DJ Mehdi and Busy P at Santos Party House 9/18/08

Just got home from an amazing 4+ hours at Santos.

DJ Mehdi went on around 12. He spun a good hour of current, brand new, and just a few months old, electro which included tracks from Crookers, the Bloody Beetroots, and Surkin among others. He also dropped what had to be some old school disco track which had Paul and I absolutely losing our shit...unfortunately I can't remember any specifics at this point. For his solo set Mehdi was the good spirited dj that I love...bouncing from side to side, smiling, and singing along. This part of the review would have been much more specific and probably more favorable had I not ended up in a super crowded part of Santos, where everyone seemed to be passing through.

At 1:30 Paul went home like a responsible adult and I grabbed another drink and worked my way toward the front of the floor from which I witnessed most of Busy P's set, as well as the hour+ that he and DJ Mehdi switched on and off. Somehow they managed to put together a set that was as excellent as I imagined it would be, yet totally unexpected. Here are just a few selections (there are gaps between some of these tracks, while some were actually played one after the other) from the mix they spun of dance classics, brand new tracks, and everything in between (a few of the tracks in the beginning of the list might be from Busy P's solo set - it was a bit of a blur):

Justice - Stress
Daft Punk - Oh Yeah
The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy, Hey Girl (Soulwax remix)
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
Armand Van Helden - Necessary Evil
Alan Braxe & Fred Falke - Intro
MGMT - Kids (Soulwax remix)
The Chemical Brothers - Do It Again
Justice - DVNO
Daft Punk - High Life
Rye Rye - Shake It To the Ground
Klaxons - As Above, So Below
Radiohead - Everything In Its Right Place
Trevor Loveys & Sinden - Organ Grinder
Franki Valli & The Four Seasons - Beggin' (Pilooski edit)
Pixies - Where Is My Mind?


So awesome and so much fun.

Some pictures:

From DJ Mehdi & Busy P at Santos Party House

Here's one by one of my readers, Jose:


Check out a bunch more he took here.

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Degenerates - Tommy Sunshine, Moby, and DJ Mehdi at Hiro 4/3/08

Last night's Degenerates party was great. Headed in with Paul around 11:30. Tommy Sunshine was already on deck dropping a banging remix of SMD's 'Hustler'. He played a lot of stuff I didn't know (like last time), but his set was solid and highly danceable. Busy Paul and I discussed how though his set was great, you could tell he was holding back...like he really could've opened it up, gone all out, and made everyone lose their shit, but he didn't. He kept it fun, but not crazy and got everyone all warmed up for Moby's set. Big ups to Tommie for showing some restraint. If I was as talented as he is and had so much music at my disposal I don't know if I would be able to do that.

Around 12:30 Moby went on. He killed as he has been at all the other parties...a great mix of old school stuff with enough new to keep it interesting. He played 'Hey Boy, Hey Girl' by the Chemical Brothers and I absolutely freaked out. He also played one of his new tracks - 'Disco Lies'. It's a good song, but it seemed a little out of place. Just a tad too disco-ey to throw in with what he was playing. I really like the song though. Also, the video is really funny/awesome/will make you feel really bad about eating chicken:



My only "gripes" w/ his deejay set...he played Bassment Jaxx 'Where's your head at' which I think he's played at every Degenerates party so far, and also one of his songs, I think it's 'We Are All Made of Stars', but I'm not sure. And really, these aren't really gripes...the crowd has a good reaction to both of them, they're a lot of fun to dance to, and unless you've been to most of the other parties you wouldn't know, so whatever. Anyway...

He killed it until about 1:45? Then DJ Mehdi went on. I can't remember what he opened with. Then he dropped that track that repeats "My baby is not at home" (that I don't know the name of). He also dropped in no particular order:

the songs that goes "this...is going...to make you freak", which I think is called "Freak" and is by LFO, but not sure.
the Chemical Brothers - Do It Again
Klaxons - Magick (Simian Mobile Disco remix)
Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (original version)
Justice - DVNO (Justice Remix)(great to hear out for a change instead of the Phantoms, which btw were also dropped by DJ Mehdi and Tommie Sunshine. BP and I were discussing how they've kind of had their run...I love the Justice album, but I am really tired of hearing only those 2 songs and D.A.N.C.E. when I'm out. Especially from deejays on Ed Banger...I love their sets regardless, but don't they have access to any of the new music coming out?)

