Ain't That a Kick in the Head

By law...if I go out with the sole intention of seeing a dj I will meet someone. A blessing and a curse I guess...but more of a curse.

Let's set it up. I arrived around 12ish. DJ Ayres was on. I have to say, he was not the reason I went out tonight. Out of him, Walter Meego, and Trevor Loveys he was the only one I wasn't interested in seeing based on what I heard on their myspace pages. Apparently you can't just go by that, because I really enjoyed his set. At some points it was very soulful house-ish, then hip-hop, funk, then electro. The boy was all over the place...and made it look so easy. By all means Boys Noize blew the roof off of Hiro last week, but he was workin' it...switching cd's, switching records, twisting knobs, etc. Ayres was too, but very calmly - not breakin' a sweat and still with banging results. I can't stress enough how pleasantly surprised I was and how much I enjoyed his set. I have never seen a dj who has crossed so many genres so effectively. I was unable to identify many of the songs he played that I really enjoyed...mainly because it wasn't the typical electronic stuff.

I mainly listen to "dance music" and rock and select bits of everything else...so I was a bit in the dark to say the least with the rest of dj Ayres set. Some of the stuff I recognized that was good was a remix of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." - there are sooo many remixes of this track floating around and so many of them are bad. I really like the original version of the song, and there are only one or two remixes that I don't immediately skip straight through. In any case...I dunno whose remix this was...maybe Ayres himself...but it was dope. It had a really nice fat bass line going through the whole thing. Excellent. The other thing I have to give dj Ayres big ups for was not dropping Kanye's "Stronger"...he might have sampled parts of it, but I'm pretty sure it was mainly a really good remix of Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger". And finally...while I love Mylo...and have been loving "Destroy Rock and Roll" since the import was available here in 2005...I have heard "Drop the Pressure" waaaay too many times (though I can't front, it is my ringtone...but I'm talking about dj sets here). Much to my delight...he dropped "Dr. Pressure" - Miami Sound Machine's "Dr. Beat" mashed up with Mylo's "Drop the Pressure". It was a nice change while still managing to retain all the good qualities of the frequently played "Drop the Pressure".

So here is where the United Nations adventure starts...I had been looking forward to my first live Walter Meego show. The crowd (which was a lot less hipstered up than the typical GBH Thursday night Cheeky Bastard crowd...but had more scary stockbroker type's who couldn't dance...and a lot of annoying girls who weren't in drug induced hazes, so they were somehow much more obnoxious) wasn't packed as tight as usual so I was able to get a good spot with no trouble. They opened with "Be a Star"...not my favorite of what I had heard before, but catchy and recognizable. I was not wild about it live. The next few songs were ok. Then...one of the guys from Walter Meego was doing most of the talking - not Justin, not Andrew... the third guy whose name I can't remember. He was talking way more than I cared to hear. He kept announcing when there would be a breakdown...the first time he said something like "this is where you're supposed to get down and shake your ass like crazy". Don't get me wrong...I'm all for getting down and shaking it...but I don't need a PSA to tell me to do so...let your music speak for itself. So...I could've done without that aspect of the show, but then I realized I wasn't really into many of the songs. It was still pretty early on, so I was trying to listen some more before making the final call. Then they played Keyhole...it was really good. They said it had been re-worked a lot of times and that they had performed it many different ways...and you could tell. I liked the original version I had heard on their myspace, but this had so much going on - so many layers of sound - really rich and banging. Right after that they played a song that might have been called "Letting Go". I ran into Andrew at the bar a few hours later and that's what he said he thought it was, but wasn't sure...It started VERY synthy and I loved it...then I thought to myself, this kind of reminds me of Soulwax, that's probably why I like it...but the more it went on, the more it reminded me of their song "Compute" to the degree that it seemed so blatant it turned me off. Then I was pretty much done.

I got a drink and stayed over near the stairs. There was a guy in front of me that was really into it. He has some predetermined dance moves going down. He was stomping...there was some Latin influence going on. He was getting down. After a while his friend started talking to me. Asked why I wasn't dancing and if I liked the band. He said his friend was into them, but that he was on the fence. I agreed...but then he said they were like Maroon 5, but not as good. I almost died. I wasn't that into them, but I wouldn't go that far. We broke it down to this...at times they seemed very poppy...at times very dancey. I think they needed to pick one or the other. I liked them when they were dancey...or rather I thought they had a good sound to start with...it was still a bit, poppy throwback 70's-ish, but the vocals killed me. So...I was fine with my first U.N. adventure - the two guys were from the UK...and one really looked a lot like a shortere version of Fatboy Slim. Haha.

Thankfully they left right before Trevor Loveys went on, who was the main reason I wanted to go to the party tonight. He played a really good set...that I unfortunately enjoyed less when this Polish guy started dancing with me...he was a bit stinky. Anyway...I know Trevor played Sinden's "Beeper" and a lot of other tracks I recognized but don't know by name. He was really good...very Switchy. He sounded like everything I hoped he would sound like. His set flew by. Before I knew it it was 4 and they were kicking everyone out...and then (U.N. adventure cont'd) a German guy and his new Spanish girl friend asked if I knew where to go..."It's the city that never sleeps!". Haha...you got me. I did not have the strength to explain after-party politics to them. The girl mentioned the Highline Ballroom and was shocked when I told her they had probably closed already too.

Then...it's not over yet. I'm walking down 9th...and I get asked for directions...by two guys from Italy in a rental car...50th and 5th. Hopefully they knew what I was saying.

Have a happy 4th...I will be in a sleep-deprived haze...bbq-ing in Queens and scurrying back here to walk the beast: