5 years ago in nyc nightlife: sept 2004

5 years ago in nyc nightlife: sept 2004
5 years ago in nyc nightlife: sept 2004

sept 2, 2004 orange park was at sin e. tony humphries was holding down his thursday residence at discoteque on 19th st. orange park was 1 of ny's best bands 5 years ago but disbhanded after 2 indie lps. hopefully tony will play nyc more often, he's one of the most important names in us house music since the 80s.

9/3/04 suicide headlined rothko with a rare 21st century nyc appearance. suicide is arguably the most important us electro punk band ever, and still criminally under-appreciated. I was lucky enough to see suicide open up for the ramones at the palladium jan. 7, 1978. Im sure a few of you wish you could have been there.

sept 4, 2004 sander kleinenberg & steve porter played an excellent hard house/progressive house night at crobar, both djs on top form. hi-lites from sandy: blur song 2 [hard house mix] ; doors' riders on the storm [dance mix] . among 3 best sander sets Ive been at. ****1/4 of 5 stars. my review the day after;
'' This was a feel-good night for me.
Got there midnight. Comped.
Didnt like the hot 97/ktu pop-hop in the reed room.
straight to the main room. whoa it was packed! prob as many people as any crobar nyc ive been to. For a summer saturday of long weeknd crowd it was a GOOD crobar crowd! face it crobar is a more 'grown up' club than most in nyc. and i dont mean in a snooty 'fashionista-apprentice-bottles' way- I mean there are people older than 20! most of them!! and its a dressier crowd! thats more POLITE than many clubs! [hello discotq & spirit!!]. that actually came out to have FUN not beefs. that can still drink up , disco down and NOT be extra-mangled AND still look good! there are some foxy women at crobar & generally everyone dresses nice. even the mooks had their style-game on [stencil sleeveless tees? cool for YOU!!] and i repeat there were sm babes! steve porter up. LOVE the crobar dj on stage set up! [the old 'skybox' perch was distant & cold].
listen i LIKE steve porter!! in fact after LES Id say hes the best '2nd tier' NYC dj. [meaning about-to-break- but not of DT/jnr-morales-morillo-fame yet].
OK steves set- half instrumental club bangers. sm dirty basslines. sm proggy cool neo-disco. a few sweet-vocal-sander-style funky tracks. -
also some kinda aimless drifty wanna-be progg snoozers that didnt do much but fill time. SO as an OPENING DJ I think Steve did well- in fact he was banging it out from 1-2 as sander loomed.
in fact that was a pretty jumping opening set and sander dug it [in fact 1-2 times during sanders set, porter took over for 1-2 songs while sander refilled that vodka-cranberry rider on stage]
2 am sanders on. the most cheerful ive ever seen him, well at least since arc anyway. the most connecting with crowd ive seen him.
I LOVED SANDERS SET!
2-3 am- progressive dirty bass bangers with an occasional sweet-pop-hyper-female vocal- listen sander can MIX!!!! he can blend or he can BANG!! the next tune in but hes in control of his records & I LOVE the way he programs! TALENT!! arc-fans note- sander's 2-3 set was VERY-Howells-like- dirty bass & sm funky yet poppy hooks.
3-4 am- this was the core of sanders set. ok the sound was a little 'progressive trance.' in fact he was pumping like 5-10 'trance' tracks- Which I LIKE from sander! melodic- dramatic- ethereal- and still the occasional hard bottom/ tuff beat-- by 120 mins + into sanders set I was having a ball!! met a cool couple from St Pete Fla. dancing with the fellow-sander-porter maniacs at the railing- chilling on the speaker- saw a few arc-heads - I was into sanders progg melodic trance! NOT CHEESE! - QUALITY!!!
the crowd was with him all the way! fist-pumping! drumrolls & crescendoes!
by 4 am i was saying I am loving this set as much as my fave arc sander set- do u remeber april 2003 at arc?? when sander seemed to reach a new level in nyc with the flow and cinematic buildup of the dirty bass & emotive trance climaxes?? sander did it again last night! I was loving it & the crowd was still in the game.

4-5 am. Sander switched styles. he went to a harder techy-house cum-tribal sound...the man can mix BUT tribal bottoms are NOT sanders forte! he needs some of those lawler-type piledriving basslines in there! NOT a pots/pans tribal! sander lost the flow i felt & was just banging for its own sake. the crowd thinned- i was up front & the archeads were still present but i was one of the few STILL juming up & down! still a cute crowd, still a classy club night but sander lost it towards 5 am. porter took over a bit. more of his warm up tracks...the pace slackened. sander came back for a few more progg bangers but the tribal/tech section from 4-5 had cut a hole in the crowd.

i left sweaty semi-mangled but still glowing. some great people in the crobar staff. many great clubbers on this holiday weekend jam. some absolutely awesome tunes from 1 am -4-ish.
I will be back next time sander plays crobar. i love his funky-pop-disco vocals & the epic progg trance climaxes. but his tribal-tech style isnt sanders strength- he's a melodicist & a disco demon at heart- and overall between music & crowd experience
I rate last night ****1/4 on a 5* scale.''

sept 5, 2004 frankie knuckles was at sbny, another absolutely legendary us house dj hall of famer, who plays nyc far too infrequently!! frankie come back!!

