dirty monkey bugspray fun

yesterday night brought the 2002 cmj marathon to a close and the astralwerks record label hosted a night with 5 acts from their roster.

i was running late, after becoming easily distracted by a goldfishmobile (which is pretty in my case), a statue that i thought was a street performer which actually was a statue and the passed out dude at the burger king (all on 34th street, kids), so when i made it to the hammerstein ballroom (which had seen jurassic 5, dj spooky and medeski, martin & wood play the nights before, although in front of people other than me dammit), i had missed the first act, audio bullys. fortunately, there was a label sampler cd issued at the end which included a track by the duo, which was quite rowdy for a dance act.

when i arrived, i caught part of the erlend øye sound system, which was actually a dorky dj set by one half of norway's kings of convenience. he didn't look that prepared for what he was supposed to do, clumsily hosting as he fudged the turntable, sang overtop whatever was playing and doing a jerky dance, cutting out the sound every once in a while, demonstrating how the sampler works and generally dragging everything down. kinda like watching a car crash through a vic20; you had to be in a certain mood to be amused.

fortunately, erlend wandered off in darkness, leaving a bronski beat song on (well, that runaway song; are there others?) for simian to mix over. the 4-piece mobile disco crew presented a creative mishmash of styles, mixing their own pieces with some ragtime, cowboy warbling and the latest glitch-pop. although not completely cohesive, it was a novel mix of sounds, processed via a powerbook and keyboard.

then the night really started once cassius hit the house. the gallic duo presented their works to the floor, starting off with a david bowie "we could be heroes" loop that proceeded to burn everyone up. they then coolly mixed their own work, which fuses the perverse (what is it with the french and their love of bad wonky electric guitars?) with a calculated dance beat that somehow works. respect was given to the fallen jam master jay with the ultimate shoutout from run-dmc: peter piper. along with a live version of their latest single with the vocalist in the house, the night was perfectly set up....

...for the unrelenting chemical brothers, playing their last show of their tour. the set was effectively the same as it was when i had saw them last, seven months ago at the hershey centre in mississauga (west of toronto, y'all), but fortunately, the sound system survived, so their mad mix of beats and noises was preserved throughout. there's nothing like seeing them live, so i didn't mind the repeat experience, especially since they don't stop. there's a great build up and tear down ethic at play, but on the whole, the flow is relentless, making your body move non-stop. of course, earplugs are required and i was prepared, considering the first time i saw them live, 5 years ago, i couldn't hear anything but ringing for 3 days afterwards.

it's unfortunate that i wasn't able to catch more of the 4 day festival, but until i'm properly paid to do report on such things (or i can suffer work the mornings after), i'll be content to catch things in a piecemeal fashion.