CC'd to houseaddict.com too

It's been a while in coming but...



Well, this new years was supposed to be something pretty fantastic for the Ni-Cd... it would mark one full year of fully investigating and being involved with the EDM scene, mostly in the house-genre of things. The initial plan was to celebrate it at The Guvernment, and stand in the same(ish) spot I did a year ago to proclaim one year of celebrating. But these plans were not to be...

First of all...for any real nut of electronic dance music...comfort zone's NYD celebration is LEGENDARY. Second of all, a lot of my friends were going to show up at COZO from various NYE parties. Additionally, I was told by everyone I would NOT be dissappointed picking that venue over the Guv. We couldn't do both, because it just wasn't in the budget (or else, that'd be the ideal scenario). However, Leap_frog ended up getting really sick, and NY nearly ended up not happening for us at all.

The morning started with Leap nearly dying with coughing fits; i had just come home from a slammin pre-nye party at footwork, and was very concerned. She decided to sleep the whole day, to rest up for New Years Eve. we were thinking of even sleeping through and hitting the CZ party in the morning.

Invariably, the excitement got to us...so after watching Hackers (and talkinga bout the sound track), we packed up and headed to our friends place to watch the ball drop...

We arrived to some sic beats being mixed by Mat (aka Reerun)



Using some slick DJ mixing software, Matt hammered out the tunes with startling ability. We danced around the living room in spite of ourselves...he was even recording the set so we could listen to it later. If you people haven't heard one of his mixes...YOU SHOULD. He's pretty damn good with that computer! And the tracks he finds.... wow.!!

I bet you've seen this guy dancing @ Cozo... Mike is always up front of the dance floor in front of the DJ booth, shirt off, going NUTS. This is him, calm:



I dressed up for new years...yep, actually sported a tie... because I'm a sic individual. This gal could dance too; she was up at the booth all day at Cozo once we arrived...



So we counted down the ball dropping... and the next thing I knew, my watch read 2 am!!



That means it was time to head down to cozo. We were all bopping with excitement, ready to DANCE IT UP!!

..but first...where's my tie?? Aha, one of my sweet friends borrowed it to dance with... ok...you can keep it. it looks WAY better on you anyways. Aren't those the biggest eyes you've ever seen?? She should model those eye-balls. And we weren't even fried!!.....yet!!



Off to the zone!

So we arrived and parked underground at the university at about 2:30 and walked up to Comfort Zone and saw the HUGE line up.

At first, we hit the wrong line, discovering some 15 mins later it was for ppl who needed to buy tickets... well, we already had ours!! So we quickly find the other side of the line... by this time it is 3:15 am, and they are slowly starting to let people in.

I had to bail on the camera cause none are allowed in Cozo... later i got wise and got the cel out.

So we're sitting in line, waiting and waiting... and i flip out my cel and crank up the MP3 player. OH YEAH BABY.... Vinyl Junkies, from Ultra Spin 11...PUMPIN' out on the celular device. Everyone in line starts boppin'. You know what I'm talkin' about. w00t w00t!

At this time we met a new friend who introduced himself while standing in line with us... his name was houman. He said 'you say it like who is the man' but without the 'is the'. LOL! We saw him later in the night, and he gave me a card about photography...he wants to do some in the clubs...so maybe we'll see some of his shots up here sometime soon! check out his web: www.houman.org

We were in front of the cibc bank machine, and this thinly clad woman comes through the line with this withered looking guy...they don't look like they should be together. She says 'it's right here baby...do you have your card? That's right, put it in... ' and i couldn't hear the rest. They depart, her panties showing slightly under neath her TOO short skirt...and i whisper to Johnny Action and Houman (is that a prostitute??) and Houman says 'yes....yes it is.' a few minutes later, the ho-bitch comes back with her john, and coaxes him to get another $300 (!!!!) out of the machine. holy CRAP!! Dudes...is that what it costs for a desperate man to get laid?? $300 on top of whatever he took out before? Un-freaking-real. So out of my realm of comprehension.

All this while, Leap is dying, hacking and gagging (how's that for descript) in the cold. We chat amongst ourselves about the prostitutes, music, going to tiesto in detroit, etc. You know, normal chat. Then this guy comes up to the bank machine and says 'wow...whats this for?' so we explained that the club is about to open up... he was like 'wow... i'm just going to bed, holy crap, you guys are insane.'

and we ARE insane, aren't we? hahhaha! Our music is underground, baby, and our hours are afterhours. W00t!