sept 6, 2004 stellastarr* headlined the notorious MFer party at the roxy. and VHI's 'bands reunited' show featured Haircut 100! one of my favourite 80s britpop combos, especially the stunning songwriting & solo work of nick heyward. I would LOVE haircut/nick to play more gigs/make an LP in the 21st century! c'mon lads!!!

sept 9, 2004 franz ferdinand played roseland. OK evil kat, you can have ALL my FF cds!!

sept 10, 2004 the death of fashion were at luna lounge. what happened to DOF??

sept 11, 2004 jesse malin was at bowery ballroom.

sept 12, 2004 the Like headlined knitting factory. why am I the only person in nyc who likes the Like? they need to play more venues rather than the muso staid Knitting! girls you can do it!! the like seem to have disappeared in the la sunshine ..

sept 16, 2004 the thrills played irving plaza. their debut LP was a surprisingly impressive update of the late 60s cali pop sound. their 2nd LP pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth. did anyone hear lp 3, not me .

sept 17, 2004 Danny tenaglia headlined the roxy with danny howells opening. both worldclass djs played techno sets with howells being particularly cold. shameful when these 2 artists can play some of the best house music on earth. v. disappointing. its ok in 2008-09 both dt and howells too have p[loayede several brilliant deep house sets - and very moderne too 11
* the same night Mr X hosted his friday weekly at luke & leroy.

sept 18, 2004 derrick carter wat at IKON [the short-lived club variously known as Exit, Black, Carbon, etc]. and dave ralph was at avalon. ralphie was one of the 90s most ingratiating djs, opening for oakey & touring his own happy trance sound. i hope ralphie comes back to nyc more in 2006!!! derrick's ny home base is sullivan, and its a must 11

sept 21, 2004 the prodigy returned with their first studio cd since 1997, 'always outnumbered never outgunned.' while 97's fat of the land was an earth shaking funky techno pop lp that went #1 in usa & rocked the world, the 2004 lp was nearly a dud with leaden beats & over-busy arrangements compatred to liam's brilliant 90s pop riffs & hooks. v. disappointing . anjd their most recent lp was more of the same ; big in euro festivals, no more in usa ciao 1

sept 23, 2004. beavher at don hill's frankie's pioneering 80s night. by autumn 2004 beavher had just about run its course after 10 mostly great years. the best beavher's were in the mid-late 90s & it was all downhill from there. on the 23rd guests incl. vito, becca, christy, angelo, and jeff from NJ. best trax were B52's roam, cure inbetween days & diana im coming out. there was no energy & i left at 1:45. gave ritchie birkenhead the trojan soulful reagge cd as i left. bartender big bob's stories about the kinks & the cramps were prob the highlights of the night. well besides diana ross. **1/4 of 5 stars, its definitely not 1996 anymore. 5 years later i dont think frank spins beav in nyc / well maybe in 2010 . we shall see.
* up to discoteque for tony humphries deep funky house. made it til 4:30 **1/2 of 5 stars. gabe told me at cielo carl cox this month that tony took the prize at webster sunday shoutin. i love tony 11

sept 24, 2004 junior vasquez was still at discoteque every friday, a residence that lasted for the summer and autumn of 2004, but was done by year's end. sadly so, it was a rare opportunity to hear the nyc house master himself in an intimate setting with experimental sets weekly. hopefully both junior & danny tenaglia will bring back their intimate weeklies in 2007, DT has promised as much.....jnr at cielo is really good, i went in early 2009 and i hope to make it again by 09/10.

sept 25, 2004 max graham was at ikon. I think maxie is about to break through to the top echelon of worldwide djs after 5 years bubbling under on every taste-makers playlist. in the last year MG has had hit remixes of yes, coldplay & justin, and max's next hit may be the one to put him on the charts. max's sullivan set was a winner in spring 09. hopefully he return soon / 1
* and orange park & the death of fashion were at arlene's grocery. come back soon boys!! Its everything!!

sept 28, 2004 guided by voices released their last [?] lp 'half smiles of the decomposed' its hard to keep track of their multifarious discog, jim brown is the only person I know who can keep track of their releases, but anyway buy isolation drills & bee thousand & youll see why GBV is one of the greatest US rock bands in alt-history. miss ya!! i really love gbv. if you dont have any of their lps u have a lot of catching up to do 11

sept 29, 2004 morrissey played wash dc on his quarry tour with my lifetime friend jj in the house. Ive been saying moz was coming back to play nyc in nov 2006 & it seems that I was right!! they dont call me the psychic spirit for nuthin!! and hi9s 2009 academy opf music tour was the single best show i attended in 2009 1111

sept 30, 2004 aerial love feed was at the delancey, now known as rockethouse & possibly nyc's very best future rock combo. how about some 2010 philadelphia and nyc dates for RH? daddy likes!
* my notes say that bloc party & ARE Weapons were at kinitting factory also but Im not sure. the fab faux were at bowery ballroom. and the NA club opned. in 1986, NA was Nell's, the best nyc club that fall. Nell's was good into the 90s, but NA and now 'the plumm' are not that good at all. theres even a new name for the plumm... youll never learn.

art shows in sept 2004 incl terry richardson at deitch soho. imo terry is a wildly over-rated fotog- really only his ad images are worthy of any attention at all....a piss-poor artist; his dad Bob Richardson is far more significant for his 60s and 70s fashion mag editorials and anyone who knows fashion photography will tell you that. Terry R sucks, buy clues. compare him to helmut newton. no comparison

my horoscope lucky colours for the month incl silver, red, & cream.