- Sasha started his new Fundacion residency at Crobar, and. I arrived a little later than expected to see a mass of people congregated around the entrance. After a little haggling and some deft angling from my Aussie counterpart, we were in. As soon as I walked into the main room it was obvious that all the stops were made to create a production spectacle for the Man Like. There were three flat screens and three hanging globes that each had images projected onto them from machines located atop the speaker stacks.
The place was more crowded than I have seen since my first time there for Sasha and Digweed last year. The admittance age requirement has been lowered to 18 and there was definitely a younger vibe to the crowd.
I was surprised when I entered to see Sasha already playing. DJ Three, who is really making his print in New York, opened the night and my belief was that James Lavelle, of UNKLE fame, would play next, and then Sasha to close the night. How wrong was I . . . but more on that later.
Sasha has changed his style in more ways than one. First off, he is now really on track with Ableton and seems to have gotten his head around the software. This was my fifth time hearing him with the gear and his ability to navigate the options has really improved. Second, long gone are his days of the long build up. Back in the day he used to go for hours on one build, which although interesting, it could get a little tedious at times. On Friday each break took about 5-7 minutes to come build and climax. It kept the floor interested, but I would be more interested in a longer build in order to build the anticipation more.
I thought Sasha was really getting the crowd into a good rhythm when, much to my surprise, as soon as 3 a.m. hit, the iMac screen was quickly taken down and Sasha was off! I immediately saw a stream of people head toward the door and quite a few confused looks as the front man of UNKLE stepped up. I had never heard James Lavelle play before, but I was curious as I like some of his production work and he has held a residency at Fabric for quite some time.
Unfortunately, my experience my first experience did not go too well. He started off a bit abruptly with a rolling drum program and then followed on with more UNKLE tracks. However, from there on things went horribly pear shaped. All Lavelle did was jump around during the record that was playing and talk to people. When one tune stopped, he hit play and started the next one. That’s it. The spectacle I witnessed was really a travesty as there were some amazing DJs in the crowd that evening- all deserving to be up there playing. He stuck to the crowd pleasers, including: Felix Da Housecat “Rocketride” (Soulwax Rmx), Soulwax “E Talking” (Nite Version feat Nancy Whang), and Spektrum “Kinda New” (Tiefschwarz rmx).
Although Sasha was due to return and finish out the night from 5-7 a.m., we simply could not get through the nightmare that was Lavelle’s “set.” I must commend Crobar for upping the ante with regard to the extra production and added touches for the Fundacion nights, but please don’t allow Lavelle to come back- ever. Given that, I look forward to March and April’s installments as I hear there will be very special guests at both!
(Rating would have been an 8, except for Lavelle….)