor's set by their hysterical reaction to Gernot Bronsert & Sebastian Szary's brief visits to the stage to show support for Housemeister prior to their set. By the time Modeselektor finally did take the stage (just before midnight), the crowd went absolutely berserk as they opened with "The Dark Side Of The Sun". As the show progressed the pair's energy and antics only fueled the crowd further in much the same way as the past two times I saw them. Modeselektor's lip syncing to their remix of Bjork's "Dull Flame of Desire" garnered a great reaction from the crowd as did track after track which included one of my favorites, "2000007" (featuring French rap group TTC) among others.

Modeselektor @ Bowery Ballroom - January 24, 2009 (more by Zach Dilgard)

By the last 20 minutes of the set everyone was in an absolute frenzy that seemed to be at its peak, at which point Modeselektor voiced a robotic sounding request for champagne - the show was far from over. Moments later a very pleasant hell broke loose as the crowd shifted forward in the hopes of being sprayed. The music and dancing continued on as this happened not once, but twice! The inflation of a huge ape balloon followed, as did the sudden and very unexpected presence of a man in a chicken suit along with a butcher (complete with a real pig's head - ew!) who repeatedly showered the crowd and the stage with feathers. Modeselektor's excellent show ended infinitely more fun and bizzarely than it had started.

As much fun as I had, I didn't really get to bask in the Modeselektor afterglow as I was racing down to Santos in the hopes of catching Tortured Soul perform at Mister Saturday Night. Thankfully I managed to get there, check my coat, find my friends, and only miss the first two songs of their performance. After witnessing a great show from them last March, but being too exhausted to actually dance, it was awesome to finally see the three-piece, live Brooklyn house band again. They were in top form and had everyone in Santos' packed, main room was getting down from the second they dropped "Fall In Love" early in their set, right until the very end. The dancing didn't stop there as Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter seamlessly eased into their set with Metro Area's "Caught Up" just as Tortured Soul finished and proceeded to keep everyone moving with a great mix of melodic and danceable tunes. Both the upstairs & downstairs of Santos were as packed as ever with people who were there to dance...and Mister Saturday Night proved to be an excellent new way to do it.

Unfortunately this is the first weekend since it started that no Mr. Saturday Night party is happening, but there are many other excellent ways to get down this weekend & get started next week. Here's what's happening starting with Saturday (1/31)...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta"