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happy 3 year anniversary footwork!
My fingers hover in nervous anticipation above the ergonomic keyboard, having re-read Mammoth's posts from the Angelo and Ingrosso Review thread and feeling it only proper, only just, to pound out a review that he would be proud of. But the strength fails me, and I imagine JennyPie pointing at and me mocking "n00b who knows shit-all! ha-ha!" ... for a moment, I felt faint...weak, lacking any sort of wisdom or intelligence to put down in prose...as per usual, neither come to me, and I decide to plunge ahead anyways...
Doing freelance graphic design isn't a lot of fun. People talk about creative freedom and getting your work out there, job satisfaction and building your portfolio, blah blah blah--but it's all bunk. The reality is that you are someone's pixel whore, and they're going to have their way with you one freaking pixel at a time, un-virus checked and un-spam filtered (/geek). After eight more hours of working on a web site that has more labour poured into it than the Shayan mountain complex (home of SG1 of the Stargate program) (/geek 2), I hit the 'sketch' board, watching a movie with the kiddo...
(The rat's maniacal grin while holding miniature weapons of death made me happy for some reason.)
Ten PM came around, and sub-sonic bass beats called to me. I put aside the sketch pad and hit the bat cave for a new outfit, spraying suculent odours of rabid male animal-ity sure to attract all manner of female animal-ness. Then I got an arched eyebrow from Leap and quickly washed off the generous amount of "Sex-Panther" I had lathered on my broad (and yes, muscular) chest (the scent was only put on for her anyways). Modestly, I put a couple of squirts of Brut on my wrists, rubbing them gingerly together. A fine scent. I was ready.
I had heard Green Velvet (aka...the Green Machine) would be spinning at Footwork. With Lee Osborn and the Roaches sandwhiching the set in. Was there really any need to see what else was going on in town?
Jumping into the batmobile and I headed downtown, stopping briefly at DJ Cam Maxwell's mansion in Aurora to see if I could drag him along. No dice though, he wass hosting a Yanni Appreciation party. In his defense? "What? Yanni has some SIC tracks, Mr. Purkiss!" I left him to his house party, commiserating only briefly about Basement's closure the next day (new sprinkler system getting installed) and further yet over the martyrfication (word?) of Zone. Note to self: sign petition (despite Psiico's passionate and well reasoned retort on HA).
Arrived late at Footwork after making the (poor) decision to take Richmond across to avoid TTC strike traffic. RIDE programs, people thronging the streets, cops on horse-back, fights between drunken patrons and all other manor of lawlessness consumed the street. And they're worried about the violence & drugs from after-hours venues? Jeeze. Just take a saunter down Richmond Friday or Saturday night and see the sheer policing power they pour into keeping the drunken crowds at bay every Friday and Saturday night.
KevinT, Ricci and I met up in the parking lot--btw Kev, the avenger looks SWEET! (I still haven't heard the killer stereo system though... it's on the to-do list). We sauntered around to the footwork entrance alley--huge line up! I was worried they were already to capacity, but luckily we were able to get in without mishap. They filled to capacity shortly afterwards, and the lineup was out the alley.
Inside the tunes were pumping. I discovered I'm pretty much a sucker for any track with a siren in it--especially a world war II era air-horn. Not sure why, but it just seems to add a very eerie and twisted element to the tune (check out The Mist, about 10-15 mins in for the type of air-horn. Freaky movie too.). Guess because it signals impending doom?--but without the doom actually spawning? /psycho. The track Lee Osborn was laying down sampled just such a horn and I was instantly in the mood. I think it was tech-house with some tribal elements throughout. Great opening set--high energy enough to set the stage for Green Velvet, but still distinct enough and dark enough to save some energy for the Green Machine. A few people were there hearing Lee for the first time, and we all agreed dude's got a great ear and feel for the crowd. The place was rammed, but people were being relatively respectful. The Saturday crowd at footwork is a different one from Friday nights. I was sorry to see the cargo net on the DJ booth from Jaxx House gone--that thing was awesome with the lights shooting up it. I say they bring it back! Just cut a hole in it so the DJ isn't completely separated from the crowd. The coat check was still in place, hording the best lounge spot in the club. It'll be gone soon though, and then it'll be bass-lounge-bliss, baby!
Speaking of bass-line bliss, it sounded like Footwork had worked out the kinks with the new sound system. So crisp and clear, the highs weren't ear-bleeding like at Jaxx House, and the bass was fan-freaking-tastic standing in front of the DJ booth. Osborne would pull the bass away for a build up, and then slam it back at the apex--the crowd letting an audible "oohhhhh!!" escape with the energy release. A quality sound system makes such a difference! The row of subs in front of the DJ booth are better placed than where they used to be (two towers to either side of the DJ booth). The giant screen above the DJ booth is a little repetitive, showing just a slide show on repeat. It'd be cool if they found a flash slide show player that any party-planner can dump their collection of images to so they'd be tastefully animated and displayed while the party is going.
