Another story to your body

Matthew Dear and Ellen Allien spun at Cielo on Tuesday night, though not in that order, or together, as the picture above suggests. After seeing Ellen at dancing-deficient NYC venues like the Knitting Factory and Apt., it was at least a great idea for her to spin at a New York spot with a real, live dance floor and a real great sound system.

Ellen's a triple threat -- a producer, a businesswoman (she runs Berlin's BPitch Control) and a DJ -- in that order. Her electrohouse set alternately veered to either side of that compound genre, to the point where inconsistency became her aesthetic. Every time she'd seduce me with some shrapnel-spitting electro beat or galloping bass line that sliced the place in half like a propeller on an Italian airplane, she'd inevitably bleed into something a lot less spirited. Wrong. The dancefloor is a no-zoning-out zone. I felt space . . . in my head.

Her set was plagued with bumps and skips and, as a result, she almost trainwrecked once. That was sort of fascinating in a (duh) Being Bobby Brown kinda way. The technical errors (thanks to a faulty needle, maybe?) took their toll on the crowd's interest. At one point, she dropped a house track so dissociated and woozy, so lacking in anything worth dancing to (including a tangible kick drum), that it felt like some sort of unwarranted punishment.

As far as the individual tracks went . . . uh, she played some shit I heard on a mix once, I think?

Also? She does not look at the crowd. EVER.

This is as close as I was able to capture:

Close!

I'm not trying to hate on Ellen -- her set was not a bad time, per se, and my disappointment obviously only arises from expectation. That said, her ability to bore me with every other track led me to playing with bf's camera and discovering its ability to take colorful shots in low light (note that unlike the usual images I post, you can click on these for bigger versions -- it just felt right to do it this way).

In addition to its drool-worthy sound, Cielo's wonderfully set up -- it's essentially a giant room with some seating along the perimeter and a huge, sunken dancefloor that takes up most of the space. A giant disco ball hangs overhead. I really liked the disco ball.

I mean, loved the disco ball.

I loved it so much, I followed it today. Well, maybe not, but I did take video of it going wild during a track in Ellen's set that made me go wild. We were at one, me and the ball. Take a look:

Shiny Shiny

Meanwhile, back in the DJ booth, Ann Arbor's finest was preparing his Allien take-over.

She's like, "Psst. Did you know that you're the hottest man in minimal house?"

"Yes way!"

Then he was like, "I know."

Really, though!

Motherfucker is beautiful and so was his set. He seemed to have a better feel for the sound system then Ellen -- everything bumped harder, as he struck this phenomenal balance between vicious and pleasant. Matt stuck to 4/4 house, minimal enough to make me feel the good kinda space and caustic enough to taint that space with paranoia. By the time he went on, the dancefloor was clearing off -- it seemed like he was playing four times the quality to half the crowd. He brought out some big-gun track, massive stomping funk, and the place was packed again.

He set it on fire.

Comments

[jeremy]

yo. i've heard ellen spin great sets, and i've heard her spin sets like the one you describe. when she is on, bitch throws it down. she has a really great set streaming on her site. as for sweet matthew--i can't go to any more of his shows, or the cops will take me away. not only does he bleep and blip your ass across the floor, he sucks a mean dick (in my fantasy world). just caught akufen here in seattle for the decibel festival--now i'm a fan.

[jeremy]

oh yeah, and i meant to ask, what kind of digi cam is that? mine is two years old and blows assholio. (see junior boy + l'altra pics on my site) and i'm lookin for one that does well w/o a flash.

[tree]

minimalicious photos! from my vantage point, ellen seemed to spend a lot of time trying to hear what lovesick trainspotters were spitting at her from the other side of the dj booth... maybe distracting? anyway, it was way better than apt, but for some reason the shows of hers i've seen in the states never reach the energy level of the ones i've been to in europe. she's still the nicest lady though! and i liked the weirdout moments, but i was floored by dissociative chemicals so maybe it was just for me.

[Tommy G]

Maybe Ellen would have been better if she put some lotion on those crusty feet she got

[Rich]

J - I use a Sony Cyber-shot 5.1:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6998555&type=product&id=1099391752053

And you probably can tell, but the shots of Allien and Dear were taken with the flash. All the pictures of the club/dancers/my lover the disco ball were done without.

Tree - nothing like dissociatives to make punishment fun!

[Carly]

Perhaps it's because I'm easliy distracted by shiny things, but those pictures are the damn coolest I've seen in a long time.

[dj Danny S.]

Elly doesn't look very approachable. Appears very angular and Olive Oily. Communication with the dancefloor, even if it's only visual, is imperative! You just gotta acknowledge the floor if they respond to you positively; a simple smile and happy head-nod does wonders. Juz, your writing is Richly descriptive and flawless as always, I love when music is your topic. How come we haven't heard anything about your giggity last week dammit???

[Rich]

Oh, the gig was awesome -- I didn't think people cared since Bill @ one soulful negro was the only one who came via my advertising post.

But yeah, it exceeded my expectations -- the dancefloor was packed for most of the night and people couldn't get enough of the old-school pop house. I heard screams when I dropped "Show Me Love." That was truly gratifying.

[dj Danny S.]

Awwww, deserved guilt. I feel bad, I woulda loved to have been there cheering you on and requesting Kym Sims' "A Little Bit More" (or maybe CCP's "Keep On Walkin'" - original OR the remix). But the one thousand, two hundred and two mile trip made me nervous when I knew I myself had to be on the decks at 9pm that night, here at home in Funkytown. I'm late often enough as it is. If you play there one mo gin let me know and I'll plan ahead a little mo betta.

[DJ LoKey]

With all the new technology and software out now days, the art of beatmixing has lost some of its value. Much respect to all the DJ's still doing it old school.