- Last Friday served as the final installment of Sasha’s five-month “residency” at Crobar in New York City. He set it up in order to help him work on his compilation for Global Underground, which is due for release later this month. Each month a new special guest joined him, ranging from the stellar James Zabiela and John Digweed, to the good, Josh Wink, to the other guy that did not mix a single tune- James Lavelle. Tonight’s affair had California’s Sandra Collins- not what one would expect, but interesting nonetheless.
The Fundacion night usually was programmed so that Sasha would play from 1-3, his special guest from 3-5 and then Sasha again from 5-7. However, when I first got into the main room at 1:15, Sandra Collins had already taken to the decks. My best memory of Sandra was from Woodstock in 1999, where she rocked an airplane hangar until sunrise. Although she has been dubbed as a “trance” DJ, her sound has definitely developed with the times. She played a lot of up-tempo tunes including James Zabiela’s “Robophobia,” and ended her set with the Thin White Duke remix of the Killers “Mr. Brightside.” Although I did enjoy what she played, I felt as if she forgot to play a “warm-up” set. Perhaps 1-3 is not considered “warm-up” time, but it seems no one can keep the reigns tight when playing at Crobar. The Phazon takes control of their minds and makes them go crazy!
Just after three Sasha stepped up to his iMac and Maven and took control of the last night of his residency. He started off with the intro from his “Fundacion NYC” mix, before breaking into a somewhat-melodic section. However, it was a bit disappointing as it was not as emotive a feeling as he used to be able to create. Thereafter, he kept it rather proggy, even playing Holden and Thompson’s “Come With Me,” another track included on his “Fundacion NYC” compilation. However, after Sanda’s set, the crowd did not seem to be responding to the lull in the tunes. Sasha read this correctly and started to pick it up a bit. I have seen Sasha every time he has played in New York over the past year and half, and I must say that on this night he pulled out all the stops. His four hours at the controls had a sense of the magic he used to conger a few years ago. He also has fully come to grips with is Ableton set-up. The first night he used it, he was timid and just did not get his head around it fully. All that has changed. I kept noticing parts of recognizable tracks, but then never hearing them fully as he phased out one baseline for another and then swapped in and out the mids to create a unique remix of three (or more) tracks at once. I must say his utilization had me in awe (which is tough to do). I am not sure what Sasha has going on in his head, but it is outside the regular realm of your typical DJ. The sounds that were coming out of the speakers were so twisted at points that I stopped dancing and just starred at him constantly manipulating his controller and starring intently at his monster-sized monitor. Tonight he came to play, and play he did. At one point he even brought in a portion of “Wavy Gravy” and even my friend that “supposedly” hates “Airdrawndagger” had a smile on his face.
As the night wore on, and the last balloon drop took place, things got mental as he again played the hip-hop tune w/ the “low end frequency” vocal that he kept looping, and filtering, for ten minutes or so. By end of it, he had transformed it so much that it sounded as if a new language was coming out of the speakers!
I cannot say that all was right with the evening as the lighting turned out to be a disappointment. I’m not real keen on the strobe light, but I can deal with it in short bursts. However, the constant overuse of it gives me a headache and is simply annoying. There has got to be hundreds of thousands of dollars in the lighting set-up in Crobar- try another button!
The night turned out to be a real family affair as the real surprise guest of the night had to be . . . Sasha’s dad! Toward the end of the night he was bopping around in the booth giving a look out over the crowd.
Although I am now going to have to find something else to do every first Friday of the month, I am glad that the Fundacion night ended on such a high note. It is nice that we all get a parting gift in the form of his newest mix CD entitled after this residency. For it being the first time that Sasha had thrown his own night, he did a fine job. Overall, each night had more ups than downs and the extra production set it apart from most other average clubbing outings. I am glad that I got to see each New York date and I urge anyone to get out there this summer and see him on his tour.