- In electronic music circles, the very mention of the name Carl Craig more often than not provokes responses such as "genius" and "legend." And in terms of innovation and technical brilliance, he is arguably the most relevant artist still working from the first or second waves of Detroit techno. His latest CD's have won him plaudits from every corner of the electronic community—the quirky brilliance of Fabric 25 and the mixing lesson that is Sessions proving that he's not a man keen to go into retirement anytime soon. His remix of The Junior Boys' "Like a Child" was even nominated for a Grammy, if that's what constitutes brilliance to you.
The Twisted Pepper was made for Craig's music; dark, smoky and industrious, its low ceilings and narrow rooms is the closest most Dubliners will ever get to Fabric. And that's what made this particular night so uneventful. Maybe I was expecting too much. Maybe it was the 20 minute queue to store my coat. Or perhaps the ludicrous drink prices. Or even the fact that it was more packed than Coxy's grocery cart. Whatever it was, my relationship with the new venue got off to a bad start.
Photo credit: Stevie B
Trying to keep all of this out of my mind, I made my way to the dance floor. When I finally did get there—after what seemed like an eternity queuing—I looked at Craig up on stage. Cue further disappointment. I don't doubt the guy can produce and remix quality records, but on the night in question, I did doubt his enthusiasm. The coldness that a vast queue had braved to see their hero outside was nothing compared to the coldness on his face. His body language and expression suggested he'd rather be anywhere else than at The Twisted Pepper. It was as though he wasn't even half interested in gaining a rapport with the already heaving dance floor.
Having never seen Craig before, I reassured myself that this was his typical on-stage demeanour and that the situation would improve in the second half of the night. I wouldn't even had taken exception to this were it not for the fact that the track selection was often surprising and the mixing fairly patchy – completely the opposite of what I felt a Carl Craig night should be.
So did Carl prevail by the end? Just. Just. Just. The first real hands-in-the-air moment eventually arrived with Smith and Selway's remix of Planet E label mate Kevin Saunderson's "Rock to the Beat." Next up was Audion's "Mouth to Mouth"—another crowd pleaser and a sure sign that there was life in the night yet. I was finally dancing, but soon found myself sweaty and claustrophobic on a heaving dance floor listening to a soundtrack of fairly bland and generic techno. At this stage I'd had enough and with all the disappointment of an eleven year-old who just found out Santa doesn't exist, bitterly made my way downstairs to the basement to catch the tail end of Berghain resident Ben Klock's set, who was getting bodies moving with a combination of funky and stripped-down techno; exactly what I'd expected from the night's headliner.
Photo credit: Stevie B
The Twisted Pepper is a new club and crucially, it suffered from a real lack of organisation. It simply didn't have the resources—be it bar staff, bouncers or cloak room attendants to deal with such a packed club. Its promoters, Bodytonic, have been in the game long enough and I'd be surprised if they didn't rectify these problems quickly. But it's up to them not to rest on their laurels and excel in what they do best: Create brilliant nights with carefully chosen guests to play to like-minded people in a tailor-made clubbing environment. Tonight however, they were let down by their main man more than anyone else. This twisted pepper left nothing but a sour taste in my mouth.