Event Review: Kontrol with Alex Smoke at The End Up

Correction: I've found out since I wrote this review that it was actually Craig Kuna, not Nikola Baytala, who was spinning earlier in the evening. Mea culpa.

As we were getting ready to head out to hear Alex Smoke at Kontrol this past Saturday I realized that it has been over six months since the last time we checked out what was once my absolute first choice for San Francisco clubbing. What I discovered on this past Saturday was that, while I am still quite happy that Kontrol has been successful in bringing minimal techno artists to San Francisco, their migration from a quasi-underground art gallery space in the Tenderloin to one of San Francisco's biggest clubs has brought with it some changes in vibe that, for me at least, outweigh some of the positive aspects of the move.

We arrived at 10.30 with our friend J to find a line at the door; apparently doors at 10 really means doors at 10.30. We got drinks and found seats on the patio by the pool table; inside the music was just too loud for us to enjoy hanging out or even dancing. Not that we felt particularly moved to dance, as the first DJ, who I think was Nikola Baytala, was largely playing deep house; every few songs he would slip in something more interesting and techno-oriented, like Ritchie Hawtin's "The Tunnel," but it seemed more like these were conciliatory gestures toward the night's fan base than explorations into a genre that was of interest to him. We would dance for a track or two, but then it would shift back over into house and we would go outside. Unfortunately, I remember this as being the case the last time we came to Kontrol as well, and at that time our friend Tari was very disappointed that a party that had made its reputation as a minimal techno night seemed to have morphed, under the influence of End Up tradition, into yet another survey of deep house.

We had been expecting Alex Smoke to come on at 2.00, and, as a result, missed the first part of his set when he took to the controls at 1.15. What we did get to hear, however, made up for the dullness we experienced earlier in the evening. He was playing "live," and though there were some disconnects between individual songs, and I could have done without the 92.7 voice-overs announcing "Alex Smoke Playing Live at Kontrol," it was among the most interesting, and dance-inspiring, music I have heard in a long time. His tracks have an abstract spacious quality, with dark textures, that remind me of minimal trance, and the grooves are deep and solid. We heard one track off Paradolia, but all the rest was new to us.

Following Alex Smoke was Samim, who gets the prize for most intense DJ face. I almost enjoyed his set more than Alex Smoke's, as it had a slinky, sexy aspect that minimal techno often lacks. By the time 3AM was rolling around so was the majority of crowd, and when the trio of Marina girls in black cocktail dresses began to huddle and massage each other on the dance floor in front of us, and the lines for the bathroom were reaching back to the front entrance, we decided it was time to head out.

It was great to go out an hear, and dance to, good techno that was professionally put together on one of the best sound systems in the city. But the whole time we were there, the vibe seemed off to us. First there was the long digression into house music early in the evening, then, after 2AM, there was the arrival of clubbers in cha-cha heels and button-up shirts who seeemed to be there only because it's one of the few places in town open at that time. As the boyfriend put it, it was like being magically transported into the middle of 1015. The first time I went to a Kontrol party was to hear ModeSelektor at Rx Gallery, an event that remains among the highlights of my San Francisco nightlife experiences. After that we were monthly attendees, and I still have the memory of standing on the Eddy Street sidewalk, looking across the street to a gay strip club, and thinking how much it all reminded me of Berlin squat clubs after the wall came down. It was a slightly sketchy space in a way sketchy part of town, and that was what made it seem like something special and outlaw. Of course, the sound system sucked, they were likely to blow a fuse if they turned on the video projector, and it got so hot that you could see water coming down the walls, so I was thrilled when I heard that Kontrol was moving to The End Up. The benefits of that move - a better sound system, more space - now have to be weighed against the changes that the night has undergone as a result of becoming more mainstream. It is, in many ways, a much "safer" night out than it used to be, in terms of the space and location, but also in terms of the music, at least during the first part of the evening. This increased safety has widened Kontrol's appeal beyond the heads who helped it take off from the RX, and I'm happy for their success, but I rather miss that sweaty, underground vibe it had in the old days; for me techno always sounds better when it takes a little more effort, both physically and intellectually, to go out and hear it.

DJ Philosophy II: "The Flow"

I first realized the importance of flow in a DJ set back when I was making party mix tapes with my record player and cassette deck. At first my concept of how songs should follow one another was intellectual and rather forced, in a I’ve-read-the-Rolling-Stone-History-of-Rock-and-Roll sort of way. By the time I got into industrial music, though, I had the concept that songs went together based on mood and musical elements more than who had previously been a member of what band.

