Wow. What a weekend. I am finally home from the Phishing trip, which Vito will hopefully describe at some point. This post, however, is concerning one event on that trip, namely the concert I witnessed last Friday night, August 13th. (Sorry for the delay. DJ Hero/school planning HARD is a series of parties and concerts promoting electronic music and was created in LA by one of the featured DJ's at the event. He played under the name Destructo and along with the HARD Summer Tour organizes some of the biggest electronic music events of the year in New York, LA, and other major cities. You can view the full list of events and the lineup for the upcoming HARD shows here. Over the years events like HARD Haunted Mansion have housed the hottest and most talented electronic acts for some truly amazing performances, like this video of deadmau5 that represented one of his finest moments.
(IMO the crowd did not react the way they would if that show happened only yesterday, but just for the setting it was a special event for sure.)
When I realized I had the chance to sneak in a stop in Chicago and see some great dance music, I jumped at the opportunity. Only later did I realize that this was one of the handful of appearances in the United States for the Brazilian disco-house geniuses known as The Twelves. To see their influence on the current indie dance scene, look no further than their abundance on the hype machine. While popularity on the hype machine search engine does not always equate to quality, in this case it definitely does. The Twelves are one of the most talked about groups to emerge on the scene due to their unrivaled skill in turning many already-good songs into truly euphoric funky disco jams. For instance, check out this remix of the song "Seven" by Fever Ray >>
For a song that was originally dark and haunting, The Twelves somehow managed to make the vocals seem more like they were created solely for a house clubbing experience, along with bouncing snares and cymbals and a bass/synth/strings combination straight out of Saturday Night Fever. (At least, I think it would be. Never seen it.)
The full line-up at the Congress for the evening, as well as the set times, was tweeted by Rusko before the show:
Seeing that The Twelves grabbed a 9 PM slot and that Rusko was closing the night was one of the most beautiful sights that day, (aside from the people I went to the show with.)
By the time I arrived, Midnight Conspiracy was already halfway through their set of mostly average-sounding electro, with the high points being some Proxy tracks that always get the crowd going (Raven, his Home Zone remix) For a small Chicago act they did a serviceable job of warming up the crowd for Destructo, which is not an enviable job when most of the audience is truly the most excited to see Crystal Castles over all of the other acts. More on that later.
Destructo proceeded to play a mostly fun and forgettable set but clearly had the stage presence and respect of the audience to get the crowd moving and the energy level up for The Twelves.
They proceeded to play the best set of the night overall by having superior track selection, mixing ability, and overall energy and smoothness. The crowd may not have been jumping the entire time but that is not the purpose of house music. The purpose is to shake your ass, and I did that like my life depended on it to a set that included their versions of songs by Ratatat ("Wildcat"), Phoenix ("Lizstomania", "Fences"), The Virgins ("Rich Girls"), Empire of the Sun ("We are the People", "Walking on a Dream"), Two Door Cinema Club ("Something Good Can Work"), a Justice and Michael Jackson mash-up of "Stress" and "Thriller" (AMAZING), "Funky Town", and their classic remixes of Fever Ray ("Seven"), Black Kids ("Not Gonna Teach"), and a truly magical rendition of "Reckoner" off of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Go find all of those remixes and their BBC Radio 1 Essential mix to get a better grip on why these guys are the most exciting thing in indie house music in a while.
After The Twelves blew my mind, Sinden hopped on the decks for at the time was my most unanticipated set simply because I was not familiar with him before this event. Destructo repeatedly called him "London's Best" and while he was not even the best DJ from London on the bill that night (Rusko), he still managed to put down a set of mostly electro-house with a dark and heavy sound that bled with the London imprint. It was refreshing and had the crowd hyped for nearly the entire set, with countless big drops and beats with more of a hip-hop influence than any of the previous DJs. A high point of the set was the inclusion of the sure-fire banger from Swedish House Mafia called "One." This track has been making the round in clubs around the world and will continue to be stuck in my head just the way "Satisfaction" is permanently embedded.
By the time I arrived, Midnight Conspiracy was already halfway through their set of mostly average-sounding electro, with the high points being some Proxy tracks that always get the crowd going (Raven, his Home Zone remix) For a small Chicago act they did a serviceable job of warming up the crowd for Destructo, which is not an enviable job when most of the audience is truly the most excited to see Crystal Castles over all of the other acts. More on that later.
