Ramadanman in Poland

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    Jun 9, 2009
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  • A party ironically called "WTF? Is dubstep a techno?" Count me in. The name itself, of course, is a wink to hardcore-dubstep fans, promising something fresh in a divided (at least in Poznan) electronic dance music scene. But with the star of the night being the celebrated Ramadanman, whose quickly-growing output as producer has been nothing short of brilliant, I was quite curious to hear him DJ, especially in front of bass-hungry clubbers. Conceptually, the party seemed to be a dead cert. Paradoxically, though, dead cert usually fails in Poznan. At the beginning it seemed that Buszkers—a solid local DJ—was warming up the room with the right amount of dubstep beats, with the bass literally shaking the tin roof of the venue. However, the later the evening went, the lower the spirits became. Berlin resident 2krazy played boring and sloppy. And, by that point, many people had left the room altogether for the second stage with local Killout Crew spinning some solid minimal techno. So as Ramadanman took control in the main room at 2 AM, there simply weren't many people left to see him. That's too bad: Musically, his performance was jaw-dropping. The mixing was nearly flawless, and the track selection proved his perfect ear for catchy, danceable and boundary crossing music. Personally, I haven't experienced a smoother flowing set for a while. Beginning with the sounds reflecting the name of the party, he effortlessly went to more straight dubstep territory, finishing with atmospheric tunes and topping the whole thing off with a deep and funky house track. But no matter how splendid the set was, the audience was exhausted and unwilling to party for the most part—though a few people seemed to have the time of their lives. I still wonder why it was such a shabby night. It wasn't the venue, which is famous for organizing Tresor Nights and knows how to please clubgoers. The audience, for its part, seemed to be open for the set and the mixture of sounds provided by the DJs. Instead, it was that under recognized, but key part of the evening: the support. Even so, 2krazy wasn't able to spoil my enjoyment of listening to the one of top dubstep producers of 2009. Musically, Ramadanman was perfect. As an event—quite dispiriting.
RA