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The "talk about your last night out" thread
It seems like despite this place getting a bit old, quite a few TA's are still hitting up parties. Discussion on nights out seems to be very rare though, unless a relevant topic comes up in a different thread. So how about having a thread where we can just post random thoughts on the parties and DJs we've recently witnessed and rave/rant over our experiences last weekend?
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To start things off, I saw a whole bunch of DJs yesterday, most of which I had seen before (except Omar-S). Starting off around noon with Ben Klock, who was surprisingly good, given the last couple of times I saw him he was pretty terrible. It still was quite pushing for the time of the day though and I would have liked him to take some more risks. Then Don Williams and Answer Code Request, two DJs who I rate very highly but played rather average sets and didn't really grab me from what I've heard, although Don Williams played some nice detroit classics near the end.
Then came Omar-S in Panoramabar, who I hadn't seen before and didn't really care about too much to be honest. So I was pretty shocked as to how popular this guy is around here, I doubt you can get more superstar for an "heads-only" act. It felt like half of Berlin's techno/house nerd population came out just to see him. I had to wait almost an hour to get back in the club (with stamp!) after grabbing some food around an hour before his set. I cought a little bit of Kassem Mosse's live, who played a super stripped-down set composed of just super-compressed analog drums and a little fx and loops. He still get an enormous crowd reaction which I fought was quite funny. Omar-S was high as kite the whole time and clearly played to please the crowd. Some stripped down trademark acid house and lots of garage-y 90's house tracks that I'd never heard but apparently everyone else knows (I get that a lot in Pbar) since they prompted hands in the air everywhere when they came in. I thought he was impressive technically, some reasonably well executed crossfader tricks and very short and abrupt transitions that still felt natural and totally made sense. He also played some absolutely ace more melodic cuts that I would die to know. Overall I guess I was impressed and entertained but not blown away, although i'm not a huuge chicago/detroit house fan by any means.
Luke Hess continued and played straight up mid-tempo dubtechno, which is incredibly ballsy in Panoramabar, which is usually dominated by house of the chicago and NY kind. Given the DJs before him I guess it made sense however and the crowd seemed surprisingly up for it. I don't think Hess has the deepest record bag though, he played mostly tracks i'd already hear him play in the club as well as in recorded sets. So I went downstairs for Kr!z, who played what probably was my favorite set of the day. Just incredibly skilled DJing, like you would expect from a guy with major gigs but zero production credits. He played very pushing to please the packed floor but his selection and mixing were super impressive, high energy throughout but still varied and some very well placed classic 90's cuts to round things off. You always know a DJ is good when your feet hurt like hell but you're still dancing hard which was the case with his set.
^ I think we should keep this thread clubbing-only, otherwise we'll never come up with anything music releated 
I like this idea. Reading certain posts on here, I do wonder exactly what music some people are actually going out and hearing.
I went out last weekend to Back To Basics. Non-British readers will probably be only vaguely familiar with the name, but Basics actually holds the world record for the longest continually running club night, a record it would probably be merrily extending if its last home (The Garage, an excellently grimy little club) hadn't unexpectedly lost its license last year. Dave Beer, the infamously debauched promoter, is busy buying and trying to open his own club in Leeds to give Basics a permanent home again, but for now the night is somewhat nomadic and irregular.
In the last month they've thrown two parties at The Wire club in Leeds with just the resident DJs playing, a kind of love-in for the Basics faithful who will turn up without a glitzy headliner. And last weekend's event showed exactly why Back To Basics have managed to put on parties every week since 1991 when every other promoter has jacked it in or gone bust. There is quite frankly no other party I've ever been to that gets it right on every single level as consistently. The crowd are always unpretentious, friendly and completely into the music, with a mixture of old heads, 18 year old students and everyone in between. The resident DJs are all extremely good and often get bigger and better responses from the crowd than the guests. They've even got the friendliest and most efficient in-house dealer you'll ever score from.