So we get a little coser, and I check my watch. It is now 4am. My brain is doing flops... it can't comprehend a club OPENING at 3am, and me getting in at 4 am. ugh...

fifteen minutes later, we're in...and i get my braclet. I got #189. What did all of you guys get? I wonder how many ppl passed through the CZ doors that day.

Ok, so here's where things get funky. There were SO many DJs, and the hours blurred together real good, so i'll do my best to spec this out.

First and foremost.... the Vinyl Junkies...


Last Friday at footwork, they BLEW MY MIND. I don't know what they turned on lately...but they cranked it into high gear. Then...at Cozo... they did it again, but moreso. I only got the chance to hear Vince spin, as oppose to both Val and Vince, but Vince's set was SIC. I made my way up front, and wished him happy new year while he dropped bombs on us.

I took out my trusty phone, angled and clicked...



Dark and dirty pictures, just like the zone. w00t! There's Vince hammering it out. Very nice...

I also have a vid (quicktime required) that turned out pretty good:

U have to right click, save as, then open up with quicktime...weird cel phone file type (won't work in browser)
LINK: Vince of Vinyl Junkies spinning @ cozo
Great track too!!



Next on the decks was Ms Blu....



This gal calls a FOLLOWING. Man, i think of all the DJs, Sydney has the most active fan-club. She commands the crowd, and they respond in kind. It's obvious how much the zone loves her, and how much she loves them.



She was having a blast behind the decks, and the energy was exploding! I couldn't help but vibe along with it. The time that I was there, she spun a lot of electro... which isn't my favourite genre of house...so after a while, i needed a break from the heat and the squelching sounds that I find characteristic of electro and Sydney's sets. I had the pleasure of finally meeting this gal upstairs later in the afternoon (Thanks for the intro, Sasha...i'm sorry the timing was poor--hope things are better now).

Next up to the decks is someone I've been keeping my eye on, ever since Scorpio night in November... he wrecked the drink with an opening set...and each time I've heard him since, he has impressed me with his loops and drop sequences...

Joee Cons!!


I love watching Joee mix...you can see him counting beats very intentionally by tapping the CDJ, tap tap tap...boom! hits a button. Tap tap tap tap, boom, pauses a loop, etc.



I loved Joee's set, and so did the crowd. He must have been good, cause he blew the amps for a good 7 mins (see DannyPink's review). For me, it felt like ETERNITY. Standing there in silence...but people started clapping and singing, and everyone was cool. Joee was clearly agitated/excited, dying to get going again. He held out his headphones to me so i could dance to the sound coming out of them, lol... silence... the tech got the sound up quickly (though for me, it felt like forever) and BOOOOOOOM, out came the beats again, and he dropped some RHCP house choons that blew my socks off to boys' town. I fetched them later.

Joee played back to back two insomnia tracks that blew my mind. Anyone have the track IDs? They were REALLY REALLY good. I had heard the original insomnia back in my high school days...but he laced the lyrics over another beat prior to that track that really got me good. Two thumbs up, Joee!

I was DYING of heat (it was so incredibly packed there, worse/better than I'd ever seen it), so i headed up stairs since i heard ppl were spinning up there.

Unfortunately, i don't have the DJ names for these pics... i didn't recognize them, but they were talented, and worth mentioning... (so accept my apologies for my ignorance)





The style of music played upstairs was MARKEDLY different than downstairs. Downstairs was dirty and hard, pounding. Upstairs played with melody a lot, got some sexiness into the beats, and had a lot of fun. It was still pounding, but a little less dark. Lots of vinyl was being used upstairs too. I don't think there's enough room downstairs in the DJ booth to use vinyl. The DJ booth is too enclosed and unstable with unwieldy dancers around. :evil:

So after my break, i went downstairs to see what was going on there... and saw this...





Presta started off his set with some really fun beats!! i really got into it.. started dancing around, and he was having a BLAST! Big smile on his face, and bobbing his whole body to the tunes. It was a great vibe... then the crowd swelled, and i could barely breath, and the heat/smell was intolerable...i couldn't believe how potent it became...so i had to go upstairs/patio for a while and enjoy the beats from afar...

Venturing upstairs (again), i heard a familiar energy in the beats and looked to discover



Simon the JAIN!

