- Regardless of who's on the decks, no party is guaranteed to be a hit. Every jock spins a boring set now and then, and in a bland club with a lacking vibe, even the best DJs can find themselves meandering through a dud. Seth Troxler's debut at Save The Cannibals was such a night; the party was struggling when Troxler took the helm, and he just didn't have the gumption to revive it.
Perhaps the biggest cloud hanging over Troxler's Save the Cannibals debut was reSOLUTE's "Heaven & Hell," an all night warehouse rave with Anja Schneider, DJ Hell, John Selway, Elon, Peter Kruder, Jeremy Caulfield and Connie. That was New York's hottest party of the weekend, and everyone knew it. With Troxler as the only headliner on the bill (Dennis Rogers warmed up, and Mathias Kaden dropped out a few weeks earlier), Save the Cannibals couldn't compete with the rave on the other side of town.
The party also greatly suffered from venue. Compared to places like Public Assembly, 12-turn-13 and The Marcy Hotel, Rebel feels a bit sterile. With its excessive wafts of steam, overzealous disco lights and nosy security guards, the club is a bit too Manhattan for an underground dance party. In the tiny bathrooms, attendants stood inches away from urinating patrons, waiting to squirt lotion and disinfectant into their hands once they were done. The cheesiest touch was the siren that wailed every now and then, serving only to remind the crowd how far we were from a level of reckless abandon that might call for such a thing. The fact that its squeal was louder than the soundsystem didn't help much either.
The music was average at best. Dennis Rogers started the night off very well, spinning textural minimal house that was surprisingly inspired for an early night set. Troxler came on sometime around 1 AM, and started in with some peppy, jacking tech house. It was decently funky, and I definitely heard a few tunes I'd like to track down. Unfortunately, the set didn't progress much from there. Troxler was on the decks until 5am, and all we ever heard was recent sounding minimal and tech house—none of the sexy/spooky sounds that have earned him so much buzz in the past few months. Troxler had trouble keeping the crowd's undivided attention for more than a few tracks in a row, and at times the set felt adrift. The only songs I remember are Micael Cleis's "Mezcla," a new tribal house anthem on Cadenza, and Troxler's own "Face (A Tribute To Head)," which sounded so flat I barely recognized it. Many of the tracks and transitions sounded mushy and undefined, though to Troxler's credit, the mix sounded much crisper inside the DJ booth.
All that said, the night was by no means a disaster. My friends and I all had fun, and Troxler had a fairly crowded room dancing until 5am. But those of us who expected something truly special were distinctly underwhelmed; the weird flavor of Troxler's tracks and mixes (including his impressive Save The Cannibals podcast) just wasn't there. Nonetheless, I can't help but blame the party more than the DJ—something tells me that in a seedier venue somewhere in Brooklyn, the night would have had a greater chance at success.