The line-up was (from midnight, when we arrived), James Holroyd 12-2, Ralph Lawson 2-4 and James Barnsley until the close. Holroyd was playing feel-good house music from the moment we got there, kicking off peak time with anthemic fare like Kolsch - Der Alte. Nothing too fancy about his set but good energy levels and vibe for that time of night.
Ralph Lawson is probably the only name on the line-up I imagine anyone outside the North of England will have heard of, one of those vaguely-familiar names you might know as the owner of 20:20 Vision and for his Fabric association, which includes an entry into mix series. In Leeds, however, he is an absolute legend, having played the very first record at Basics back in '91 and been a resident ever since, and he brings the same response from the crowd as any headliner DJ. And this is something I've increasingly noticed with clubbing - that often the "big name" DJs don't mix any better or even have better records than the local DJs. What sets them apart is the excitement they generate in a crowd. An international DJ could play the same sequence of records as the resident and the crowd will go three times as nuts for those same records. And this is one of the keys to Basics, why you can turn up at random and it doesn't really matter who the guest is (or why they don't even need a guest), because the crowd often go more nuts for the residents.
It helps, of course, that Lawson is a fucking brilliant DJ who has 20+ years experience playing to this crowd, and he absolutely smashed it to pieces. Some really chunky, driving basslines, some feel-good moments when you wanted them and just a couple of well-placed vocals. There was one track in particular with a huge bassline and just a flutter of multi-tapped vocal pads that had exactly the kind of mid-90s epic house tinge to it to make me go weak at the knees. He also played the Andre Hommen remix of Ane Brun - Let Myself Go, one of only two tunes I could ID all night.
At about 4am James Barnsley came on, and as is expected for the closing stretch of the night, proceeded to bang out some armour-plated tough techy stuff for those with the stamina to stick it out. The night was billed as finishing at 6am but by 6 the club, which had been rammed all night, was still 1/3rd full, so things went on. Just after 6 he played a couple of really lush Detroit tracks which I thought was going to be a perfect way to mellow out a hard set and close the night, but then he went back into the thumping tech. Apparently it went on for another hour but we went home at about 6.15am.
Altogether though, it was a solid 6 hours of top quality house music. Dave Beer was constantly on the mic slurring about how he had the best crowd in the country in front of him, the crowd had grins plastered across their faces through-out; it was all one glorious homage to one of house music's great institutions. My only complaint is with the soundsystem at The Wire. It's an otherwise great club - about 500 capacity with a low ceiling and bare brick arches and a nice underground feel, but the soundsystem is utter gash. It's prominently billed on every Wire flyer as being a Funktion 1 but the higher end is just really noisy and muddy and the whole system seems underpowered, so they inevitably crank it up really fucking loud and the high-end just deafens you. The next day my ears were still ringing when I woke up, which I really hate. That is the kind of soundsystem that ends up giving you permanent hearing damage.
Anyway I'll be out at Basics again this weekend (thankfully at a different venue), as they have Andrew Weatherall booked for a six hour set. I'll report back here afterwards.
Roger Sanchez this past Saturday at Hacienda, which is arguably the best sound system/lounge'esque venue in Philly right now. From what I heard prior to the Event, Roger is known for using 3 or 4 decks. I wasnt gawking near the booth at all so I can't say to what extent he was getting tricky. He played a good, not great selection of house music and a little bit of techy material as well. There were definitely some big transitional moments and some housey classics with a 90's vibe dropped in his set. The best part about the night for me was not his music, but rather the crowd that he drew. Bboys, house heads, SMOKIN hot babes. As soon as Sanchez took the decks a dance circle formed in the middle of the floor and persisted for about 10 or 15 minutes. I really miss those circles, they were the lifeblood of NYC clubbing back in the day and I just dont see it happen that often anymore in NY or Philly. 4 out of 5 stars on Roger's set and a 5 star crowd. Great night.
This was played around 3am, and went over very well with the ladies.
Great idea for a post!
