Alex Smoke

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    Feb 5, 2007
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  • Having heard so much about Alex Smoke’s live show, I was very excited to see if the hype lives up to the expectation. After hearing quite a few interesting Smoke remixes and productions on labels such as Soma and Vakant, I was keen to hear how his very avant-garde sounding techno translated into a live setting. Stepping into the Cave I was greeted with Smoke busy on his Macintosh and Evolution controller. Whilst many would have you doubt the ‘live’ aspect of a set completely done on Ableton, the quality of the music coming out of the speakers was undeniable. Playing what I suspect to be mostly new and unreleased tracks, Smoke’s method was to weave together melodies and sounds from different tracks to create new pieces of music on the fly. It made for an amazingly energetic show. But it wasn’t just the quality of the music that impressed me; the quality of his programming did too. Travelling across a spectrum of techno, Smoke seamlessly mixed from one genre to the next, introducing ideas and concepts at exactly the right time to take the crowd along for the ride. By the peak of the set, Smoke had the crowd eating out of his palm, dancing their heads off or chinstroking in amazement at his ‘skills’ on the laptop. The only downfall was how short the set was. Ninety minutes in, Smoke played his track ‘Brian’s Lung’ (a highlight of the set), leaving the crowd in a sonically induced epileptic fit before departing. After the madness of ‘Brian’s Lung,’ Reno had the challenging task of keeping up the momentum. Playing hit tunes from Booka Shade, Paul Woolford and Claude Von Stroke, he whipped the crowd into a frenzy. But whilst his mixing was pleasant, his music lacked the intricacies and soul that Smoke had treated us to earlier on in the night: Using simple breakdowns and buildups, repetitive soundscapes and dull hands in the air moments, I felt his music was a cheap imitation, and on that note my friends and I left the club. The dark surroundings of the Cave were a good fit for the darkness of Smoke’s music, and unlike many experiences I have had at the venue, tonight’s event was not so packed, giving the crowd some freedom to move their body to the music. Much appreciation must go to Chinese Laundry for consistently bring great acts to Sydney. And with a sound system and environment which is second to none, I hope to see more quality acts like Alex Smoke in the future.
RA