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-- Ni-Cd's Review: D-Formation @ Hotel May 2007

Ni-Cd's Review: D-Formation @ Hotel May 2007

Great to see so many TranceAddicts out at this event; always enjoy meeting new people, and finding out what brought them to the scene and why they love it so much.

I recall quite vividly the first time I ever heard a d-formation set. It was in response to a thread on HouseAddict.com where Witchdoctor posted a comment about a posted set in the famed download thread (maintained by HouseAddict's Digital--one of the best download threads I've ever seen on the net-->check it here: http://www.houseaddict.com/showthread.php?t=4332. Witchdoctor wrote something like 'Is it just me, or does it sound like those freaky robotic voices at the beginning are saying 'the N*gger has got to die' -- such hateful lyrics in a house music tune? It couldn't be. Downloading the set to hear for myself, I discovered the delightful and haunting tribal-esque sounds of D-formation. And no, there were no such hateful lyrics--i think it says 'The seeker has got to start' or something close to that. Check it out and have a listen for yourself! (D-formation, session 10).

I listened to that session 10 set quite a few times over the past few months, and when I saw the hotel flier announcing he would be spinning there May 10th, I knew I was game.

It also turned out to be a rare night where myself and leap_frog could go out at the same time...so bonus!! Date night!!

The DVP ended up being closed, and I didn't put myself on a written guest-list, and we missed our opportunity to meet up with Chinamon to grab a reduce pass, but that's OK. We just took our time, didn't sweat the small stuff, and made our way down through a few arteries. Sometimes, coming from an hour away sucks. But I'm glad for the physical separation from the big city--it makes me more intelligent at choosing my parties, instead of being lured in every single weekend, as I'm sure I would be, if I were living down in the metropolis.

Arriving at the usual parking lot on Richmond, just after Spadina (well lit, easy to remember where it is, haha), the parking machine was broken...so free parking!! Man, must have been my lucky day. We walked two blocks over to hotel and lined up after downing a Monster energy drink. And whilest in line, realized how much i had to go pee!! Every single freaking time. That's what an hour drive and an energy drink will do to ya. I was hopping around in line while leap_frog tried to disassociate herself with me. A large 'LIVE TO AIR' canopy was over the entrance...good ol' 100.7 and live-to-internet streams. I heard the online streams weren't that hot, after the fact... too bad. Thankfully, the line moved quick and we were in.

A smile instantly plastered on my face as I recognized some 'oldies' being spun up, bringing back some great early EDM memories. Looking at the decks I see this guy:



Simon Jain!!! I had heard earlier that Simon was celebrating his birthday tonight. Good thing he was on the decks first--I saw lots of people buying him shots! He didn't stand a chance. Simon--thanks for playing that sic mix of Ilo - Rapture. Such a classic, haunting choon.


Happy Birthday Simon Jain!


Disco treats the Jain to a libation

Andre and several other photographers were on deck this night to capture the visuals... sadly, sasha was nowhere in sight.


Work it! Work it!

I could be wrong here, and still have some more observing to do, but it seems to me that most of the club photographers go for the girls, and the more attractive girl or girls the better. I have a few theories on this. 1) most club photographers are guys in this local scene, and that's what they wanna look at (duh!)... 2) people online who are looking at the pictures would rather look at all the hot girls at clubs (let's face it, girls are more marketable, cross-gender, compared to men), so the club garners more positive marketing attention from the photographs 3) popularity contests?? I won't delve into that point further. I will say this, there was one gal photographer at the event who was nailing pictures of everyone, candid, posing, and otherwise. Andre's pictures are also quite well known for their diversity; Digit Ill, i've only seen a few of his sets, can't really comment yet. Sasha's are my favourite, his images seem to carry the most soul.

Ok, back to our story. I spotted El K Dee on the floor soaking up the beats, and got a serious, down to earth picture with him.