Last week, I went to Fabric for the third night of their '15th Birthday' weekend. Very much enjoyed Levon Vincent's whole set, which was as great as expected, then heard about 30 minutes of Ben UFO. Nice, solid stuff, but the girl I was with wasn't enjoying it as much, as it was a bit too harsh for her. Bit of a shame, but we went to the main room after that, where I'm not sure who was playing. It was decent music-wise, but the crowd was annoying, as one would expect. Tons of university kids wearing sunglasses, multiple people coming up and asking if I wanted to buy molly, etc. Around 3am we gave up and called it a night, since we had class the next day at 9. As much as I think it's ridiculous one has to be 21 to drink in America, it does a good job of keeping annoying kids out of venues. Still, it was great to finally see Levon Vincent life. Definitely enjoyed that a lot!
Saw Klock at the weekend - he was very good and played some really hard techno, really sounded like old German techno from yesteryear
3 plus hours of that is just too much for me these days but i enjoyed it as much as i could
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| Originally posted by SYSTEM-J The next day my ears were still ringing when I woke up, which I really hate. That is the kind of soundsystem that ends up giving you permanent hearing damage. |
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| Originally posted by evo8 hope you are wearing earplugs when you go out clubbing |
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| Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Anyway I'll be out at Basics again this weekend (thankfully at a different venue), as they have Andrew Weatherall booked for a six hour set. |
That will be super happy fun times
saw Virginia about a week and a half ago at Stereo in Montreal. Best club in the country and probably top 5 or at least top 10 in the world. The club itself is quite simple, basically just one big room. So you can never quite have an adventure in there like some other clubs that are more elaborately constructed, but it's pretty much all about the sound system and the dacne floor, and on that front, it might just be the very best in the world.
So the night started at the basement club Stereobar where I'm also a resident DJ. The club's main resident was playing his monthly all-night set there and the music was definitely very solid but never quite picked up past the point of an opening set. It was definitely a very well-sustained vibe, but he never really set the crowd off in any way. That's fine I suppose, as I think he was mindful of the fact that a lot of people would later head upstairs to the main room, to dance the rest of the night (and morning) away.
So this night was a bit extra special for me and my friends as it was that first time that one of our close friends was playing there. It should be noted, that in Montreal, playing at Stereo is the ultimate gig, and quite an accomplishment. As a DJ, there is a definite sense of "having made it" when you are booked to play there. So we were all quite happy and excited for him. The thing is that another DJ was originally set to play that night, Ukraine's Nastia. Unfortunately Nastia couldn't make it due to immigration issues, which left just my friend and Virginia on the bill. The problem is, my friend was not at all familiar with Virginia (he hadn't even heard of her prior). As such, while his music would have been a good fit for Nastia, it wasn't really a fit for Virginia. While she plays more rooted drum machine-based house and housy techno, he plays really the more linear, minimal sort of tech house. So while it was not out of place in a general sense, it didn't quite suit Virginia's style. To top it off, we were all quite disappointed that he chose to play a lot of MP3's that night, which simply did not sound good in there, at all. All in all, we were left with the feeling that while it was nice for him to receive the opportunity to play there, he was not ready for that gig. Don't get me wrong, his mixing and flow were on point, but he was lacking in other areas.
Anyway, Virginia eventually came on and impressed us all. Such a humble person. I went up to her mid-set, proclaiming "this is the real Panorama bar sound!" to which she smiled. She played for 3 hours a very tight set that left a lasting impression. Eventually my friend came back on but just could not measure up, unfortunately.
All in all it was a good night though that started around midnight and lasted approximately 8.5 hours.