DJ Mehdi's set was serious fun, and he's so happy to be deejaying - always dancing around and smiling. Easily becoming one of my fave deejays. Obligatory cellphone pic:



Overall it was a solid party and a great night of dancing. Hiro was packed for a good part of the evening and everyone was dancing. As expected, after Moby finished his set a lot of people headed out, but the floor was still pretty packed with the masses getting down until the end of DJ Mehdi's set at 3:30.

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Fool's Gold Tour at Hiro 10/17/07

Just walked in the door from the Fool's Gold showcase at Hiro. Allow me to preface this by saying I was extremely torn about what to do this evening. After a lot of deliberation, my plan for most of today was to go to the Black Ghosts' set at the Delancey and then hop in a cab and go to Hiro. I got cold feet at the last minute so I just went straight to Hiro. I am SO glad I did. I'm sure the Black Ghosts were great. I witnessed them play a dope little set to a nearly empty room on Monday evening. It broke my heart.

In any case...I arrived at Hiro a hint after 11. My sole reasons for going to Hiro were A-trak & Mehdi and Kavinsky. Nobody else. When I arrived Kid Cudi was in the middle of his set. I wasn't impressed at all. I actually thought he was pretty bad...underwhelming lyrics, didn't flow well either. Cool Kids went on after him...I liked them a bit better. They were clearly better, more experienced rappers, but still they were just lacking something. They had a good flow and good beats, but their raps themselves were just kind of weak overall. There were a couple that were alright, but for the most part I was just feeling ehh about the whole thing. Kid Sister was on next. She had a lot of energy...but her voice wasn't great. On the first song you couldn't tell what she was saying. She also sounded like she was straining her voice a lot and it did not sound good. Out of breath too. On the upside...some dope samples! Sinden's Beeper and TTC's Telephone.

Now up until this point I was getting a bit annoyed that I had caught all these acts I could care less about, but was missing the Black Ghosts. But then...just past 12:30 DJ Mehdi and A-trak hit the decks. Had I gone to see the Black Ghosts I would have missed at least a half hour, probably closer to an hour if the Ghosts didn't start on time/ran late and you include getting up to Hiro from the LES.

From the moment they started their set I knew I had made the right decision. The floor was packed. Everyone was getting down. Immediately I thought of the Ed Banger showcase back in March...it had that everyone losing their shit, happy vibe. They played a ton of awesome shit. Some of it, in no particular order:

Justice -Genesis
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (A-trak's new remix)
Boys Noize - Oh!
Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler (original version)
Gossip - Standing in the Way of Control (Soulwax remix)
Boys Noize - & Down
Dj Mehdi -I Am Somebody into Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's Apache into Justice's Let There Be Light aka ahhhhhh!!!!!!!
Justice - Phantom Part II
Stardust - Music Sounds Better With You
Kanye West - Stronger
Daft Punk - Rollin' & Scratchin'
Uffie - Ready to Uff
Zongamin - Bongo Song
Daft Punk - Aerodynamic
Digitalism - Jupiter Room
Busy P - Rainbow Man
Crystal Waters - Gypsy Woman

At some point I worked my way back towards the restroom and who do I spot but James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco) sitting on the benches. Saw him at the Syndicate party on Monday, read that he was at the 'Sup Magazine party last night...he's everywhere!

Anyway...shortly after I got back on the floor Kavinsky started. I can't remember much of what he played. I didn't know as much of it as Mehdi and A-trak's set. He played a lot of his own stuff (Wayfarer and Testarossa) which sounded great on a loud system and fit really well with everything else he was playing. That time I saw him at Studio B and couldn't get into it was a total fluke incident. Toward 3 you could tell he was kinda running out of stuff to play/was done playing for the 20 people that were left in the place. He put on the remix of Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name Of and then kind of scurried away once he got A-trak back on the stage. A-trak joked around briefly, put on a song, and thanked everyone for coming out, and then everybody started to gradually leave.

