Yvonne Liu (yl28172@yahoo.com)
Fri, 6 Nov 1998 09:43:05 -0800 (PST)
My friend Michael Hauben had
a few interesting comments
about the Opening Night party.
---Michael Hauben <hauben@columbia.edu> wrote:
>
>
> Ya saw Yvonne's review - now ya get my quick one ;)
>
> First of all CMJ is still primarily a "rock/pop" oriented affair.
> My only problem is that I think the rawk guys do it fine their
> own way and when electronic musicians try to do it - for the most
> part they fall on their faces because it is much the antithesis
> of what electronic music is about. Okay - there are some REALLY
> REALLY good electronic preformers who mix electronics and bands
> in live performaces (underworld is engaging, others have said
> roni size, groups like electronic skychurch and dub tribe, etc)
> Also the organization of how they switched between acts was much
> much more like a concert than a party - but maybe live acts do
> really require that much time for stage setup to be broken down
> and built up again. I thknk the best idea would be to do a Les
> Miserables like thing and have a rotating stage so you can setup
> while one act if on. YES (heheeh) did this on their Union tour.
>
> Also the crowd was generally lame, had incidents with two drunk
> assholes that I won't go into, and it was very much a standaround
> "what da hell is this?" type crowd - not all, but lots.
>
> Spooky was weird - as he had very very little electronics in his
> live set - kinda like the spooky big band - and while it was
> definitly crowd pleasing there were only a few moments other than
> the DJing that really moved me.
>
> His DJing - especailly when mixing the jazz elements in reminded
> me alittle of his older style when he was very much about
> layering really interesting sounds and textures as an ambient DJ
> - does anyone have any old old mixtapes of his like this? Because
> they were litterally trips.
>
> Also I was highly disappoinbted by Rob Swift - I expected TONS of
> turntable techtronics and diplays of his deft hands - he did some
> - but primarily again this was "big band" with like 3 rappers and
> instruments playing - and the rappers were okay on the fly - but
> their voices were wayyy tooo soft for my ears - almost should
> have been a soul or r&b act and not hophop really...
>
> Anyhow Ryuichi Sakamoto was really cool - going much much more
> ambient styling than his classical performace (which spooky was
> at as well) at the NYC WIntergarden sometime last year. I quite
> enjoyed his set but only wished I was sitting down with my eyes
> closed just listening and concentrating...(And Yvonne couldn't
> stop drooling and saying "Ohhhh, he's sooooo beautiful" QUOTE:
> "I'll show some cleavagetoattract his attention." heheh, girls ;))
>
> What absolutly SAVED the show was DJ Krush and Coldcut. Krush
> STOLE the show in my opnion - doing much much more crazy ass
> beats and jazzzzzzzzy interludes than Spooky did on the turntables.
> I need to check out more of Krush's stuff because his CD on
> COldCutCrush didn't interest me that much - but I love the
> instrumental sped up hiphop that is his fare and like the MoWax
> label. Can anyone recommend any mix cds or whatnot?
> Krush absolutly RAWKED this show in the way few rock bands could
> have, and especially not spooky and rob swift. I could not stop
dancing...
>
> Coldcut are so cool - they have their own projections, timed in
> synch with the music - as Yvonne said liek the
> Disney animated Jungle Book sequence with (I just want to be
> you) and so on... Really really rocking intelligent music that
> would've kicked Jill's ass (heheh)
>
> While Talvin Singh's live set was quite beautiful, this guy is
> seriously pretensious. I dunno about Yvonne - but I dount
> ANYTHING was happening in this guys crotch (other than this one
> asshole camera guy staring at it) - those faces he was making
> were pure show. He's good on the Tabalas, but I doubt he was off
> in another world really. His projections were much more
> interesting than watching him.
>
> But I'd be interested in what people think about his debut live album.
>
> Lets see - who am I leaving out? Well Mixmaster Mike had a cool
> set doing what Rob Swift should have been doing.
>
> Sadly missed We, Prince Paul & The Automatorand Badwai cause they
> were up in a different room, but at least WE I can see again...
>
> Tony M. were you there? I missed seeing you :(
>
> um, forgetting stuff but still twas a fun party as the night went
> on :) and ROXY is such an awesome space - I'm sad I missed the
> Grooverider / Fabio party here.
>
> cheers!
>
> .\.\ichael -- sentinel
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Michael Hauben Teachers College Dept. of Communication
> Netizens Netbook
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/
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> <a href="http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~hauben/">Netizens Cyberstop</A>
>
==
Hermit Thrushes are elusive
and tend to drift quietly
as we are doing now
( I too consider myself a demented drifter )
-- Franklin Rosemont, Penelope
( Chicago Surrealist Editions: 1997 )
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