Rating: NNNNN
Sound advice
You couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for Montreal techno DJ Yaz at Surface Saturday night. Mono , the people behind the night, had rented additional sound for the back room to beef it up to techno standards, but something went terribly wrong. More than other types of dance music, techno relies on a certain amount of bass to work, but the low end was almost completely missing, and so was most of the high end, for that matter.
Yaz made the best of the situation, mixing well and dropping some great tracks, but most people ended up in the front room dancing to local DJs Ben Murko and Mat Lunnen , who were playing some funky tech house.
Next time Mono should make sure the extra equipment they bring in is working before the sound tech leaves for the night. No matter what Yaz did, he couldn’t get the crowd moving because the sound had no physicality.
At least it wasn’t as bad as the situation across town at the gay hiphop party Big Primpin ‘ at Stones Place , where they managed to blow the speakers partway through the night.
School’s in
Ended up at Club 56 later on Saturday for the monthly Slut School party and found the basement as hot and steamy as a sauna, which is a good thing, in case you were wondering. The mix of music, which includes 80s hair metal, booty, hiphop and new wave, is a bit bewildering, but the kids seem to like it and it’s definitely fun.
As the number of open-format DJ nights increases, promoters have to fine-tune their aesthetic in order to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. As much as this concept seems like an ironic joke, organizer Cindi Dynamo insists it was motivated purely by what they wanted to hear and by what they like.
DJs Fathom , Dig Dug and Fase all seem to have a good time with the night, possibly because they get to play music they couldn’t get away with at a “normal” hiphop night. The crowd had such a good time, they managed to empty the bar of beer and most other booze by the end of the night.
Donnie gig delayed
Many in the soulful house scene were eagerly anticipating Motown recording artist Donnie ‘s appearance Friday night at Roxy Blu since the house remixes of his singles Cloud 9 and Rocketship have been some of the genre’s biggest tunes over the past year. Unfortunately, fog prevented his plane from landing, and he was re-routed back to New York. Didn’t keep people from having a good time, though, and there was still a live element courtesy of the Shugga band and vocalist Sacha . For those still craving Donnie’s neo-soul crooning, the date will be rescheduled soon.
