Words: Ed Porter
Photos: Sexy Mane
Until recently, Thursday nights were not the typical night to go out and hear big room house and techno in DC. That all changed earlier this summer when 4Play started booking nights at Ultrabar. Since taking over the former college night at Ultrabar, 4Play has booked some impressive DJs. Just this month they had both Sebastian Leger and, last Thursday, Laidback Luke.
For the uninitiated, Laidback Luke is at the forefront of the currently exploding big house scene. Chances are if you’ve gone to a Nouveau Riche, Feedback, or other house/bloghouse-centric night in the past six months, you’ve danced to an album’s worth of Laidback Luke productions. But, Luke’s not just another wizardly producer with zero DJ talent. After his BBC 1 Essential Mix back in February, it was painfully apparent that the young man could mix with the best of them.
So, how was his Thursday night appearance at Ultrabar? It was interesting. The opening DJs set the tone for the night with some painfully trance-influenced big-house, which I must admit, I wasn’t really feeling. Keep the trance and “progressive” house out of my big room, please. Unfortunately, as Fitsum’s pictures will probably show, the crowd was particularly “clubby” if you will, and they ate up the mildly cheesy progressive house blend.
Taking note of the opening DJs, Luke began his set similarly based around tracks that would feel at home in a lame club on the white island. Despite the cheese, Luke didn’t fail to produce a technically impressive set, consistently blending crowdpleasing acapellas over instrumentals and working the mixer’s on-board effects to its fullest extent.
An hour or so into his set, he finally hit stride, dropping the kitschy bullshit and playing like we all knew he could. Luke burned through his discography playing tons of his own productions and edits two and three tracks at a time, once again proving his technical prowess.
I’ll say one more time that seeing someone like Laidback Luke, Axwell or Deadmau5 (who’s playing at Ibiza on SATURDAY) is like taking your experience at one of the parties you attend at DC9, RNR or wherever else you’ve been raving, and adding IMMACULATE SOUND, LIGHTS, and, in the case of Ultrabar, FUCKING JETS OF FOG FROM THE CEILING BLASTING OFF AT THE MOST EPIC OF EPIC PARTS. Seriously, JETS OF FOG.
Luke continued to murder it until I left around 2AM. Notably, and tangentially, he did play two baltimore club tracks–Million Dollar Mano - Lady and DJ Ayres - One More Time.
I found that odd for few reasons.
1) They’re on the same T&A Records release.
2) He’s from Holland.
3) He didn’t play any baltimore club from Baltimore.
Sorry, that’s probably just the nerd in me coming out.
For all Laidback Luke’s talent, one thing cannot be ignored. As Stereo Faith leaned over to me earlier in the night and remarked, “I feel like these guys would feel if they were at Black Cat right now.” In other words, the crowd was far from your typical hipster, American Apparel head-to-toe affair. An unfortunate side effect of heading to clubland where bottle service is the name of the game is running into the dudes who think bottle service is, in fact, the name of the game. These dudes don’t bother me, but as I’m becoming more and more aware, many people are soft and afraid of the Dragonball Z haired bros that attend these parties. So, I would recommend the next time someone big like Laidback Luke comes through that you all take a step outside your comfort zone and attend, but I’d also recommend you roll with a crew. That way you can take a slice of your comfort zone and wrap yourself up in it. You owe it to yourself to have a true club experience once. No hate-o.
loves the pop-up pictures!
ultrabar, you say? maybe ill check it..
September 3, 2008 at 11:57 am