Jonathan Takagi (jtakagi@millennianet.com)
Mon, 21 Jun 1999 21:01:28 -0700
SONAR is more of a fashion show than a festival,
more of a social event than a music extravaganza.
But nonetheless there were some fantastic things
to see/hear, some related to the a-j list.
JOE CLAUSSEL: DJ'ed in the main club, absolutely
outstanding. Basically what I expected, some of
his own music, seeming to make good use of that
Ibadan DJ Tools record he put out a while ago to
link the tracks. Hearing him play out the latest
Jamiroquai single put it in a completely new and
refreshing context. "Samba Magic" just about blew
the roof off and he rounded it off with some Bob
Marley. It's great to hear a DJ take chances, play
different things, especially to a crowd of a few
thousand people who really just want to hear hard
techno a la Jeff Mills.
RAINER TRÜBY: Younger than I thought he'd be, really
nice guy, friendly to everyone and seemed very happy
to be there. Placing him right after Kruder & Dorfmeister
may have been a slight handicap since his set was along
the same lines, but the track selection was immaculate.
COMPOST RECORDS: I forgot what the guy's name was, but
he's the head of Compost, and spun what seemed to be almost
50% white labels, many of which were new Rainer Trüby
Trio stuff. I'm sorry I insulted the Compost compilations
in the past, because all the music he played was excellent
and I can't wait to find some of it. Much more organic
and vibrant than I expected.
KRUDER & DORFMEISTER: Proved themselves to be stars. If
you've heard their comps you pretty much know what to
expect.
Most of the other stuff I saw was pretty far from a-j
territory, often quite weird (Ryoji Ikeda, Fat Cat, Fennesz,
Jim O'Rourke etc.) but always fascinating.
For those of you into the Bertrand Burgalat school of music,
as was discussed a while ago, the new Tricatel compilation
("Au coeur de Tricatel") is excellent, it creates a very strong
and particular label identity. Even the notorious author
Michel Houellebecq (Les elements particulières) has a track on it.
Jonathan
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