PS1 WarmUp: TURRBOTAX® DJs/Bronze/FaltyDL/SBTRKT/Four Tet 7.9.11

Four Tet - Photo by Loren Wohl (via Pitchfork)

Our first outdoor dancey pari of the summer this Saturday was quite the beasting affair.

Snail had to stick around longer than we planned reporting on the tragic murder of Facundo Cabral, so we arrived at the museum fashionably late to the final beats of Bronze's far out primitive-sounding madness. Weaving through the number of freaks shakin' it in the sunshine, we found a good place on the stairs to nestle our booties and save our energies for the potential craziness of Four Tet's set.

With FaltyDL's sweet mix in the background, we bobbed our heads and engaged in our usual crowd watching, picking out the best and (laughing at) the worst body movers on the floor. Among the pelvic thrusters, ravers, giraffes, and the bouncy-kneed gringos rose a very special dancer: the bearded dude with the maritime hat and devil horns icon pin. This guy not only blew our minds with his unique moves but also with his inability to give an effing shit. Not since "Sweatpants" at Modeselektor, had we witnessed this kind of grace and non-fuckery. He worked the crowd and inspired other crazies to follow his lead, but no one could step to him. We would've given that whole crowd for clones of him moving at the same time, forever, he was that solid.

SBTRKT hit the stage soon to an even more densely packed audience,  complete with an African tribal mask wielding fan. It was exciting to listen many of the tracks from the LDN producer's terrific debut full length bumping into the warm afternoon air and live drums in the mix. After scoping out a decent spot on top of the stairs near the stage and the booming speakers, we caught a glimpse of SBTRKT and Sampha, masked as expected, finishing up a super-short set and got quite distracted when Kieran Hebden came on stage to set up his gear. There we were, ogling at these dudes-- what happens when we're in the presence of greatnesses we have crushes on. When SBTRKT was done, the mask came off to reveal a royal hotness and it was understood why the man really covers up that face of his: he wants his work to cause the boners not his beautiful face. Fair enough, at least now we've seen it.

After missing Herr Hebden inaugurate the Mr. Sunday parties Memorial Day weekend, we were long overdue for an eye and ear pleasing via Four Tet and this second chance to see our boy DJ outdoors was not to be passed up.  We were nervous, blind to what he might spin, hoping he'd play his collab with Burial and Thom Yorke "Ego" and his Rocketnumbernine remix of "Matthew and Toby."

For an hour and a half he ripped it up -- in flip-flops nonetheless. His own "Love Cry" opened a sick mix of jazz, reggae, hip-hop and electro joints including tracks by Caribou, Nas, P. Diddy, and LFO. He seemed to have played everything under the sun but the songs we wanted... womp. No matter, despite this small sadness, we shook what our mamas gave us as Kieran hit it out the park, as per usual. The frenzied masses behind us affirmed, going mental, even crowd surfing!

Danced to sweaty and tired hungry messes, we took ourselves to a local diner for some grub before heading back into Manhattan for some Pinkberry and the trip home. Super psyched that our first summer dance party went off without a hitch and so many more are on the horizon. Tonight we're going to be living the dream and bringing on the heatstroke with Ratatat, Omar Souleyman and Black Pus at Central Park Summerstage. IT WILL BE GRAND!

Check out more photos of the party here

Modeselektor/Falty DL @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 9.26.10

Modeselektor always keeps it fresh.

The Cheep and the Snail have seen the German producers 4 times and each time has been a different kind of party.

We walked into a techno trip out about 10pm with FaltyDL behind the laptop. We assumed our positions on the balcony and looked for characters in the crowd. There were your basic dysrhythmic dancers that garnered a giggle or two but not one topped our darling hand twirler Sweatpants. To our sadness he did not make it to this shindig as far as our eyes could see. So our only entertainment proved to be Falty's twitchy arm freak-outs during specific beat drops and break downs. Who says DJs are boring to watch?

