Our fifth stimulus > response at Love was a great success. We shut down around 6:30am. I started out early, spinning 10-12:30. A big thanks to all the folks who came out early to hear me play: Richie, Ola, Loose, Lauren, Sabine, DC, Lord G, and those funny folks who started out the dancefloor super early around 10:15pm and announced themselves "we are the first people here...woooooo!" That's what I like to see :)
The system at Love is a monster. The booth had me a bit intimidated at first, even though we had already visited the booth at Love, taking it for a testspin of its precision. I played a mixture of dubby house, tech house, and some deeper material (ever notice that Soho's "Earth People" beats can be played at any hour of a party?) that got our early arrivals going. The crowd responded to tracks like Instant House's "Awade" and Kerri Chandler's "Out to the Boonies."
At 12:30, the Urban Relief Project came on and proceeded to take the energy in the place way up. Playing their uptempo high-energy blend of latin house, the room exploded as the crowd grew thicker. Channeling a little Todd Terry attitude and some Victor Calderone tribal intensity, Urban Relief's mixes were tight and the pitch built until 3am when Keith Blackstone came on. Keith broke through an even higher level of energy, throwing down hard tribal, new releases difficult to categorize, and favorites like Sotoshi Tomeii's "Love in Traffic."
The staff was wonderful, helpful, and attentive, the sound is hands down one of the best (if not the best) in the city. The warmth and clarity of an analog system has a special vibe to it. Add Love's decor (or lack of?), the staff's knowledge and committment to easthetics in music and nightlife culture, and and an overall good vibe, at moments I felt that spark and possibility of the underground. I question using that word as its come to have its own connotations, but I'm not sure how else to define it. People coming together to enjoy a vibe, music, energy, experience. We didn't have to buy bottle service or worry about what each other is wearing. It felt free (or low) of politics. Everyone seemed more concerned with having a good time.
Earlier this week I was speaking to a friend who commented that partying is back in fashion. Chinstroker techno nerds who would assemble and analyze the production techniques a particular artist used in a track are still doing so, but with beers and women in the vicinity. People want to dance, have a good time, and seek places where problems and preconceived notions are left at home. We deal with so much on a daily basis that most of us have little psychic space. Everything demands cost analysis or consideration against other information, options, and choices. Enjoying music or dance or movement or some other beta-wave activity is liberating to our brains.
Our lives have become more complex. Each time I make that statement I wonder if I'm not dating myself. Those born into this era know no different. Imagine how different their brains must be to that of a 50 year old or even someone 28. Therefore, what may become our distinctive markings in time is not our life experience, but that invisible but palpatable "vibe" a person's energy. That signal is more or less stable over a lifetime. Trauma and other difficult or disciplined events can alter it to a degree, but it seems most people are consistent and their basic nature is unchanged.
It's this basic nature that we use when we communicate via music or dance. It was comforting and encouraging to perceive that at Love this past Sunday. Hugs and respect to my stimulus family Silverbull, Keith, and Sean & John.
