proteus
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Canada
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Joined: Jun, 2004
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 Posted - 2004/08/07 : 11:34:24
cosmiccommunist
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Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 5:51 pm Post subject: Review of Thymeless show and ramblings about the mighty C-64 Reply with quote
Last night, I was lucky enough to remember that it was time for the latest installment of Altered Beats, which is a monthly showcase for a lot of left-field turntable talent in this city. Quite simply put, I had one of the best musical experiences that I have had in ages. I was just crushed.
The night started innocuously enough, with a couple of sets of house-music that just kind of went in one ear and out the other. If I'm high enough, I can appreciate some dubby deep-house on occasion, but it's generally not my thing. It was all pleasant enough, providing as it did the excuse to down a couple of pitchers out on the lovely back patio (where we were visited by a couple of hardcore jungle-head raccoons, who snuck in for free).
The last couple of sets, though, brought everyone inside in a hurry. I have to give props to the organizers and their willingness to take risks by always slotting something a little unexpected on the bill. You could tell, however, that this crowd was just itching to hear some break-beat mayhem and would settle for nothing less. The minute Dominik jumped onto the turntables and some heavy bass blasted from the speakers, the place filled up seemingly out of nowhere. It was actually a fairly well-attended show, and he really got the crowd moving and jumping with a heavy-as-**** but funky jungle set that completely turned a fairly quiet night around in a hurry. Somebody told me that he used to play out all the time, but had gone into semi-retirement. I hope this show marks the beginning of a return for him because this city badly needs MORE of the type of tunage he spun last night, not less. I'll be sure to try to keep my eye out for him in the future, indeed.
It was the headliner, C-64, though, that really just tore my shit down. I've written about him here before, so I'm kind of running out of superlatives to describe the music this man spins. I really don't know what to say anymore. This man can just BRING IT like nobody else on the planet can. He is a top-notch talent, and the fact that you can often catch him spinning around this moribund city on any given night is something to be cherished. The fact that not a whole lot of people know who he is or what he is about says more about the lack of musical taste of too many in this town than his obvious level of talent. If that sounds like snobbery, well too bad. The fact that so many people drop their load at the mere mention of far lesser talents just eats at my craw. If you haven't ever heard the densely-complex, crushingly heavy d'n'b that this guy spins, do yourself a favour and show up at Here Comes the Drums Vol. 2 on Saturday August 7th at 149 Church St. Buzzer #3 at 11:30 pm. It costs 5 dollars before 11:30, 7 dollars after, and I GUARANTEE you that it will be money well-spent.
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I stepped outside briefly for a cigarette during C-64's searing set last night and engaged several people in conversation about his music. I have to say, the reactions were anything but lukewarm.
One guy, who was with a couple of his friends, was pretty vociferous in his complaints regarding the music's undanceability. He said, "I wish this guy would look up from his crates long enough to notice that the dance-floor is empty." It was true that the crowd that had packed the floor during Dominik's set had largely retreated back to their tables at this point. Don't kid yourself, though; when C-64 wants to, he can spin a set of conventional, straight-ahead and funky style of d'n'b, can get a crowd jumping with the best of them. Ultimately, what the guy who wished the music was more danceable has to realize, however, is that Altered Beats isn't just about that. It's an opportunity for DJs who do something a little differently with(in) generic styles of electronica to showcase their talents and be heard. The city is full of crowd-pleasing anthem players who can get a room moving on any given night. If that's all you're looking for, Altered Beats probably isn't for you, at least not all the time. The people who come out to play it are all usually doing something a little different and daring. Some of it is rump-shaking; some of it is more head music. It's ALWAYS above and beyond the generic, though. And, that's something to be celebrated, I think.
Another guy agreed with me that C-64's mixes were awesomely, almost overwhelmingly complex. He even went so far as to say that it was akin to "listening to Ornette Coleman or something." I've expressed the exact same sentiment in the past, but I think "Ascenscion"-era Coltrane, or the music of someone more contemporary, like Butch Morris, forms the basis of a more apt comparison. The modus operandi of someone like Morris involves utilizing conventional compositional practices, but then throwing the listener a curve by having some performers improvising freely within that framework. Similarly, on the "Ascenscion" album, Coltrane assembled a small orchestra of improvisers, had certain melodic/rhthmic motifs that would guide the direction of the piece, but then allowed the players to go off on wild, extended group improvisations. In both cases the end result, sonically speaking, is that there is so much going on at once that it becomes useless to talk about melody anymore. The music becomes massive waves of texture. And, the mixes of C-64 are like that sometimes. Dark, heavy basslines and constantly-shifting breakbeats whizz past with such complex, virtuosic speed and density that the music is no longer so much rhythm-based, but instead melds into gigantic, pulsating slabs of sound-texture. It can be breath-taking to behold at times, and I'm not aware of anybody working this particular mojo who can do it quite like he can. Awesome.
http://argh****kill.blogspot.com
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_01.02.03/thebeat/alteredbeats.html
www.alteredbeats.com
[email protected]
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