Caribou/Emeralds/Arp @ Webster Hall 9.22.10

Caribou ripping it up

C&S kicked off this month’s series of concerts dancing our souls away at Caribou on Wednesday.

After a dronefest via Arp and Emerald’s sad wizard rock session, we were treated to Dan Snaith and co.’s splendid range of psychedelic rock outs and electronic bangers, all amped up to 5000.

They opened with “Kaili” which got loud by the time it was too late (soundguy, we’re looking at you!) and killed us with serious movement-inducing, drumtastic album spanning tracks, mostly from the lastest LP Swim. Drummer Brad Weber, ripped it up so hard we didn’t know what to do with ourselves.

Dear Drummah, thanks for high-fiving us. Have you ever considered being a part-time competitive drummer? You’ve got just the right amount of awesome to win such contests. Love, Cheep & Snail.

For a while it seemed the only people grooving along with us were the people in the middle and the dude to our left but when “Odessa” started bumping its like the whole venue woke up. It was the perfect prep for the encore where everybody got down like it was the last dance on earth.

For a hour and 15 minutes we twirled in amidst sweet sounds and band crushin’ (Raincoat a.k.a Ryan Smith, now we’re looking at you.) This show is yet another giant sigh to add to 2010’s list of greatness.

Four Tet, Nathan Fake @ (le) poisson rouge 2.17.10

Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet & Nathan Fake (press photos)

Last week we saw these two English electronic music masters at one of our least favorite venues where we had to deal with some major duality: the awesomeness going on onstage and the pathetic war zone of being in front row center with obnoxious concertgoers lacking concert etiquette.

Some guy who twiddled knobs for about 10 minutes opened the show. He looked super into it but it started to get a bit redundant. Things started to get interesting (i.e. awesomely creepy) when he started to channel 2001: A Space Odyssey’s monolith with this loud reverb sound. We geek-freaked of course and then he just finished and left us hanging haha.

In between sets as it began to get tighter we griped about the annoying things going on around us hoping it wouldn’t get any worse (it did). We switched our focus to he adorableness that is Nathan Fake who dazzled us with his bleeps and bloops. We hadn’t listened to him prior to the show so it was pleasant to just love the shit out of an opener right off the bat. It was banger after banger and the longer he played the more we fell in love. We just love our minimalists! The set was comprised mostly (if not all) of songs from his most recent mini-album Hard Islands (Border Community) which rules from top to bottom. We’re hoping in the near future he opens for Modeselektor in NYC! *crosses fingers*

This set was flawless but the experience was tainted by the first of many a retarded incident: Tall Guy with Puffy Coat. Though it sounds fine all by itself, when its standing in the front row squeezing Snail out of her spot, it’s not so cute. I told the dude a thing or two, the way he responded to me seemed like he wasn’t going to move but I guess he felt guilty and before Nathan finished he let her move in front of him. This would only be the battle we would win tonight.

We were left a bit sad again at the end of Nathan Fake’s delicious set but he just geared our fangirl-selves up for the main course, Kieran Hedben aka Four Tet aka one of our links to Thom Yorke haha. He kicked off the set with “Angel Echoes” the opening track from our favorite album of the year-so far There Is Love In You which followed with the rest of the album and some oldies thrown in. Honestly, we were so pissed due to drunken youths acting a fool (Cheep got her ass grabbed by an Asian girl talking shit language) that we couldn’t enjoy Four Tet’s set as it should be. He was very awesome and blew our minds when he was making beats via what we believe is an iPhone *BOOSH* but no matter how hard we tried to keep our happy bubble up and ignore the crap, it was too much and we got the hell out of there.

After hanging round the merch booth and purchasing some albums, we enjoyed the encore from TV screens in the second bar area and escaped before the wolves were released and cabbed it —albeit very very pissed that a magical show was tainted by an idioteque first few rows — to 42nd and headed home. The anger lingered into the next morning but was quickly soothed once we listened to the guys.

We wish we could’ve at least hugged our boys in appreciation after the show but there will be another time for such sweet things. No more front and center for us, though, we’re getting too old for this shit.