Green Velvet stepped up to the decks--a clean cut black guy who I at first mistook for Toronto club promoter JJ (double J entertainment) seeing him around the club. A cheer went up for Osborne stepping off the decks (well done, buddy--you kept the energy of the club well harnessed and prepped). +1 - Ni-Cd is now an Osborne fan. The Green Machine took the pace way down, starting with a lower BPM track that screamed "Ok, I'm starting my set now, so listen up peeps. We're gonna start it this way...." I noticed the harnessed energy of the club sink several notches--people were not ready to come down a few notches. However, as both KevinT and I noticed, he bailed on his approach (bailed? maybe it was planned...) and kicked the energy back up and got into the funky-tech house. People went OFF for it (myself included).
RobSt*r asks me "so?? What do you think?" I made the universally-accepted hand gesture of my head exploding in audio-gasmic bliss. He laughed: "I love being around people when they lose their Green Velvet cherry!" The YouTube videos I had watched prior to the event had nothing on the actual experience. Green Velvet had the vibe of the club wrapped around his little finger--people with their hands in the air through-out the club, right to the back of the club, rocking to the beat. Not a single head wasn't bobbing, not a single foot not stomping. The energy was leaking out of the freaking walls!
I went up to the left side of the DJ booth and spotted DJ Irgo and Miss Raquel jamming it up to the tunage. Perfect view of the DJ, I could see his hands flying over the mixer board. It was impossible to connect hand motion to sound, but I didn't question it and just kept on rocking. With a smile ear-to-ear, he grabs the microphone and starts intoning over the beats:
"Something 'bout those little pills
Unreal, the thrills, they yield, until
They kill, a million braincells
La la land
Is where I need to be
La la land
Is the place that, oh, sets me free"
(Green Velvet - La La Land)
He cuts out the music so the crowd can yell back: "La la land!" It's a bizarre song, talking about headache relief from tylenol and advil--but hey, I don't question it, I just sing along with the rest of the group. The interactive element had the crowd totally hyped, and Green Velvet sounded great on the microphone--not washed out at all, totally synched into the music. A short time after this, I heard the familiar intensity of "Club Bad's" assualt-rifle wave of clipping beats. Again he donned the mic and laid down the lyrics for the track LIVE for the audience. I didn't realize that Green Velvet does all his own vocals for his tracks, in styles as far ranged as "Club Bad" to "La La La La La"--that's pretty cool. It affords him the rare opportunity of a DJ providing live vocals to their own tracks, and the effect is profound--it sucks the crowd in on another level (comparable, I think, to when Sydney Blu teams up with Mandy J).
The set was techno--BANGING techno. It totally reminded me of Deko-Ze's "up to speed" set (which contains, I later remembered, Club Bad as one of the tracks). It had an edge of funkiness to it that kept it upbeat and positive while still hammering away at the crowd with massive bass beats.
I vibed up on the raised level back right of the club so I could see the crowd and Green Velvet, and this girl keeps bumping into me from behind. I politely give her a little more room (she was an energetic dancer, and commanded a lot of space). She bumped into me a few more times, to which I politely ignore; finally, she turns to me and puts her hands on my back, pushing (gently) "Ok, it's time for you to move now" I couldn't believe her gal! I said to her "Oh, there's a time limit? I didn't know!" But I was too into the music to let her dampen the mood, so I gave her the space (ugh, the principle bothers me even now). She now had a good 6' square feet to dance in. Have fun, biatch! I don't think there's any reason to be greedy on the dance floor; if you need that kind of room, hit the back of the club, or hedge yourself in a bit.
Green Velvet's set was terrific. Not a track let me down, and no repeat like the first few tracks of the set. I enjoyed it start to finish, and the live vocals gave a new element to enjoy. I have to admit he did get a little "bleepy bloopy" sounding on a track or two, but the bass lines kept me hooked. He finished up his set around 3:30am and handed over the decks to The Roaches (Carlo Lio & Nathan Barato). I noted that he didn't bail right after the set like so many headliners do, but he hung out in the booth with Carlo and Nathan for a while--pretty cool!
Carlo and Nathan's set was a GREAT follow up to Green Velvet. The dance floor stayed packed. I never got bored of the bass being taken away and then slammed back in at the drop. The white-noise hissing effect (sounds a lot like the Guv's dry-ice super-bomb system in the main room) is growing on me, helping the release of energy as a drop slams in and the hiss plays out.
I stayed within 40 minutes of close totally enjoying their set and the new music I was hearing and finally had to call it as exhaustion finally overtook my legs. As I left, talk of zone or basement fell upon my deaf ears--but basement was closed for fire upgrades, and to be honest, I was too tired for zone, especially with the added downer of the unbalanced amount of police and code-inspector attention they have been getting (heaven forbid there be unsafe chocolate milk to drink!). The drive home was a peaceful contrast to the high energy sets heard at footwork, Halder & Soulshine's laid back beats were on the mp3 player.
Speaking of Zone, I heard they had over 300 people there last Sunday--that's great! Now that the shady characters are put or scared away, let's get back to the music there. Entrena and D-Unity are waiting in the wings to be rescheduled, and Ill definitely be there to hear them. Which reminds me--Green Velvet spun at Zone a few yars ago, right (Glasgow and Addy closing)? If he was that amazing at footwork, i'm pretty sure I'd suffer brain damage at the audio on-slaught he would release at zone. This coming Sunday's adventure? DJ Addy and Rudee at Basement. That is, if they are able to complete the upgrades to the fire & safety systems by Sunday. If so, it's on like donkey-kong.
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Review: Green Velvet - Footwork 3 Year Anniversary
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