(At least in my opinion anyway...)

Caught him at the debut of his Pacha NYC residency this past Saturday (after checking out Peter Rauhofer for a bit at Stereo/Work NYC) and I was utterly, utterly impressed...

New Yorkers love their Victor Calderone. From overhearing people talking about Victor at the Virgin Megastore the day before, to people talking about him at Stereo/Work to watching the crazy lineup in front of Pacha at 5am (think Labour of Love styles!) that much is evident…

Calderone started in the gay scene in New York city playing and producing circuit house (aka gay wailing diva stuff). He later evolved to tribal house (He and Steve Lawler were the best tribal DJs 5 years ago btw) to more progressive house and then finally minimal and techno that he is playing now. Hence the name of his compilation and his residency in Montreal (Stereo) and New York (Pacha)

His Pacha NYC gig was the debut of his residency, and only his second time playing at the space after being a resident at CroBar for many years. Posted on his myspace page was this message…"I'm going back to my roots," says Victor. "What's been inspiring me is techno." On this, the first night of his new residency, the DJ will blur the lines between all the music you -- and he -- have ever loved. The evolution will not be televised: You're just gonna have to be there. With that said, I knew it was going to be a hell of a party and worth the trip to NYC…

Arrived outside the club around 4:45 and were able to talk my way in rather quickly considering the mess outside the door. The search was over quickly but we had to take the elevator up to the 4th floor (Pachita) because of capacity issues. Pachita is a cool little chill lounge, but on this night it was a crazy mess of New Yorkers mixing it up.

Got down to the main room around 5:30, and I finally felt it, the NYC Evolve party madness. Pacha is a mix of afterhours meets bottle service so it was an interesting mix of people. On one hand you still had the bottle service crowd finishing up, but on the other hand the afterhours people were in the building.

He really brought the noise at this party...bomb after bomb after bomb...amazing mixing and technical skills…tremendous production values. He was playing a lot of minimal and techno in the early morning, just really banging it out…and then he changed gears around 9am with DJ Vibe’s You and BROUGHT BACK THE TRIBAL HOUSE!

It’s one thing to hear Victor play tribal in the past and enjoy it, but when he plays tribal now (which is very rare) you can’t help but feel good and love the music THAT much more. It brought back a lot of memories and still reminded me why New York is the home of the drums…

Played a lot of classics…Sizequeen’s I am Ready had New York going nuts…a lot of newer Portuguese Tribal tracks, and even some of the old school diva tracks. He looked like he was having the time of his life in the DJ booth and his wife was busting a move on the dancefloor. I knew it was her, and even asked her, and she didn’t want to answer. (Probably thought I was some stalker) but I remembered meeting her in Miami this year…and she confirmed it later in the night…

Finally, around 11:30 or so I had to get out of there because I was beyond tired. The place was still extremely busy when I left and I heard it went another solid hour. Nothing, nothing beats walking out into the New York sunlight after enjoying a night of great music…

Now the one thing about Evolve in NYC and Evolve in Montreal is they are two completely, completely different crowds…

For example…

- Americans say "rolling" when they are high, we say "rushing"

- Dancing in circles is apparently encouraged in NYC, while in Canada it is generally frowned upon

- Evolve NYC was very "cliquey" but Evolve Montreal is more friendly and approachable

- New York isn’t as sketchy as Montreal, but can be very scary at times…

The production values for this party were beyond excellent. Like during the breakdown of certain songs “You” and “Ribcage” come to mind, there was an AMAZING, AMAZING light show and all of this blue, cold air would blow out of the middle of the dancefloor, completely engulfing the club in this air where you could barely see in front of you. It cleared up really quickly and it is really hard to describe in words…

I had such a great time. Going to see him in Montreal on September 8th and back at Pacha on Sept 15th!

Tracks he played (I’m still getting familiar with minimal and techno so I can’t really ID a lot)

His re-edit of Let Me Set You Free
Mr V- Let’s Get Jazzy (deep house at 10am…crazy!)
Sizequeen- I am Ready
Adam Beyer - China Girl
Chris Liebing – B
Dubfire – Ribcage
DJ Vibe – You
Josh Wink – Don’t Laugh (Peter Bailey and Richie Santana mix)
Cevin Fisher- Tech This Out (Peter Bailey mix)
Chus and Ceballos – Go On (Tek mix)….bomb of the fall…I’m calling it now
Mark Knight & D Ramirez – System
D-Formation - Welcome Home
Tarot-Everything You Feel (DJ Vibe’s Remix)
Deloren & Colors –Zancozumbada (Carlos Manaca Remix)
Javith, Salazar & Gil – Arawak (Carlos Fauvrelle mix)
Samuel L. Sessions – Can You Relate
You Used To Love Me
DJ Chus – Join Hands

What a cool flyer...