He was focused on his set and mixing, and delivered a solid set to the CROWD in the silver dollar. I was upfront, dancing away with one of my favourite gals, Courtney after chillin' with PhatCat for a bit. What a great energy upstairs...not too stuffy, and great tunes pounding out.



At this time, I realized that I was holding Missy's ticket (Miss_sweetness)...and she hadn't arrived yet. It was like... 1 pm at this point? 2 pm? (holy, time FLEW). So i txt'd her.. she said she was on the way. I realized then Nathan Barato's set was about to begin. UGH, can't miss NATHAN!! So i told missy to hurry up! (the rumour on the street was she was with Anas from the guv...oohhhh, the scandal. I hear that's unsubstantiated tho, so shhhhhh).

I waited outside, and they arrived around 2:20...then i shoo'ed them inside QUICK with Random Doug helping out to get nathan's set. I walked downstairs (it had thinned out a bit, thank GOODNESS) and saw my man laying down tracks I ain't never heard before, threatening to blow my mind.



I danced back from the decks for the while watching Mr. Barato work and the crowd go nuts...it's OBVIOUS this guy is a town favourite, everyone was yelling his name, and exclaiming to each other 'Nathan's back, and he's BAD ASS!'

Someone had turned off the little lamp and Nathan was working totally in the dark, so I didn't get any pictures, cause they were all black. BUT, I did get a sic vid so you can hear some of the beats he was laying out...

U have to right click, save as, then open up with quicktime...weird cel phone file type (won't work in browser)
LINK: Nathan spinning -- Whhhhaaaaaat?

The story goes that Nathan lost his luggage while overseas...and had to rebuild/borrow to DJ in T.dot... well, based on what i heard, holy MOLY he got his hands on some amazing stuff... and his mixing, flawless as ever. Somebody, PLEASE, give me a Barato set that sucks, so i know that this guy is HUMAN.

Nathan finished his set off by Dropping as his last full track one created by none other than Carlo Lio... Jon Jon passed the message to me as i stood in front of the decks 'This is Carlo's track!!' wicked. WICKED. loved it, it sounded like a bunch of bleeps had gone to heaven, had sex, and created a million more bleeps, then rained back down on earth in bleepdom. So, until i know the track title, I'll call it the bleep track. lol!

Appropriately, as Nathan finished up, Carlo took the decks...



In the first few tracks, Carlo dropped his very own "Everybody." Do i need to say how much I like this track? Do I NEED to tell you how much everyone loves this track? It's on beat-port now people. WICKED! Good luck Carlo, and the remixes by Nathan/Carlo, Joee Cons and Paranoid Jack are just awesome. Check em out on beat port.

I used this opportunity to crawl behind the booth and meet up with Nathan and congratulate him on blowing my mind with his set. Leap also came up and squeeked some thanks out. I must admit, being able to chat it up with the DJ after the set is a very rewarding experience; to thank them for the job, ask them questions about the set, and get info regarding the scene. Our locals ROCK for being so approachable.

At this point in time, we headed upstairs to chill after listenign to Carlo's set for a while and dancing our brains out. Alex Drummer was upstairs drumming with George William, I believe... and i knew my ears were toast cuz i couldn't hear the drumming real well. :O Sorry Alex, the picture of you didn't turn out there. It was GREAT seeing you though!! So we danced it up some more, and finally I called it... my legs were done, it was time to retire. Leap was still going, though she came home too. She payed her licks though...two visits to the hospital later for asthma, sinus infection and pink eye. CRAZY. Lesson: don't party while sick. DON'T.

Special shout outs... to PhatCat (happy birthday, today!!!), Courtney (mwah!), Edith (tic-tac memories...), Meredith & Sarah, so fun to party with you guys... to Jenn (LOVE dancing with you!!!!!),IllNada--girl, u can dance, loved watching u, Sasha, for introducing me to Sydney, Jon Jon-- love your passion for the scene, and your knowledge...W00T! Reerun (mixin' god), Kyle/Meg (good vibrations), Brian (it was your birthday that day, HAPPY birthday man!) and to Digital, for recommending this party.

Even though it wasn't what i planned for, i had a blast. Too bad leap was sick...but what a party it was.

On a final parting note...be careful with the burger king across the street... i scarfed two burgers, and was sick a while later... I'm *pretty* sure it was the burgers...could have been the heat/exhaustion... but eat safe, party safe peoples!

Next zone trip: Eric Entrena, Feb 18th. Who's comin' with me?!

Last edited by Ni-Cd on Jan-06-2007 at 16:15