*dun dun dun* camera phone! I wasn't able to get any pictures of DJ Mehdi and A-trak because the crowd stormed the stage from the get-go and never really let up. By the time Kavinsky went on there were just a few people up there so you could see him through the crowd. And then some dude saw me taking a picture and made me hop up there which wound up being a lot of fun...and the pictures came out better than they woulda been:

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Let me sleep on it, I'll give you an answer in the morning

Just got home (after an annoyingly longer than usual subway ride...it felt like I was pacing on the 6 platform forever!) from Korrupt at Hiro. I just stayed for DJ Mehdi and A-trak's joint DJ set. It was awesome. They had the hip-hoppers moving to electro, the dance kids hip-hoppin. Excellent. What DJ-ing is all about if you ask me.

However...when I first got there (about 11:30 or so) as other Ed Banger's have reported no one was moving. Maybe like 5 people on the floor. The benches and tables Hiro sets up on the dance floor, that I haven't seen out there in ages...were fully intact and being used...people were sitting at them...and drinking...and talking...it was unnerving. I love a night of good dancing more than almost anything else...but when I realized Medhi was starting and that virtually nobody was moving...I was pissed at myself for not having more ambition to get on the dance floor. I'm still shy to a point. Old habits die hard.

Anyway...2 cocktails, and 2 dance tunes later (I want to say Human After All, but don't hold me to that and SMD's It's the Beat) I was out there gettin' down and I didn't stop until Medhi and A-trak were off the decks (around 1:30).

The entire evening consisted of a genre mash-up. Medhi dropped tracks from literally every current French act (Daft Punk, Justice - alot of Justice - Let There Be Light, Phantom, Waters of Nazareth, the We Are Your Friends remix; Sebastian - Ross Ross Ross; his ownself - I am Somebody), plus SMD, plus "Whoo! Alright, Yeah, Uh-huh" by the Rapture and either he or A-trak mixed em up with some old, poppy hip-hop-ish stuff, i.e. Bucketheadz "The Bomb", Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman", Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band "Apache"...the list goes on.

Some observations...the crowd was mainly into hip-hop. You could tell. Some hip-hop track I didn't recognize would drop and all of a sudden everyone would be going bananas...on the same token...I think I was the only one...I am serious (at least the only one in my vicinity) yelling along to "We Are Your Friends"...and "Whoo! Alright, Yeah, Uh-huh"...and umm every dance track with a chorus.

Ok...here is where you really start kicking yourself for not going. Mehdi dropped, in it's pure unadulterated entirety:

1. the new Kanye track that HEAVILY samples Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"

2. the new Justice...no, not D.A.N.C.E. (as dope as that would have been), but an ever NEWER track, Genesis!

The extra kick in the ass...they are both stored in my cellllllll phone! and I can't get them out to share with you. I didn't even realize my phone had recording capabilities (and I use that term loosely, the quality is pretty horrible...it's the function on the phone to leave yourself reminders to pick up your dry cleaning and stuff like that, plus there are various people chatting...and me yelling like a maniac) until halfway through the Kanye track. It's hard to even hear him so it sounds mainly like a really shittily recorded version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" with some faint Kanye over it. However...despite my bitterness toward Kanye due to his sorely losing Best Video to Justice/So Me...the track is pretty dope. But...it mainly sounds like a mash-up of any other already existing Kanye song with Daft Punk.

Point number 2, Genesis was dope! Lives up to all Justice's prior stuff.

I am going to make a more serious effort tomorrow to try to get this stuff off of my phone and onto the computer. It's not looking promising though...the only options it gives me are to erase or rename... :(

Also, I would be remiss if I did not say what a gent DJ Mehdi is. Got the name of the new Justice track from him and he was quite gracious when I thanked him for dropping such a dope set.

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