Since I am playing quite a lot these days, many of the nights I attend now are ones where I'm also playing. So this Friday there will be a big, 1,000+ person Halloween party and I am playing in between Swayzak and Zadig. Excited for that 
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| Originally posted by chris1011 That will be super happy fun times |
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| Originally posted by SYSTEM-J I generally believe that a good soundsystem doesn't do too much damage and that you can feel when a soundsystem is knackering your ears. I have even walked out of clubs before if the sound system is painful to listen to, but if the music's really good I'll take it. |
This is gonna make me the laughing stock of MD but my last night out was none other than Group Therapy 100 at MSG. I know, I know. But every now and then I get a hankering for some trance, and A&B are some of my favorite producers in the genre (plus are cool blokes). Though of course Anjunadeep is much much much more my cup of tea. Anyways, the show took place at Madison Square Garden, which is more well-known for being the home of the Knicks and Rangers. And I had seats, they were in the 200s, near the nosebleed section, which is weird when you're used to being front and center in the middle of a crowd at these events. It was my girlfriend's first major electronic music related event, apart from the times I took her to see fellow TA Blueshift perform locally. She was just glad that we had seats since she wasn't excited at the prospect of standing for 7 hours :P So anyways, while it felt weird being a bit disconnected from the action, it was still pretty cool. It started with a deep house/progressive set from Tony McGuiness, pretty much what you'd expect from an A&B themed deeper set... Then Ilan Bluestone came to perform. To be honest I was absolutely blown away by his track "Big Ben", it was one of the more unique trance tracks of the past few years. He finished up with said track, but before then there were a lot of other of his productions. Can't really find fault with his set. Next up was Andrew Bayer, his stuff veered a bit towards the EDM/electro-trance side of things. Wasn't terribly enthused by it but it was certainly listenable. Next up was Mat Zo, and he stole the show. He played everything from funky French-influenced house, tech bangers, classic big-room trance. It felt fresh and very different from what you'd usually expect from an Anjunabeats-themed show. Then finally came A&B. The light show and visuals were of course the best during their performance, and they played all of their big hits (a remix of Sun and Moon, Thing Called Love, Blue Sky Action) and some stuff from their new album. The biggest surprises were a remix of Salva Mea by Faithless and Totem by Ansolo. Overall quite the show, I had a great time.
And the night before ABGT100 I went to Miku Expo NY. What is that you may ask? It's a concert featuring hologram "vocaloids", basically mascots for text-to-voice software. Think William Gibson's "Idoru" in real life. It was certainly very surreal but absolutely amazing, as someone who loves both cyberpunk technology and anime. All of the major vocaloids were there, including my personal favorite Megurine Luka. And a lot of the songs were recognizable from the Project Diva series of rhythm games for PS3/PSP/Vita. I took 2 of my friends and they were both absolutely blown away by the performance...
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| Originally posted by SYSTEM-J No I don't, and I know I really should. Generally my ears feel okay after a night out and I don't think my hearing has deteriorated that much after 8 years or so of clubbing. I still have my MP3 player on the same volume, and the same with my laptop, and I've had both for 5-6 years. Given that I've got a few mates who now have tinnitus or hearing problems from clubbing and DJing I'm not doing too badly. I generally believe that a good soundsystem doesn't do too much damage and that you can feel when a soundsystem is knackering your ears. I have even walked out of clubs before if the sound system is painful to listen to, but if the music's really good I'll take it. |
My last night out was.... DVS1 on a roof in Atlanta which was cool. Small crowd, small sound system. Somehow the promoter managed to score a loft space with a large outdoor patio on top of this really old apartment building in downtown Atlanta. The building is right next to the Fox Theater, so pretty much situated right south of midtown with a really gorgeous view, especially as the sun was setting.
When we first arrived the openers were playing typical of Atlanta local DJs: churning ket-tech-house. They're not necessarily bad DJs, but a lot of the locals here just do not impress me. They don't know how to open, and their sets end up sounding the same to me.
DVS1 came on right as the sun was going down, and he took it more into dark, throbbing techno territory which I'm really into. The soundsystem was pretty meh, but as I said, it was a pretty DIY party. The inside area of the loft had a TV with college football going, which seemed to be a big draw for a lot of people looking to take a breather. Bathrooms were annoying as there was only 1 for about 100+ people and people kept going in there two at a time to snort their jollies (this shit bothers me to no end, I have to fucking piss, come on).
Overall, a lot of fun, but I'm just not really enthused by the local Atlanta scene much. I missed Theo Parrish last weekend which I'm pissed about but my ears have been stuffy after having a cold last week so I've been resting them.