I heard about the "argument" drama going around between El K Dee and Addy. Then I stopped listening.... who cares!! Let's focus on what's important here--the tunes being spun. In fact, God has something to say about this. So y'all better listen up.


Love the t-shirt. Amen brother, AMEN!

Let's get back to the good times, a'ight! The place was gettin' TOTALLY packed. Most anticipated that Hotel would reach capacity, and I had no doubt, seeing the crowd build up. Speaking of good times, and impending crowds, one of my favourite people showed up...and it was so good to see him:



I can't think of a better guy in the Scene. Ace, this community loves you mucho my friend. All of our thoughts are with you with the recent loss of your mom... as you say in your own words, a battle was lost, but the war rages on, and we'll fight it with you, my friend. Everyone out there, I encourage you to support the fight against cancer--attend or make a denation to Ace's very own brain-child Dance 2 Da Beat 2 -- a dance-a-thon dedicated to raising money to support research to battle cancer.


*cough--had to plug my own flier design--cough*

It was great to see so many familiar faces out on a week night. We were all talking about our cut-off times to head home in order to be sane for work the next day. We ended up totally killing Disco's plans to leave early. Heh heh heh. :evil:



Taking the decks over from Simon Jain were Fabian Strong and then Joe Manzone. I hadn't heard Fab in some time, so it was good to see him behind the decks; though admittedly I didn't 'focus' on the set too much at this point between doing a few shooters and socializing with so many good souls. The beats were solid though, i was bobbing non-stop. That's always a good sign. Joe Manzone played last week @ Barcode as part of the HouseAddict bus trip--what a treat that was!! All of you who didn't hit up that bus trip MISSED OUT. It was such a good time. Wow.


Disco, Leap_frog, Besma & Julie!

At this point, Leap_frog was complaining that her feet hurt. I was confused...had she hurt an ankle earlier in the day? No, no dear friends. It turns out that she had worn heels. *smaks forehead* Whatttt? We ALL know by now, that if you're gonna dance hard, you gotta wear sneakers. She says she wanted to look nice... ok, no problem, you look GREAT--but no one is chkin' out your shoes. I couldn't even see her heels. So we found a clean part of the dance floor and off came the offending articles!


Ladies, please--for the love of all things EDM...feel FREE to wear comfortable shoes any time to the club. I'd rather see a gal dancin' it up hard, then standing uncomfortably perched on top of 3 inches of hell. Just my opinion, i could be wrong.

I snagged a look at the laptop streaming the sound to the doubya doubya web.



And Mr. Announcer dude who was always smilin' (sorry, didn't get your name!). He was speaking into a mic for the internet show, i assume, as well as a different one to announce first call for last call (whoa, paradox!!) etc.



But getting back to the real meat and potatoes of this event... D-Formation himself takes to the decks...



All I can say is...wow. His beats were just so sexy, seductive and with hints of tribal woven throughout, I was a slave to the rhythm almost instantly. And half way through his first track, I thought to myself (and excuse my language)...my word...I hope they are recording this.

DID SOMEONE RECORD THIS?! :burn:

The crowd was completely eating it up...











The beats were pounding down, and everyone was dancing; it sure beat the feeling of a 'top 40 crowd at a house music club' that i got initially in the evening. Know what I mean? I danced it up hard near the bathrooms, where there was room to breathe. I'd learn later that apparently that end of the building is filled with smoke...uber-asthma troubles later--but it's all for a good cause--dancing to house music!



I made rounds around the dance floor showing anyone who would listen how much I was lovin' the tunage...when I spotted High Roller not lookin' too hot. Now if any of you know this guy, he's always positive and upbeat (not to mention pretty damn bright--he knows his music). So seeing him down was not in the 'normality of existence of Ni-Cd's world!' So get this, apparently some guy randomly walked up to the poor guy and slapped him across the face. ??? What?? It was so outside my experience in this music scene (and obviously, an anomaly), that I almost couldn't believe it--but Highroller was clearly distraught. I did my best to pump him back up, and even offered to go take the guy out. I don't know if you've seen me...but I'm actually pretty massive. (don't let the pictures fool you). So, naturally, I offered my keen ninja abilities to highroller to make the situation right. However, highroller declined, being the peace maker he always is. We pumped each other up a little, and got back to dancing... and to that guy who decided to be a jerk... life will getcha. You know? booooooyah.



