- Analog BKNY is a concrete box tucked into an industrial strip on the banks of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal. It's only been open since March, and the club's bookings have so far been eclectic, from throwback house DJs like Louie Vega, David Morales and Robbie Rivera to more contemporary acts like Regis, DJ Qu and Veronica Vasicka. Later this month they'll host a night of hardcore techno and gabber for the 25th anniversary of Lenny Dee's Industrial Strength Records. On Thursday, September 1st, the venue towed the line between live show and club night with performances from Andy Stott, Demdike Stare and Vatican Shadow. But while the music was great, it seemed that neither the crowd nor the artists could decide which one they wanted.
When I walked in Vatican Shadow was playing nosebleed techno to a full room of people standing still. A small clique of lively ravers was holding it down at the front, while the US artist coaxed hissing, feral drum sounds from his laptop. Every now and then he would look up from his machines, walk to the edge of the stage and point into the crowd, yelling obscenities. "You fucking piece of shit, come up here," he screamed, directing a flash light at the audience. It's unclear whether this was part of the act.
Demdike Stare's set contained plenty of thrilling moments, though its arc was a bit erratic. They opened with a couple of minutes of spectral moaning and heavy dub reverb—it was a version of last year's "Rathe" from the final EP in their Testpressing series. They let the paranoid tension build before cracking heads with a roughneck breakbeat, at which point everything clicked into place. But they seemed to switch gears every ten minutes, moving from noisy stretches of drone into gentle, melodic moments into a high-tempo stomp that almost had the front rows slam-dancing. It felt like they'd packed two-hours worth of ideas into 60 minutes.
Andy Stott took the stage around 1:30 AM. The crossed-arm crowd was waiting to hear his more brooding material, but he surprised them with a set of dark grime rhythms and steppas tunes. His drums came through punchy on the soundsystem, a custom rig that's been one of the venue's talking points. I had seen Stott play one of these clubby sets before (at Big Ears Festival in Tennessee earlier this year), and at that show, the bass was so heavy that my rain jacket fluttered with the force of it. I didn't get that rumble in my chest this time, maybe because Analog's system is calibrated for clarity and precision, not bass weight. That, and the $8 cans of Modelo were my only issues with the venue. Otherwise, it's a promising new space for the Brooklyn circuit, one that will be even better when filled with dancing bodies.
Photo credit /
Nikki Sneakers