- October the 30th, Halloween Eve and the night before the feast of all souls is with all due respect, usually a quiet evening for any would-be creatures of the night. However with the following day, Bank Holiday, the streets of Dublin came alive with all manner of vampires, witches, super-heroes and what can only be described as weird folk; the promise of a Monday off work and some quality electronic sounds proving to be too big an allure with Dublin's party people making their prescence felt.
A delayed start to the gig allowed me to relax at The Village bar where some interesting looking folk had gathered in eager anticipation of tonight's event - 7 hours of fine electronic music, which, apart from the whole UR/Galaxy2Galaxy/Los Hermanos collective,also promised the appearance of Eamonn Doyle, Kan Shimonura, Conceal and Mark Broom.
Let's just put this into context shall we? The opportunity to hear or see UR live in this country is as rare as discussing the mild Irish weather with a leprechaun on St.Patricks Day while drinking Guinness from his pot of Gold!
Tonight was indeed the gig of a lifetime for many who queued from an early point at the rear entrance to The Village. As we filed into the venue, superb visuals and the crisp, full sounds of lush, deep techno emanating from the more than adequate sound system were the portents of a good night ahead.
Irelands' techno afficionados had arrived to inspect and looking around the venue, record shop-owners, promoters, DJs and anyone connected with the Irish scene were nodding along to the sound of Eamonn Doyle. Dropping funky, jackin' grooves interspersed with beautiful, deep tracks that were absorbed by the crowd, Eamonn helped people settle down and get into the groove in preparation for a long night of music.
Showing experience that allowed him to straddle between the funky bizness of Robag Wruhme and more minimal, jerky movers, Doyle indicated why he has been at the forefront of the Irish electronic scene for so long. Darker, sinister synths invaded the venue before he treated us to an absolute rare beauty in Pollen's 'Lonely Planet' as images from 'The Princess Bride' appeared overhead on-screen. Indeed by the end of his set, Eamonn had covered many routes on a journey through the electronic spectrum which had indeed been a pleasure to listen to.
Shortly before 10 o'clock Conceal (D1 Japan) unleashed his sonic weaponry on the crowd as the tempo lifted up into a bump n' grind, electronic smash-up played live from a laptop, sequencer and other technology. A cacophany of industrial, techno sounds that were experimental in nature perforated our eardrums as snippets of brass with futuristic latin rhythms almost fooled the audience into thinking they were at a carnival in outer space.
At one point an uplifting house track was put through a grinder that churned punked-out beats through the speakers as the vibe became anything goes in a sort of techno/hip-hop soundclash that was at times just mind-blowing.Think Coldcut's 'Beats n Pieces' upgraded with a technological facelift or something from Ken Ishii and you're almost there! Sub-bass filled the venue breaking down at times into whooshes and whirring noises before melodic bleeps would restart the rhythm
assault.
This experience opened every nerve ending in readiness for the moment that everyone had been waiting for; Galaxy2Galaxy introducing themselves to huge cheers from inside the venue and taking their places on stage as our musical quest continued. The pre-conceived notions of the cloak and dagger approach of UR shroud them in mystique, but their seriousness and connection with minimal techno were to be questioned as the night progressed. With keyboard players Gerald Mitchell and Esteban Adame,DJ S2(Santiago Salazar) and 'Mad' Mike Banks' other band members Ray Merriweather,Andre Womack and William Pope, the group would appear also in their Los Hermanos guise later on.
At times there was an oriental feel to their with shots of Bruce Lee behind them and other imagery providing mythical overtones as the visual artists (Del 9 & Metal Dragon) played their part in the evening. Frontman Cornelius who said, "Dublin..it's been a long time coming but we're here!", vibed off the crowd telling us we were headed on a musical journey as synth-laden epics sent waves of delight rippling through the venue. He spoke of Motown in almost educational speeches informing us of the timeline between the past, the present and the future illuminating those
visionaries that had been there since the birth of house and techno.
With keyboard solo's,very '80s in their sound, we were given a music history lesson onboard an interstellar craft with Cornelius as our tour-guide. Soulful, housey-vibes inspired by the sounds of Chicago from Frankie Knuckles' Warehouse days were in juxtaposition to contemporary, electronic ramblings with an almost Funkadelic feel.The marriage of man and machine on-stage was never more evident as all of the band got into the groove enthusiastically; really moving the crowd in turn as an unbreakable bond was forged.
At 11:15 basically the same buys but in their Los Hermanos production outfit were presented to us on stage as some very funky keyboards and bass guitar gave us music with real soul and groove while Cornelius supplied the improvs. "Birth of 3000" was performed as everyone got down; its piano solo's building in crescendos as The Village felt like it was going to explode. Morphing-synths were used and the bass dropped out at intervals before jumping back in as Los Hermanos showed themselves to be complete showmen and very passionate performers capable of vocalising gospel-like verse.
