Let's start by saying- Jungle is here to stay among the "jazzmopolitan"
crowd. (irreverant, and irrelavent, questions, but does Straight No Chaser
have a "fashion" section?....) Of the more or less 5 hours I was there,
they played solid jungle I'd say a third to half the time (maybe I'm
exagerrating, but they played a *lot*).
On one hand, it was cool, because I've been out of the loop so long that
it was all new music to me. The first DJ (Paul?) started off with some
interesting DJ tunes, then Jason Bentley (? someone correct me here) spun
jungle forever. Dorfmeister came out and changed the scene, spinning
some wicked, complex tracks. I lost track there for a bit, but obviously
it was a welcome change cause the floor got *packed*. Unfortunately I
was too busy dancing to keep track of what Dorfy was doing, and by the
time I looked up again, Mammal vs. the Dog were spinning jungle again.
Somehow I was expecting more from a 4 turntable mix- from what I could
tell one was playing the tune, and the other was adding scratches and
"commentary." Not that I'm knocking them- they kept me dancing, and
that's what is and where it's at. Finally, towards the end, they did
slow down and start playing something that coulnd't be descibed as junlge
or trip hop (which, however inadequately described, were categories most
of the music fell into). So although it was cool, and danceable, where's
the variety you find, for example, on this list?
Other thoughts- Lots of "beautiful" people, lots of happy
people, lots of drugged people (cause-effect?). Although, again, I got
the feeling that it was a "show and be seen" gig, there also seemed to be
people who came to dance (including all the guys who were dancing alone
at the beginning- er, including me- which I haven't seen in straight clubs
since Europe).
OK- so this isn't a great review, but I actually had fun, and it was a
better night of dancing for me (most of the time the clubs are too small
and crowded). Someone else have comments? Anyone else there?
Finally- Two questions: Who waxed the floor? And more importantly, why
is it that the dancejazz DJs in this city can't seem to MATCH BEATS!! The
showcase DJs were fine, but the first guy (Paul?) didn't even try. I'm
not just busting him, but I've seen this all over the city (Elbo Room,
Up and Down, Nickies), and not with just "live" old funk tunes. I thought
beat matching was part of DJ 101. You wouldn't want me to believe that the
DJs here are getting gigs just because they've got the records, not
because of their skills... Tell me it ain't so... Or is there something
I'm missing here? I'm open- tell me.
Allright- got that out of my system, got my asbestos undies on. :-)
Greg