October 2009 has been absolutely amazing. The amount of talented musicians I've seen this month dwarf the entire year. Seeing Moby Live for the first time was amazing, and John Digweed was incredibly powerful. Dark Dark Dark came to town, and so did MC Chris along with his openers. Each performance made me more and more excited for what was to end the month. Sasha was returning to the midwest, and the day had finally arrived.
This was my first time to the House of Blues. I've been to several clubs and venues in Chicago, but always manage to avoid the House of Blues somehow. The House of Blues is somewhat close to Visions and Soundbar. But unlike those clubs, House of Blues is more a venue. It has an actual prominent stage that can be seen from almost anywhere in the place. It's very easy to move around and talk with people too.
Being a venue, the people who attended the show were actual music fans. It's quite a difference than the normal douchebag crowd you'd find at Visions. It was rather refreshing. Dave and I talked with a dude in the line about music while we waited. And I talked with a few people inside too. I'll certainly see some music nerds at Visions, but they are not as prominent as the rest of the club scene.
Dave and I arrived at the House of Blues around 11pm and completely missed Chris Walsh and Wahi opening for Hernan Cattaneo. This was my first time seeing him live. And really, it was first time even listening to his music too.
His sound was incredibly hard and deep. It also echoed Electro to a degree.. but overall, very Tribal. It was pretty damn amazing. Though, I found it curious that he played at least 2 songs that Wahi played 3 weeks ago when Digweed was in town. Hernan's tracks followed a somewhat predictable pattern, but that's not necessary a bad thing. It made them more accessible and very easy to move to. I definitely need to listen to this man some more. ^_^
The tone of the atmosphere changed pretty quickly once Sasha got a hold of the decks. The predictability went out the window. And the sound became incredibly layered and ambient. His selections were very organic. The type of sound that fuses and shakes your body. Like the rhythm of a heartbeat or the slapping of wooden instruments.
It was pretty amazing, too. For a few years, I felt like I was drifting away from Sasha. I felt like his sets were pretty solid and technically astounding, but lacked the variety that really made me a huge fan to begin with. His set on this night felt like he was definitely returning to what made him an excellent DJ in the first place.
Mixing sounds that put him in a genre of his own, rather than simply Prog House. It was all about layers. Sounds building on other sounds. Slowly building and slowly tearing down and slowly transitioning. Like swimming in an ocean and letting the waves carry you to where ever...
Brilliant
It kinda sucks that we arrived too late to hear Wahi spin some songs, but hopefully he recorded what he did, so I can hear it later. He recorded his previous set from his October 10th performance warming up the room for Digweed. You can download that from here, if you'd like: http://www.sendspace.com/file/bpbqoc.
It's a pretty rad set. ^_^
1. WIlliam Orbit - Water From A Vine Leaf
2. Kaito - And That Was The Way
3. Paul Kalkbrenner - Mango (Berlin Calling Edit)
4. Soundstorm - Evolution
5. John Tejada - LIquid Mirror
6. Infusion - So Soon (Infusion 4am Remix)
7. Alemo - Liberation (Estroe Remix)
8. Dominik Eulberg - Aurora
9. Monika Kruse - Hope (Heartthrob Remix)
10. Falko Brocksieper - Chemtrails
11. F.E.X. - Can U Feel It (Martin Landsky Remix)
12. Anja Schneider & Lee van Dowski - La Roulette
13. 2Raumwohnung - Lasso (Good Groove & Yapaac Remix)
14. Soulfinder - Nightvision
15. Interplay - Locked (Club Mix)
16. Theodor Zox - Fading (Vincenzo's Phantom Image Mix)
17. Shonky - Roudor & Capulet (Wahi Edit)
18. Carlo Lio - Purple Soul
19. Baboop - Yes We Can (Luis Junior Remix)
20. Terry Lee Brown Junior - Soul Digits
21. Stephan Bodzin - Mustang
22. Jonas Kopp - Deliric
23. Mutant Clan - Perfect Place
24. Made By Monkeys - I Think Of You (Rui Da Silva Remix)
25. Dirty Mongrel - She Speaks On The Outside
26. Dj Ino - Triple X
27. Sian - World Within A World