by Showtrotta

Cut Copy @ Webster Hall - September 21, 2008 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Thursday I hit Santos for one of the Ete d'Amour parties I'd been looking forward to since the initial schedule was announced - Busy P & DJ Mehdi. Having seen Busy P and DJ Mehdi spin on multiple occasions, plus months of anticipation, still did not prepare me for Thursday night. Their sets crushed my expectations, going far beyond what I imagined. From the super fresh, to 'oldies but goodies', their individual sets had it all, but the real magic happened when the pair shared deejay duties - trading off every other track for one of the most unique, highly danceable, fun sets I've experienced this year. You can read more about the night here.

I really didn't want to do it (especially with Sinden deejaying at Love on Saturday - anyone go? how was it?), but I took the next two nights off from dancing. Then Sunday night I ventured out earlier than I've gotten used to, to see the Presets and Cut Copy at Webster Hall. The Presets took the stage around 9, beginning their set with "Talk Like That" with Kim's thunderous drumming reminding me of Soulwax's show at Irving Plaza last month for just a fleeting second. Much to the crowd's delight, he and Julian delivered about an hour of pounding (in a good way) dance music, most of which even I (not the biggest Presets fan) was able to enjoy.

Around 10:30 Cut Copy began what was to be an hour long, electrifying set with "Visions" followed by "Nobody Lost, Nobody Found" - the two songs that begin their most recent album In Ghost Colours. From there they played plenty of material from both that album as well as Bright Like Neon Love, whipping the crowd into a frenzy that resulted in happy faces and a bouncy Webster Hall floor as everyone jumped with glee to the Australian trio's upbeat tracks. You can check out the rest of what they played as well as some more great photos here.

As great as I always feel after dancing around at a Cut Copy show, there is something really beautiful and poignant about some of their lyrics that always seem to make the experience more emotionally involving than a straight-up, banging deejay set. One very poignant moment during the show, probably lost to those unaware of her passing, was the band's dedication of their last song, "Hearts on Fire" to Nagi (Noda), the young Japanese director responsible for the music video (the last she worked on) for that song. While I only recently became familiar with her work, it's always sad to see someone so young and creative leave our world so quickly...

As is basically the norm at this point, we're in for another very eventful weekend dance-wise in New York. Things get started tonight (Thursday, Sept 25th), with quite a bit going on from which to choose:

Continue reading "a Cut Copy/Presets review & the Thursday night in Dance"

Santos Party House now has tickets on Ticketweb. That includes the upcoming Black Kids show. A full listing of upcoming events at Santos is below...

Continue reading "Supermayer, Busy P, DJ Medhi, Moby, Free Blood, Black Kids & other Santos Party House events - some with advanced tix"