Some pics too, which I hope is ok since this wasn't some authoritarian art-club:
Jack, please wear hearing protection! Basic stuff is really cheap, just got a new pair of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Rese...words=etymotics
I'm genuinely touched that you care about my hearing, but... there's no way it sounds as good with earplugs, is there? Dance music is really all about the visceral punch of the music being played really loudly, and wearing ear-plugs is just going to dull that.
I understand the argument that it only takes one DJ or incident to really damage your ears (I've heard some horror stories), but I'd like to think I'm switched on about when things are becoming dangerous. I even left a bar that was showing England - Uruguay during the World Cup because they'd put the TV's sound through the gig room PA and it was coming out extremely sharp and piercing. I spent the first half with my fingers in my ears and when England were losing at half-time I thought "I'm not damaging my hearing to watch this sorry shit" and went. The same thing when I saw Fuck Buttons (and special mention to dark ambient cunt Haxan Cloak who warmed up with ear-splitting white noise) - too loud, bad soundsystem, left halfway through after keeping fingers in ears throughout.
My tinnitus and hyperacusis literally happened over night back in the year 2002. One dumbfuck dj at a philly club who I swear to god was deaf...cranking on the highs and I was too young and dumb to care. Woke up and my ears were super sensitive and ringing for months after that. It really sucked. I kinda want to punch that dude in the face now that I think about it.
Yeah, I mean if you're aware of it that's one thing, I'm just overly sensitive to this stuff. I've had tinnitus as long as I can remember so I'm just trying to mitigate whatever further damage I may be doing.
Honestly though, if you get some plugs similar to the etys which seek to reduce decibels clearly across all frequencies, they actually sound quite good. To be honest I prefer going to shows with plugs in, I can hear people speak more clearly, and my ears feel great after leaving. I never really feel like I'm missing the punch or oomph or anything like that, but if the sound system is quiet I generally wont use them. That said, a lot of sound systems here in Atlanta are sorta garbage, so the highs tend to be loud and shrieking, which is definitely where the most damage comes from, frequency-wise. Brendon Moeller was here several months ago and even with plugs in it was still sorta shrill and hurt a bit. I ended up leaving early.
It's important to remember that hearing damage from loud decibels is cumulative (generally it's considered 85dbs for 8 hours a day is "safe" and above that it starts getting more dangerous pretty rapidly). People do have different sensitivities to it though, some people can go out constantly without protection and be fine, others aren't so lucky.
After going to my first few concerts and shows and noticing the muffled hearing and ringing after, I went ahead and started wearing plugs.
Without derailing this thread too much further, Enydo, System-J, did either of you guys have a history of ear infections or did you get "tubes" in your ears to facilitate drainage? I often wonder if I was predisposed to have problems before I ever set foot in a venue.
I didn't have many ear infections as a kid (my mom has told me she can't remember me having any) but I do have issues with my eustachian tubes not equalizing my middle ear properly. Actually currently dealing with that right now, it flares up pretty badly after I get a head cold or something like that. My jaw is all sorts of fucked and my wisdom teeth are impacted and my doctors told me that's probably why I have so many issues.
Doctors have seen fluid in there a couple times but not enough to warrant any concern, and I've never had any sort of pain or infection type symptoms.
I haven't had an ear infection since I was four years old.
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| Originally posted by evo8 the thing about it just takes one shitty soundsystem on just one night out, when you least expect it..... agree with what you are saying about good soundsystems - i remember ones where the music was loud as fuck but you could talk at almost normal conversation levels on the dance floor |
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| Originally posted by Guest Without derailing this thread too much further, Enydo, System-J, did either of you guys have a history of ear infections or did you get "tubes" in your ears to facilitate drainage? I often wonder if I was predisposed to have problems before I ever set foot in a venue. |
After going to Ministry of Sound a month ago my ears were ringing for three days straight. Pretty sure I did some permanent damage, then, and I'm not happy with my drunk self for doing so. Thankfully things seem to be okay, now, but I definitely thought about getting earplugs after that.
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