Archive for March, 2009

I’m finally getting around to posting about these shows. They were like 2 weekends ago…

On March 20th I went with my friend Angela to the A-TRAK set at the Avalon in Hollywood. Much thanks to her friend Brad ( @BradHoss on Twitter). It was by far the best DJ set I’ve ever heard. He is unbelievable. He uses Serato, but he treats it as if it were a traditional setup. He does the actual moves, and goes through all of the motions, rather than just relying on the automatic functions, buttons & presets. He didn’t start til midnight, as he was at Nobu. (I was following him on Twitter @atrak ). So he was going long and they were telling everyone that they had to leave the second floor. I was not having it, long story, short, I was escorted out of the building. Still I had a good night.

The very next night, Tim, Bransby & I went to Vanguard to see Calvin Harris & Paul Oakenfold. Started off kinda early drinkin at The Shaw. Knowing that Calvin Harris had been sick recently & canceling shows, (Again… @calvinharris ) I was worried that he would not be at the show. I was actually more excited to see him, than Oakenfold. Of course when we went to get out tickets, there was a sign saying Calvin was sick and would not be performing. But a friend of Bransby’s let us through the VIP line with bands so we could go up stairs. All of the DJ’s prior were good, but Oakenfold was pretty sick. You could tell he was just up there frestyling & having a good time. He just played music that he liked and apparently everyone else did too. That’s what I enjoy most is just spinning stuff as it comes planned sets always sound sick, but spontaneity is what I crave.

On Monday night, there was an album release/listening party for their new album “Fist of God” at the Roxy. As soon as I got there I saw JFK (Half of MSTRKRFT… Not who you were thinking.) & Steve Aoki out front on Sunset Blvd. When I got inside, Dan-Oh was rockin it as the place filled up. I did not see Al-P, though I assume he was there. NORE came through. Now the moment we were all waiting for… (even though I’ve heard it all already) the new MSTRKRFT album! About half way through the record, Steve Aoki came in the club and the place went nuts. He set up his shit and before the album was done, he started his set. I have a new found love for Steve Aoki now. His set was BANGIN!!! He is totally out of control, dancing around an screeming in the mic between songs. He was chugging a bottle of Belvedere and soon began pouring it all over the predominently under-age crowd. He brought Andy Milanakis out, who was faded, to MC for a minute. It was not very good, but it was funny. Next up was Felix Cartal. I was very eager to watch his set as he did not use any tables or cdjs or anything. He used a program like Ableton, which apparently did most of the work for him. He did not even need headphones! I wish I knew exactly what was going on up there. Finally was Daniel Ledisko from LA Riots. He banged it out for a while, and really got the crowd movin. What I thought was shitty, is that many people at the show, each time a new DJ would come out, someone would turn to me and say, “who’s that?” Why the hell were those people there?! Anyways the show was very fun & inspiring, to say the least.

On Saturday I started off at a gathering at Sparrow’s place before the premiere of Sam’s movie “The Clubhouse Chronicles.” It was at the corner bar in Burbank. I could not stay long however, as I had to meet up with Tim & Angela downtown at Club Nokia to see Pendulum.

I had never seen Pendulum live before, but was told by Tim that it was going to be spectacular. A group called the Glitch Mob opened up the show. They were pretty sick. I would hope to have a digital group like that one day, because performing that way looks soo fun.

I won’t go into what we were doing at the show, as that’s not important. Pendulum however did not disappoint. They were set up as a live rock band, which I did not expect. Their sound was full and pounding, the lights were mezmorizing, and the crowd was lovin’ it.

After a quick search for someone I am afraid I’ll never see again, we left downtown and headed right to the studio at the Shaw. Some of Angela’s friends came back with us to chill and hear us spin. Personally I feel as though we get better with every session we have. I am not quite sure what time it was when we finally quit, but it was late or early, or whatever. Overall, it was a great night, needless to say i did absolutely nothing on Sunday. ATRAK on Friday & Calvin Harris with Paul Oakenfold on Saturday. This weekend should be equally as wonderful.