there was a moment when i stopped drinking - around 4:00 - where i had to sit down for a minute due to overheating. it was like 40 degrees, and highly humid, in the second club. i eventually went out for some fresh air around 6:00 and then couldn't acclimatize back to it, so i left. but, the night is clear all the way through.
i'll update this post after i get my habitual nachos.
(it is now after 3:00 on the 30th)
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this night was meant to be very long, starting at about 14:00 on monday and going until early on tuesday - 6? 7? 8? it wasn't clear how this was going to work....
it was more like 15:30 when i got to the actual bar, which was somewhere i hadn't been to before. i figured if i'm going to the tv lounge i should dress in drag, right?
(i'm not a transvestite, and i don't dress in drag)
the fact is that it was so hot out that i didn't have to use the washroom at all, for the entire 10 hours i was there, despite drinking seven beers over the period. again: 7 drinks in ten hours isn't excessive at all, it's just a long day drinking. i guess my body decided it didn't have any extra fluid to excrete.
the reason i went to this party is that it was supposed to focus on 'german techno', which is somewhat of an unclear description, as it could refer to anything. i think i was expected something a little more atmospheric and electro-gazey, tangerine dream set to a hard beat sort of thing, but instead walked into what was essentially a dungeon somewhere in east germany that was playing very minimalist digital hardcore at a fast bpm. i kind of felt like blixa bargeld should have come out of nowhere and hit me over the head with a gong, before preceding to the light the place on fire - or that david bowie should have appeared as an apparition and complained that that fucking wanker eno was getting all of the credit for his work. i went in there a few times early in the night and had some fun doing aerobics, but it became pretty clear early on in the night that the actual party was happening outside. staub, itself, appeared to be pretty much dead.
the fact is that it was fucking beautiful outside. 30+ degrees well into the night. the humidity was still thick in the air when i left at around 1:30. not a cloud in the sky. just fucking perfect weather. who wants to spend a night like that locked in a dungeon doing cardio when there's a well-populated dance party happening on a patio a few feet away?
that said, i would have probably stayed in the german techno club if one of two things were true: (1) if the music outside sucked or (2) if the party inside picked up. i could be wrong, but i don't think the party inside ever picked up. and, the music outside had a sparse, british feel to it that i'd actually usually prefer over anything german. i picked up a few autechre samples.
it seems like the party outside was actually partially organized by some kids from pittsburgh, so i seem to have gone to a detour records festival as much as the german techno festival i meant to go to. but, listen: i should be happy that i had an escape from an empty party.
staub may want to think about publishing line-ups in the future.
the first set i got into was marc lansley, who seems to be a little obscure, but something i want to take a closer note of because i actually found it to be one of the most interesting sets i've heard in real time. he did something i wish more people did, which was play with the syncopation. so, he had us dancing to 16th note articulations on shuffle beats, and what not. it was less exquisite, and more just awkward - cracked out beats for lack of a better term. samples crashing into each other and creating a mess. and, while a couple of people were looking around wondering how they got to this strange place, i found the deviation from orthodoxy to be rather exhilarating. detroit has no market for art techno, but if there are people listening, let it be known that i'd love to see more sets like this. i can't find anything substantive online.
the next two sets were the kids from pittsburgh, and it was a little looser and a bit funkier. a bit more soul. i danced a bit, but i was in and out of the dungeon - and left to get smokes around 21:30. i didn't go back in the dungeon after i got back.
i caught most of the next set, and spent the bulk of it dancing. i'm going to claim it wasn't particularly memorable, but that i had a good time with it nonetheless. it got me moving without making me cringe...
i was in the yard there for much of the last set, but i spent a good deal of it sitting. it was a little funkier, more soul, and i tend to interpret that as sort of cringey.
i got to the second bar a little before 2:00 and think i got most of all of the sets. i only bought one drink here and finished it a little after 4:00 and had to sit down around 4:30-4:40-ish; what i was doing was sweating, and i was less drunk and more dehydrated. i just had to let the wave pass. you get that or you don't. but i was legit drenched by the time i stood up. so, i caught whatever was on from 2:00-4:30. again: it got me dancing with no clear complaints. asher perkins kicked me on the way past me, presumably to "wake me up", and i caught what i think was the bulk of his set, after 5:00. i've seen him spin enough that he did actually seem to kick me to get up, which is a lot i guess, and what i'll say is he's definitely filling out his sound a little: there's just more and more stuff happening. he really filled the place up. i was out around 6:00, then back in, and then out again around 6:30 - after experiencing some fresh air, my body told me to stay out and breathe it in. i just wasn't getting enough oxygen in there. and, this party ended at 7:00...
so, if i was there from 2:00-6:30 i must have caught most of everything, even if i'm not totally sure if i was actually a foot away from antwon faulkner for an hour or not. it was dark. and i was dancing...