In the last six months, Studio B has become something of a home for New York’s newly reinvigorated dance scene. Once an old Polish club in Greenpoint desperate to reinvent itself by hosting any event that would attract kids with frazzled hair, limited edition sneakers and ironic t-shirts, Studio B has now become something of a destination for top internationals. The Brooklyn club has seen the likes of A-Trak, Busy P, So Me, Juan Atkins and NYC electro-regular Eamon Harkin through its doors over the last few weeks, and tonight the lineup is similarly quality: a Modular and People Don’t Dance No More winter bash featuring Joakim, Andy Butler, Juan Maclean and Robot Blair.
We walk in around midnight and the regular Studio B crowd is just filtering in: the aforementioned hipster kids, older and wiser dance and disco freaks, confused yupster types and neighborhood Polish girls in high heels. Resident Robot Blair’s set is a bouncy mix of disco-tinged house with ‘80s highlights, including the DFA’s massive ‘Still Going Theme’, which gets a big cheer from the now lively dancers. Meanwhile, off to the side Joakim and his Ectoplasmic Band have started to tinker with the jumbled mess of wires, machines and instruments assembled on stage. Suddenly the stage lights go on and Joakim and co. start with an electro/guitar drone propelled by intense drumming. More and more revelers crowd the stage. Some dance, others jump and particularly excited fans hoot and scream.
For a band which can sound a bit toned down and steeped in avant-garde detachment on record (see: Monsters and Silly Songs), live Joakim work up a frenzy of seriously distorted grooves and funky sound effects. Joakim’s two most recognizable hits–‘I Wish You Were Gone’ and ‘Drumtrax’—in this context sound massive, so much so we worry how the group can maintain the frenetic energy levels. After a few more electro jams the band shocks the crowd with a familiar ‘80s groove, accompanied by bleeps where the lyrics to the track would regularly be, which turns out to be a unique, kick-ass cover of the Cure’s classic ‘A Forest’.
Towards the end of their set, however, the band get a bit too wrapped up in their distortion and drones. For the final crescendo the guitarist unleashes a deafening electro-metal squeal, which has the unfortunate effect of causing some of the girls in the crowd to flee. Nevertheless, everyone seems willing to weather this brief display of cacophony due to the overall quality of what had come before.
With a ‘merci beaucoup’ Joakim bids the sweaty NY crowd adieu and Andy Butler from Hercules and Love Affair takes his turn on the decks, spinning a selection of nu-disco and house classics (as well as an electro-tinged remix of Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself’) which returns the club to its regular grooving state. Later Juan Maclean and Andy tag-team on the decks for a few hours, spinning a trademark DFA disco/house set that moves between contemporary material (Holy Ghost!’s ‘Hold On’ and Hercules and Love Affair’s ‘Blind’) and classics (Yaz’s ‘Situation’). Except for a few track choices which come off a bit cheesy (Marcus Worgull’s ‘Spellbound’), it’s a selection that keeps the floor moving. The mixing is also generally solid despite the on and off switching between DJs. Overall the duo delivers a varied and funky set with an old-school flavor.
Much has been made of DFA’s recent popularity. There are those who feel that bringing disco and rock elements into contemporary dance music is holding the genre back and attracting the “wrong” crowd. Frankly though in a city where techno and house used to almost be dirty words two years ago amongst younger music fans, seeing a group of 200+ people going crazy for Joakim’s electro-jams and dancing late into the night to disco and house classics was a fantastic breath of fresh air. Exciting times lie ahead for the NYC dance scene and it’s great to see so many new fans packing the city’s night clubs.
