Tweet
From the first time I walked through the doors of the Chelsea superclub on its opening night, I realized that Crobar had a legitimate shot at becoming the top clubbing destination in the city. In comparison to previous New York nightclubs and their indifferent attitudes towards aesthetics, Crobar seems to have left no detail untouched. From the flashy, well-lit entrance on 28th street that is poignant enough to resemble a Hollywood premiere to the massive industrial space of the main floor, Crobar demonstrates bigtime design at it's best. Everything about Crobar is big, including, most importantly, the sound. The latest venue to feature the legendary audio work of Phazon Audio's Steve Dash, who is also known for his work with Twilo and Arc, Crobar trailblazes ahead of every club in the city in every aspect, including talent. Just about every big name has been booked at Crobar, including names as diverse as Tenaglia, Deep Dish, Sander Kleinenberg, Carl Cox, Erick Morillo, Paul Oakenfold and, of course, my favorite one-two punch, Sasha and John Digweed. Everything surrounding Crobar seems to be perfectly in line but one thing stands out. Up until this year I really cannot say with any certainty that I have had an amazing time on any of my visits to the club.
Last year's performance by Sasha and Digweed was definitely fun and a great night out but it was by no means memorable. Sasha was still promoting his 'Involver' album so the sound in the middle of the night took what seemed like an obligatory turn to the melodic and outright boring. Never in my life did I feel as if Sasha and Digweed were playing tracks from two completely different record boxes. Brilliant nights are filled of moments and that night really only had one moment for me - that was Digweed laying down Chab's "Us & Them", a psychotic, killer of a track that actually made the hairs on my arms stand up. So, I left the club having been satisfied but felt as if Sasha and Digweed were out of sync and the translation was a dead dancefloor. Crobar is a huge club and it demands big music. Atmospheric melodies simply get lost in the cavernous walls of the superclub. Thus, when the duo came back a few Fridays ago my expectations were more than a bit low.
What an unbelievable night I had at Crobar with Sasha and Digweed. There, I said it plain and simple. At last, the two delivered a performance worthy of their combined notorietys. If I was pressed to compare to the past, I'd easily say this is the best set I've heard by Sasha and Digweed since their days of being monthly residents at Twilo.
There was no opening act, Sasha simply fired up Ableton Live on his G5 iMac around a quarter to one in the morning and soon thereafter the club was elevated to party status. There really wasn't much fussing about for The Man Like either, his first few records were aggressive and he set a frantic pace for the night that never really varied too much in any other direction. That fact appeared to be just fine to me, my friends and the rest of the folks on the dancefloor because the place was incredibly raucous the entire night.
The night was billed as part of Sasha's new Fundacion residency so Digweed didn't take the decks for sometime and let Sasha have the spotlight. I'd say it was a good hour and a half before my personal favorite stepped up and took over the decks. I was anxious to see if Digweed would change directions and slow down the pace but he only shifted to a higher gear and proceeded to lay down some of the meanest music I've heard in some time - perfect music! The music that not only Sasha but also Digweed was playing seemed to be a throwback to the progressive days but enriched with a much fuller sound. The usual kick drums were in place along side the piercing synths but it's obvious there's a collective movement towards a more rockier sound. Labeling for the sake of journalism really isn't my forte but if I had to apply a label I'd say it was punk fused with progressive house.
The night moved merrily along. As I stated earlier, I've been to Crobar on numerous occasions but never really felt like I had amazing nights - nights where all I wanted to do was dance. This was entirely not the case with Sasha and Digweed's latest visit. There were moments during the night where the crowd was encroaching upon me from every angle and all I could think about was dancing to some of the best music I've heard in months. The music was absolutely fantastic and I got more than my fill for the 7 hours I was in the club. So, making as good of a guess as I could as to when the night would end, I grabbed my coat from coat check and decided to depart around 6am. I had committments the rest of the weekend so I needed my rest but I vicariously realized the next day that the party only improved as Digweed laid down Schiller's "Ruhe", Fundacion balloons dropped from the ceiling and Sasha and Digweed battled it out one-on-one for two more hours. Crobar is the best club in the city and Sasha and Digweed finally figured out how to rock the party. I'm thinking this could be the beginning of many good nights to come.
[written by janky] [submitted on 2005 April 16]
Comment