At a memorable point in the evening the audience chanted "UR,UR,UR...". Yes folks, the mothership had indeed landed in Dublin and there were plenty of "aliens" willing to climb aboard as Cornelius noted in one of his outbursts in between shaking hands with the front row of the audience. Very uplifting, soulful, synth-techno alongside salsa inherited from the south-west side of Detroit prevailed but the venue was taken by surprise when Cornelius was joined at the front of the
stage by the other band members as they asked for a minutes silence for Rosa Parks, a woman who had fought a civil rights case in the face of racial injustice some years back and whose funeral was taking place in Detroit.
The second wave of Detroit's Techno producers owe as much to older influences as well as the obvious ones like Atkins, May and Saunderson. The performance of UR's "Inspiration", a contemplative masterpiece, evoked strong emotions from the crowd with its haunting strains as the bassist rolled up his sleeves in a staged gesture to the crowd to indicate that there was work to be done while Cornelius told us 'Don't be shy...just dance!' . Throughout this pictures of Motown luminaries Gordy and The Funk Brothers appeared behind them in a show of respect to their heroes...their inspiration.
The cosmic cabaret continued as Cornelius referred to the fact that it was Sunday and that on this day families in Detroit would get together and go to church making The Village feel like it had become a church at times. The question, "Are you down with the underground?" was posed to the crowd...as if they needed to be asked!
Just before midnight we were treated to more from Galaxy2Galaxy, who challenged the audience to shatter a lot of misconceptions about the definition of techno. The progression from Jazz to Techno was established in what Cornelius termed "Jupiter Jazz" while Irish saxophonist Sean Og added sensual sophistication to their live performance of "Hi-tech Jazz" when he joined them on stage for a well received ode to the legends of Jazz. Swirling melodies in what can only be described as the funkiest music ever, had Cornelius, the rest of the group and all inside the venue, dancing uncontrollably as our cosmic journey climaxed; all involved as happy as a smiling-Santa on a course of Prozac!
UR thanked everyone for the support that have made their existence possible over the years as they drew the curtain on their show by telling people they had crossed the ocean to be here but that they were going to give us one more!
Even a slight technical hitch couldn't stop them as some foolery from one of the keyboardists hinted that they were going to play "Strings of Life". However then the first strains of "Jaguar" ('Dance Of The Cat" version) - with improvised piano solos from Esteban Adame really adding a latino flavour - soon had many lost for words, concluding a truly unforgettable set that will live eternally in the imagination and hearts of those who witnessed it.
Mark Broom took over at 12:30 bringing the soulful, almost gospel approach of UR to an end by playing pulsing, bassy techno and adding an edge to the proceedings. Throbbing, punchy beats dropped out at times allowing the spooks and goblins time to recover; the crowd thinning a little in the absence of UR. The South Side Terrace mix of Ron Trent's "Altered States" brought us back to life followed by DNX's "House of God" in an oldskool mash-up as Broom cut up Loleatta Holloway vocals with minimal electro tracks; at the same time keeping it
funkier than ever.
A remix of Christian Smith and Angel Alanis' "Fantasy Girl" was used next to acid house with killer kicks and classic piano tracks by Marshall Jefferson as old and new were put side by side.DJ Hell's "Like That" was sprung upon us while Adonis told us that it was "too far gone and no way back", indicating that the witching hour was now upon us. Broom funked it up and finished with acid breaks giving us the consumate house/techno set that occasionally gave the older, more musically-informed people a trip down memory lane while baptising a few newbies too!
Kan Shimonura, a new Japanese signing to the D1 label, finished the night playing tracks by Robert Armani, bringing on a fit of body-popping amongst the partygoers and even using Josh Wink's "Don't laugh" (minus the laugh) to further connect us with the oldskool. Some serious beat-juggling threw Beltram and Advent-type tracks onto the floor as it was shudder, click-click followed by boom, boom, boom as the rhythm assault took every last bead of sweat out of the now tiring bodies.The crowd were pummeled with salsa percussion and industrial Axis records before the evening finished on a melodic note with a new Joris Voorn track bringing an end to a wonderful occasion.
The battle-weary, goulish creatures soon emptied out of The Village having been converted to the church of "Jupiter Jazz" by the Reverend Cornelius, 'Mad' Mike Banks and his fellow UR stablemates. In the pre-gig press, the UR gig at D.E.A.F had been billed as a festival highlight not to be missed and well, need I say more!
Special thanks to Karen @ D.E.A.F and all the staff at The Village.