Well, it WAS a work night, so Leap_frog and I decided we best be gettin' back home. On the way out, we said bye to a zillion people (Naaaathan Barato! w00t! Joee Cons, Deko-Ze, Chinamon, Kim, Ace, on and on---so many familiar friendly faces present).

And of course, this guy...



Is there a come-back possibility this summer for DJ Addy? Oh, I'm gettin' a good feeling about that one! Clubs and boat cruises this summer beware!!



Leap took her boots off half way to the car...and I piggy-backed her the rest of the way. As I ran across spadina with her on my back, several ghetto dudes yelled out the window 'hey lady...who stole your shoes?' without stopping i held them out in my hand for them to see. They started laughing at us. I started giggling and we almost ran head first into the gigantic thimble. Could you imagine?! Being taken out by a thimble?!

So on the way home, Leap thinks it'd be cool to take some pictures in the car...



But there's this cool effect of flashes in dark environments...where if you flash a bright light into the EYES OF THE DRIVER, THEY CAN'T SEE. I swear, I almost hit that gigantic thimble with my car. It almost got us twice, dear reader...twice.

Ace would be happy to know that we threw on Gabriel and Dresden (love the remix of The Wings (Broke back mountain theme) and Hide and Seek.

One last snippet... the hour long drive and relatively long evening with nothing but alochol, water and energy drinks to consume, my stomach was rumbly. So when we got home, I snuck (in the dark, so as not to wake anyone up) into the kitchen and grabbed a slice of bread out of the bread box. Munching away in the dark i made my way to the washroom--i could hear leap_frog bumping into things in the other end of the house. We probably made more rukus than if we just turned on the lights. My mouth was super-dry from all the energy drinks (i thought). The bread was hard to eat. Anyways, I get into the washroom, close the door and flick the lights on.



Word of advice...if you think the bread tastes funny. It probably has gone bad. Ugh!!

awesome.
always entertaining to read.


and I loved the ending. hahah

Awesome post NiCd.

Remember one of your first posts when you got into our scene?

No?


Well I do, LMAO.

Here ya go: http://www.theguvernment.com/forum/...4621#reply_5099

Cheers,
AJ

Very entertaining review Thanks
It's amazing to see from your reviews (old on guv board vs now) how deep you got into EDM scene! In such short period of time too!

im pretty sure you can listen to the recorded streamed set at www.club246.com



and btw, that announcer guy is the legenday DOWNTOWN DOUG

Ambercrombie -- great meeting you at decadence man. LOL @ that post, i don't even really recall writing it. Hahaha. Ah, the good ol' guv board. Come a long way, for sure, and lovin' every minute of it.

Thanks for the kudos guys. I think 'm food poisoned from the bread. Yeah. Thanks for laughing.

quote:

Originally posted by junkie_val im pretty sure you can listen to the recorded streamed set at www.club246.com and btw, that announcer guy is the legenday DOWNTOWN DOUG

douglassssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ssssssssssssssssss sssssssssssssss

Downtown doug---lol, alright, i'll definitely remember that. I love all the LCD screens on the walls with count down timers to last call. Provides a very new years eve experience...every thursday night!

solid review..thanks fo rnoticing that i was getting lots of 'libations'!~!!! lol!!!!
that mix of Rapture is of course the now legendary, Stephane K and Creamer mix on SUMO recordings...i was doing the classic tribal-vinyl set for my birthday..figured it was time for something quirky!!! great night, glad you were on hand for one of your great (and personal) revies!

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