Lindstrom @ Studio B - January 30, 2009

Even though I obviously wrote last week in dance and knew there was so much going on, I was a bit surprised by how much I wound up doing. I started off by hitting Studio B Thursday night for the Fixed party with Lindstrom. The B was full in its own right, but especially for a Thursday. The crowd was happily getting down to a set by JDH & Dave P until around 1 when Lindstrom took the stage. At that point everyone re-focused their attention toward him and proceeded to freak out. Once the crowd quieted after enthusiastically greeting Lindstrom, the Norwegian's spacey, disco grooves took over. While the intensity and pace that built with each track was mirrored in the crowd's frenzied dancing I was still finding the music a bit too mellow to be freaking out to. I really enjoyed it and thought it sounded excellent (especially "I Feel Space") - it just didn't make me have a disco freak-out. C'est la vie.

Evil Nine @ Sullivan Room - January 30, 2009

The following night I went to Sullivan Room to see Evil Nine. I had never been there before and was instantly put in a good mood while waiting in line for coat check when I heard a jungle-y version of the Chemical Brothers' "Block Rockin' Beats". The good vibes continued when I entered the cozy, main room full of people dancing to a set (which I later found was from Sullivan Room residents 2 Damn Cheeky) that wound up being a great, varied mix of both genres and new vs.classic tracks.

After a half an hour or so Evil Nine began their set. It started off strongly and had a few high points that really had everyone moving. However, when those weren't happening I found myself a little bored. As much as I love some of the tracks I recognized like Soulwax's remix of Kids by MGMT, Fake Blood's remix of "Ring Road" by Underworld, and ZZT's "Lower State of Consciousness", I was really hoping their set would include a bit more new stuff to get into. Other than that it was a decent set and I left the venue feeling good about the night...which I thought was over.

I walked over to Love to meet some friends who were about to leave, but when I arrived I "had to hear this guy!". "This guy" was Stacey Pullen, who I slept on, mainly because I didn't get a chance to check out much of his music in depth before his set on Friday. I don't think I can accurately convey how angry I was with myself for not going. By that time of night (around 3:30) many deejays' sets would have been winding down, but Stacey's had no end in sight. According to those there earlier, Stacey's set had a briefly mellow beginning before things quickly shifted toward a set of deep, highly danceable house and techno that you could tell he would have continued playing for hours, had the lights not come up sometime between 4 and 5.

Thankfully Friday night is where the regret ended. The following evening I successfully re-routed some friends visiting from Montreal to Play Hard Social Club which wound up being more of a BS-ing crowd with sporadic random dance outbursts than a full fledged dance party, but it was fun nonetheless! The warehouse space was nice, the music good & loud (predominantly a mix of electro & disco), and the cocktails strong...before I knew it I was here, facing another intense and eclectic mix of electronic/dance parties and events happening this weekend. Here are some ways to get things started off on Friday....

Continue reading "the Friday night in Dance w/ Showtrotta (Little Boots, Lindstrom, Stacey Pullen, Danger, One Man Party...)"

DJ Reid Speed @ Studio B - December 31, 2008 (CRED)

On New Years Eve I ended my two week long dance-less streak, arriving to a very full and fun Studio B whose NYE bash was in full swing at 1am. Sinden was already on, but I didn't really have a chance to get pay attention because I lost my jacket and was spent the first hour I was there looking for it. I temporarily gave up the search so I could hit the floor and attempt to enjoy the music. The timing was great as I was able to catch Jokers' of the Scene's set right from the beginning which was a wonderful, upbeat, thumping, crunchy, well-balanced mix of mostly new stuff - I recognized maybe 5% of their set which is becoming more and more rare.

After Jokers, Reid Speed played a good set that was a lot of fun incorporating some current electro with old favorites (ie Prodigy), some Nintendo samples, and total oddballs (Diddy/whatever he's calling himself now - Bad Boy For Life) which worked surprisingly well. The ridiculous bill for the evening was far from over, but the dj (who I didn't recognize) after Reid's set started playing a lot of Jungle which I wasn't into, so I called it an early night (for New Years Eve anyway).

continued below...

Continue reading "the week in Dance w/ Showtrotta"