I agree--a very fun show Sat night. Prob the most fun I've had at a show in SF.
(Which isn't really saying a whole lot, since my wife and I haven't
gone out a whole lot since moving here a couple years ago.)
Seemed like it took some time for Arnold and Ayro to warm up, and for
the crowd to warm up to them. Unfort there were only a handful of
people really dancing. But everyone seemed into what they were doing.
Got the impression that they impressed everyone. Esp Ayro on the MPC.
I was wondering how the crowd was feeling the Prince and Wham covers.
I certainly was. Wham into time space transmat was memorable. As
was my detroit players pitched up and looped.
It was def a shame that a different set of promoters brought Recloose
for the same night, but across town! I mentioned this to John and
Jeremy, and they agreed that they all should have been at the same
party. They didn't know Recloose was also booked in town until that
day.
I was hoping to make it across town to catch some of Recloose's set,
but John and Jeremy took their set until almost 2am, and my crew
didn't have the energy for more. Was there any sort of afterhours
get-together?
The bit about the bouncer threatening Ayro--and Ayro showing him
up--was also memorable. Seemed almost too ridiculous to be true. Esp
since isn't it the case that the promoters manage that whole club?
All in all, a very good night of music and dancing. No coincidence
that the best nights out we've had in SF have been this one, John
Arnold doing a DJ set at Milk last summer, and Amp Fiddler's show @ Cafe
du nord, also last summer. well, also the spinna/bobbito wonder-full party
last Dec.
we need more 313 in the bay! does seem like the Fresco/Massive Selector people
are into
it from the broken beat/soul perspective (http://www.massiveselector.com/ ,
http://fresco-style.com/events/index.php) actually, MS is doing a 2nd
installment of
wonder-full in early Dec.
--suman
PS: I also had Konoko on my to-do list for the weekend, but didn't
have the energy. Plus, the SFJazz tickets are so dam expensive.
--- dave cronin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Yeah, Misters Ellis and Arnold certainly were a hoot.
I would have liked a little more of the Ayro keyboard
action, but that was some crazy science on the MPC
(their fingers looked kinda sore at the end of all
that). Once again, respect to Fresco for bringing in
some great talent for a fun night.
So I obviously didn't catch Recloose, but did see
Konoko No. 1 at the Jazz Fest last night, and they
were totally incredible and quite techno-relevant,
actually. There was a drummer on a kit, a guy on big
hand-drums playing the bass pulse, 3 guys on the crazy
home-made electric thumb pianos (into Fender amps,
with distortion), a cow-bell/clave and a couple
vocalist/dancers.
The beats were in a very minimal polyrhythmic afro
style-- stripped-down and repetitive (in a good way),
with a lot of nuance in the timing and phasing. A
couple of the songs were over 30 minutes.
The thumb-piano sounds reminded me a lot of the the
afro side of Heiroglypic Being and the whole thing was
totally rockin. Check them if you can-- underground
sounds from the Congo.
-d
--- James Hurlbut [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Fun show by Jeremy Ellis and John Arnold last night
in san francisco
despite an insecure bouncer pulling the plug in the
middle of a jam
to announce last call and then physically
threatening Ayro! Some of
the covers were a bit cheeky for my tastes like
Ayro's take on
Erotic City but others were blended beatifully
like Wham and a nice
little nod to 313 with bits of Night Drive through
Babylon. Funny to
hear Ayro croon John Beltran's big club hit Kissed
by the Sun.
Overall, I would say to me it was a digestable
detroit sound,
whatever that means. Some great mpc jams rearranging
salsa tunes and
james brown cuts to maximum effect.
Wholelottatalentonthestage.
Thanks John! Any bodies in the bay make it out to
Recloose? bad
timing with those two shows being the same night.
