Big Apple smitten with Europe’s freshest! Crookers, Danger, Spitzer at Webster Hall
Photo credit: Crookers
Saturday, June 21st saw the Big Apple debut of no less than three of 2008’s most blogged about and lauded upcoming European dance music talents, the mysterious masked Frenchman DANGER, fellow countrymen SPITZER and Italian wonk scallywags CROOKERS. This one night only event unfurled to a sold out crowd of fourteen-hundred excited individuals in the main room of the city’s venerable, Webster Hall.
The evening kicked-off in fine style around midnight with an appropriately hyper set of wobbly bassbin havoc courtesy of Trouble & Bass stalwart THE CAPTAIN. Any opening set that includes freshness like FOAMO’S “Rockerman” and the generally upfront sounds that the Trouble & Bass crew are known for purveying, is sure to get people moving.
Following the wobbly mayhem of THE CAPTAIN, Chicago’s Grey Goose guzzling godfather of Ghettotech DJ FUNK, took to the decks. FUNK’S two-hundred mile an hour blend of jackin’ Juke whipped the already excitable dance floor into an even sweatier pool of smiling faces.
Next, the pulsating sound of Electro-tinged Techy-Trance heralded the arrival of SPITZER, who drove head first into their smooth Trance-not-Trance set, an admittedly jarring change of pace from the three-hundred beats per minute, booty bass of DJ FUNK, but this duo from Lyon (sorry for misspelling – fixed!), France quickly had the happy sea of up-for-it punters eating out the palm of their hand. Indeed, anyone smitten by SPITZER’S handful of original productions like the excellent “Rainbow Warrior” or their quality remixes of KYLIE MINOGUE’S “In My Arms” and SALLY SHAPIRO’S “Time To Let Go,” would have been more than happy with the set they played this night.
By the time SPITZER’S set bubbled nicely to a close, it was 2am and finally time for the Phra and Bot (aka, CROOKERS) to take to the CDJ’s.
Photo credit: lastnightsparty.com
Despite the positive buzz generated by CROOKERS DJ stints elsewhere around the world — download their superb BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix and Gatecrasher Sound System mixes, from our MIXES section, for a taste of their established exploits elsewhere — expectations and excitement for their performance on this particular night was tangibly high. So did this much hyped Milanese production and remix team deliver the goods? Without hesitation I would have to say a hearty, yes! While not quite on par with their thoroughly brilliant, masterpiece of an Essential Mix, their Webster Hall set had the room in an utter frenzy, hundreds of people bouncing all around them on stage, feet stomping fists pumping until their last beat was dropped. Kudos to Webster Hall for allowing everyone to freely vibe and get up close and personal to the artist they’d waited so long to see perform in person. Finally CROOKERS had arrived stateside!
Photo credit: Phil Xander
Anyone left breathless by the finish of CROOKERS thunderous set around 3:30am, barely had time to recalibrate their eardrums before arguably the line-ups most exciting and certainly most fascinating artists appeared out of nowhere in his trademark “alien creature” mask. It was time to experience DANGER and what better time than 3:30am in the morning!
With DANGER’S appearance the lights in Webster Hall dimmed, about half of the fourteen-hundred strong crowd dissipated and a very low-end rumble started to throb from the sound system. Fluttering images of a jungle suddenly appeared on a massive screen behind the masked DJ, through the jungle a charatcter runs fantically from an unknown danger. For an hour DANGER won the hearts and minds of those who had committed to staying late to witness his unique brand of what can only be describe as cultish, Prog-Electro Soundtrack-Techno! Think VANGELIS meets THE PROXY meets secret society paranoia. DANGER left little doubt that much bigger things are in-store for his hypnotic, if still somewhat lo-fi stage show. The eye-popping, staccato VJ storytelling concept alone will capture the imagination of clubbers, artists and industry types alike and the mind simply boggles at how impressive it all might become with a real budget thrown at it. Time will hopefully tell.
So there we have it, three very different but equally spot-on debut performances that drew seemingly everyone involved with dance music in New York City to the same venue for one night. It was definitely one of the most interesting and eclectic nights of electronic music the city has seen in quite some time. There is little doubt that when DANGER, SPITZER and CROOKERS make their respective return journeys to spin in New York again, they will each have a swollen army of dedicated follows to call their own, in part thanks to this impressive showcase.
If you happen to be in New York this week you can catch DANGER and SPITZER again on Wednesday, June 25th at BODEGA, 1089 Broadway, Bushwick Brooklyn. Also, check out an interview with Vin of Midnight Juggernauts on music and NYC over at TheMusic.FM!!
Previous Spitzer on Trash Menagerie
Spitzer
Spitzer Is Blowing Up!
Spizter Gets Around
Spitzer Hits The Disco!
