KID606 with Gold Chains, LESSER and KnifeandCHOP at the Tequila Lounge, April 5. Tickets: $9. Attendance: 250. Rating: NNNN
Rating: NNNN
could a cutting-edge electronic music showcase work at the Tequila Lounge? Until just recently, the idea of staging rock and roll gigs at the salsa hangout sounded ridiculous, but Dan Burke seems to be making a go of it, so bring on Kid606 and his fellow laptop-tapping threats.
Local glitch guy Knifeandchop in de rigueur visor and hoodie switched from a low-key thud to reckless Congo Natty-style ragga rudeness, but nothing he was channelling could unfold the arms of the stationary few before him. He had to resort to dropping some J-Lo and Destiny’s Child into the mix before any heads would nod.
Next up, Lesser fared no better with his video game blip-blopping, so he wisely gave up and took advantage of the gigantic bass bins with some deep dub-thumping. The additional Bollywood bits were a nice touch, but it took Gold Chains to get the party rocking with crunchy old-school hiphop beats and surprisingly skilful microphone technique.
Just a couple of mouse clicks and Gold Chains was down front bumpin’ rump with his bearded bedroom brothers, flowing with the Cali-fine flava that’s earning him a rep as the Egyptian Lover of the IDM clique.
With the dance floor filled in anticipation of the main event, Kid606 didn’t disappoint. He stylishly flipped the lids of his dual iBooks and got busy on his KAOSS mixer tweaking, tickling and slapping sonic barrages whose interlocking beats and overlapping melodies came across like four radio stations playing different songs yet strangely in sync.
As Kid606 peered into his glowing blue screen, the great humming whoosh got louder and heavier. The windows began to rattle, and just when it felt like something might blow, the familiar lick from Missy Elliott’s Get Ur Freak On suddenly started, and the place went mad crazy.
Looking over his screen tops, the stone-faced glitch guru couldn’t help but crack a smile at the raised hands and jubilant holler, knowing that everyone was too busy getting down to notice the paradigm shift.
