Rating: NNNNN
Midnight hour
Mario J and Kenny Glasgow explored their former identities last Friday when ADD Events hosted Midnight Madness at the Mod Club Theatre. Mario J, one of the people behind ADD, has recently returned to Toronto from Barcelona. He also brought Arthur Baker’s Return To New York party to the Mod Club a few weeks back.
Both he and Glasgow have changed their styles since the old Industry days – the quirky electro-funk aspect is more upfront, the pummelling boom-boom less of a focus. But this time out, their tag-team set was harder than what I’ve heard from either in a while.
Mod Club was pretty full, with a weird mix of Industry veterans and random people wandering in from the College strip. The crowd always seems more pushy than normal at Mod Club Theatre, which could be blamed on chaotic foot traffic patterns in a busy bar.
The lighting system is excellent for a mid-sized club, but the sound is a lot better on rock-oriented nights. For dance music, it always sounds muffled and distant.
The Dukes played their own tag-team set earlier on, which in some ways was more exciting than the headliners’, moving through a greater variety of rhythms and ideas. Their two-pronged attack is confident and fluid. Considering that the two have been living in the different cities for a while, that’s pretty impressive.
T.O. over NYC
Later on Friday, we rushed down to Thymeless for the tail end of Will Munro ‘s No TO party and ran into a couple of NYC fashion types in town for fashion week. It was interesting to hear them confirm what touring DJs have been saying for the last few years: the party scene in New York is pretty sad these days. The plague of chi-chi bottle-service lounges has almost completely displaced the club scene, helped along by draconian laws forbidding dancing in most bars. Even though there wasn’t much going on last weekend in T.O., our options were still pretty good.
No TO’s monthly tribute to the spastic disco punk of the no-wave scene has settled into its home at Thymeless after attempting a run at the Silver Dollar down the street. While the Silver Dollar boasted a live stage that suited Munro’s earlier intention of bringing in bands, the vibe at Thymeless is more intimate and feels more like a party.
Beaconsfield surprise
Saturday night, we met up with some friends at the Beaconsfield , which has developed into quite a happening spot since it opened. We intended to just have a drink and move on, but before we knew it, it was last call.
The Saturday-night resident DJs were among the reasons that time flew by. They played an eclectic mix of electro, acid, punk funk and even some drum ‘n’ bass. They don’t seem overly serious about the whole thing – when asked for their stage names, a DJ had to think for a minute before answering, “I guess you could call us Fleetwood and Goodman .”
I guess they’re stuck with that now.