Destructo proceeded to play a mostly fun and forgettable set but clearly had the stage presence and respect of the audience to get the crowd moving and the energy level up for The Twelves.
They proceeded to play the best set of the night overall by having superior track selection, mixing ability, and overall energy and smoothness. The crowd may not have been jumping the entire time but that is not the purpose of house music. The purpose is to shake your ass, and I did that like my life depended on it to a set that included their versions of songs by Ratatat ("Wildcat"), Phoenix ("Lizstomania", "Fences"), The Virgins ("Rich Girls"), Empire of the Sun ("We are the People", "Walking on a Dream"), Two Door Cinema Club ("Something Good Can Work"), a Justice and Michael Jackson mash-up of "Stress" and "Thriller" (AMAZING), "Funky Town", and their classic remixes of Fever Ray ("Seven"), Black Kids ("Not Gonna Teach"), and a truly magical rendition of "Reckoner" off of Radiohead's In Rainbows. Go find all of those remixes and their BBC Radio 1 Essential mix to get a better grip on why these guys are the most exciting thing in indie house music in a while.
After The Twelves blew my mind, Sinden hopped on the decks for at the time was my most unanticipated set simply because I was not familiar with him before this event. Destructo repeatedly called him "London's Best" and while he was not even the best DJ from London on the bill that night (Rusko), he still managed to put down a set of mostly electro-house with a dark and heavy sound that bled with the London imprint. It was refreshing and had the crowd hyped for nearly the entire set, with countless big drops and beats with more of a hip-hop influence than any of the previous DJs. A high point of the set was the inclusion of the sure-fire banger from Swedish House Mafia called "One." This track has been making the round in clubs around the world and will continue to be stuck in my head just the way "Satisfaction" is permanently embedded.
Alas, the night was still raging after I had danced my way through about 3 1/2 hours of material. Next up was Crystal Castles. I enjoy their albums and think they are one of the unique acts in electro these days, bringing in a punk/thrash element. However, they have taken that aspect way too far for me to enjoy their live shows anymore. As soon as Alice Glass came on stage to "sing" the first song, I knew I was not truly a Crystal Castles fan. The strobe lights, screaming, moshing and thrash metal riffs were things I never want to see involved with house music again. I can imagine this is also what the new Bloody Beetroots live tour is like. Most of the crowd, and I mean literally about 80 to 90 percent, loved all of these things I just described, and put up with Alice's exorcism screaming to hear the entire show, which still boasted many of the catchy beats Crystal Castles possess on their albums. And they didn't even play "Vanished", their most mellow/uncharacteristic/catchy song from their first album. Probably because it is only a remix of another band's song. Those youtube comments can be really educational!
Finally, after an hour of having to sit in the hallway to avoid bleeding ears, Crystal Castles finished their set and it was Rusko time. Most of the crowd exited the theater, apparently being there purely for Crystal Castles and having no interest in one of the hottest dubstep acts in the world. More room for me! I nabbed a spot 5 feet from the railing and proceeded to have my nerve endings wobbled into submission for an hour. Rusko's set was heavy on material from his new album O.M.G.! which is a good thing considering he played bangers like "Woo Boost" and the Subskrpt remix of that track. He also played some of his previous popular singles like "Mr. Chips" and the more recent "Da Cali Anthem", which samples Tupac's "California Love."
The thing that made Rusko's set so amazing was his incomparable energy while spinning. He jumped nearly the entire set, got the crowd to do so at will, and dropped huge beats continuously. One of the other fun parts was that he mixed in his favorite remixes of his tracks after playing the drops of the original versions. Even when told he had three minutes left before the 1:30 AM curfew, he managed to sneak in the drops from about four more tracks.
Overall, the highlights of the night were Rusko's unparalleled energy in DJing dubstep and The Twelves' incomparable skill in producing their sound. Honorable mention goes to Sinden. Here are some of the songs worth checking out.
HNW's Picks: HARD Summer Tour '10
Reckoner (The Twelves Remix) - Radiohead
Not Gonna Teach (The Twevles Remix) - Black Kids
Rich Girls (The Twelves Remix) - The Virgins
Seven (The Twelves Remix) - Fever Ray
Swagga - Excision & Datsik
Bruk Out (Buraka Som Sistema Remix) - Major Lazer
Hold On ft. Amber Coffman (12th Planet Remix) - Rusko
Raven (Live Edit) - Proxy
Home Zone (Proxy Remix) - Digitalism
Babylon - Congorock