Hearing psy-trance DJs was my first real introduction to mixing and the idea of a set as a journey through moods and ideas. I came to understand that flow was the name of the game, the way that a listener or dancer can be led from one vista of the mind to another without being conscious of the transitions. In this way trance sets reminded me of classical symphonies, with movements and motifs that would emerge over time.

When I listen to DJs now, or mix CDs, the flow is where I focus my attention. Anybody can play one record after another, and even beat-match an intro with an outro, but it takes real skill to create a flow. The challenge is not only in getting the sounds of two different tracks to work together, but to understand also their dynamics and mood. My greatest frustrations come when I’m working on a set and I realize that I’ve backed myself into a corner with a track, something that is impossible to follow with the music I have without creating a significant, noticeable shift in the flow of the set. If you tend to stay within a well-defined genre keeping the mood and dynamics compatible from track to track is not so difficult, but if you begin to mix and match, or actually intend to create a change in moods over the course of set, it’s a different story.

The best CDs I’ve heard recently in terms of flow have come from minimal techno DJs like Ritchie Hawtin and Alex Smoke. In terms of sounds minimal makes it easier to combine a variety of different types of tracks with one another because the layers of the tracks have enough space between them to accommodate new elements. And unlike other genres, like breakbeat, psy-trance, or even drum and bass, that have very defined structures and almost homogenized sound palettes, minimal tracks loop in a way that seems almost infinite, so that when one track comes in with another it’s difficult to tell that it is another track, instead of the introduction of another set of looped sounds. For me flow is what makes music truly psychedelic, rather than just more background sound in an already noisy, chaotic world.

CD Review: Alex Smoke, Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi Vol. 3

It's rare to find a mix CD that can really deliver an experience to the listener - most of the time what you get is a collection of tracks that, at best, are artfully sewn together but lack any intellectual or emotional cohesion. The result is something you can put on for background at your party, with an occasional track that might catch your attention, but rarely will you feel compelled to just sit there and listen. Volume 3 of the Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi series by Alex Smoke, however, is that rare collection that is capable of leading the listener along through seventy plus minutes of diverse sound that, at its conclusion, makes you feel that you have really have gone somewhere.

Deep house fans will hear much that is familiar in the tracks Smoke has selected for his mix, from the deep heartbeat bass and langourous organ chords in Model 500's "M69 Starlight" to the oscillating background waves of "Minor Explosions" from Stewart Walker Vs. Theorem. The whole vibe of this mix is very deep, and very house, though the minimal aesthetic governs everything; the tracks are complex and poly-rhythmic, but each track element has its own distinctive position and value. There's lots of space in these tracks, and it's this space that makes for such a compelling listening experience because it provides an opportunity for the listener to insert their own own mind and follow along. This can be in the form of intellectual amazement at the polyrhythms and interactions among the track elements, or emotional enjoyment of the vistas that begin to appear in the mind's eye. About halfway through, when Smoke brings in "Detroit: One Circle" by The Vision, the tempo picks up and the high-hats and hand claps evoke old-school acid house before taking us over into more abstract territory with "Xenia" by Thomas Brinkmann, easily the kookiest and most-good natured track on this compilation (with the hysterical "25 Bitches (Gaiser Remix)" by Troy Pierce a good second). Clara Intellecto brings in an electro bass line with "Peace of Mind," but this just provides feel-good downtempo setup for the most techno section of the mix, starting with "Juan and Alex" by Musica Charlista, moving through the glistening keyboard stabs and hip-hop inflected bassline of "Faktum" by Epy, and concluding with Smoke's own track "Pingu." "Pingu" sounds like it could have been put out on a minimal psytrance label like Traktor, with a slow build that then unwinds into a loping bassline punctuated by chopped and distorted vocal sounds. Smoke leads us out of this dark territory with "Squat" by Quixote and his own "Always and Forever," giving us a triumphant build into "Fokuz" by 2000 and One, another track that evokes the old days of rave with its acid lines, steady bass pulse, and chatter of high-hats.

The mixing of all this is flawless, with long mixes, the use of quick snippets (as in the beginning, where we move through three tracks in under six minutes), and the ability to borrow elements from one track to use in another. I suspect that this mix was assembled using Ableton or Traktor, but the mechanics of it all inconsequential in consideration of the art that is produced.

Sci.Fi.Hi.Fi Volume 3 from Alex Smoke gets the two rolling boys' thumb's up. No matter where your head is at, it will be someplace different by the time you finish listening to this mix, and chances are, it will be a happier, more satisfied place than where you started from.