Showing posts with label Sammy D. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sammy D. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Upcoming Event: Kontrol v. Bunker in NYC, July 20
Continuing with their trans-continental pollination, the Bunker boys of New York will be hosting our local favorites Alland Byallo, Craig Kuna, and Sammy D at the Galapagos Club in Brooklyn on July 20th. If you're travelling to NY, or are already there, you should check it out for a great evening of techno from two super collectives.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Mixes to Download: Kontrol DJs and Guests
Whoo, looks like the boys at Kontrol have been busy with their audio section! In addition to "studio" and live mixes by Sammy D, Craig Kuna, and Alland Byallo, there are also live mixes from guests like Troy Pierce and Modeselektor (which happened on my birthday last year and was one of my most amazing club experiences ever). Hours of listening enjoyment! Click the audio link on the kontrolsf website to get the goods.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Bar Review: Love It Wednesdays at Icon Ultra Lounge
At the last minute on Wednesday afternoon the Kontrol kids sent out an announcement on their mailing list (and why haven't you signed up yet) that they were going to be appearing at Love it Wednesdays at the Icon Ultra Lounge (formerly known as the Luna Lounge) on Folsom and 8th. Since the boyfriend was at Mezzanine singing along to "Trapped in the Closet," and I was besotted in the company of bloggers and feeling frisky, we decided that this was a good space to meet in-between, as it were.
I used to frequent the Luna Lounge some years ago when they hosted the Taco Portal psytrance parties on Thursday nights. It was a pretty non-descript bar with too-expensive drinks ($6 each for well) that had the one redeeming quality of selling deep-fried Mexican bar food (hence, Taco Portal). That regular night ended about two years ago, and after that the Luna Lounge passed into deserved obscurity. Now, as the Icon Ultra Lounge it has a lot more flair, but they need to pull their act together if they're going to keep this thing going.
The flyer said 9PM - 11PM, and since it was a school night, I was inclined to be there early. I show up at 9.30 and while the door was open, there was no music and it looked like set-up was still in progress. I took a walk to check out the SoMa street theater, and when I came back ten minutes later sound check was still underway, and the bartenders were still counting out their cash drawers. At 9.45 I finally was able to get a drink, and the tunes started up. Now, I know from experience that, especially on a Saturday night, 9 can mean 9.30. But on a Wednesday, when people are inclined to go out early and leave early, if you put 9.00 on your flyer, you better start at 9PM.
Also on the email flyer was a promise of Kontrol DJ Sammy D. djing a "darker side of light rock" set as Lark After Dark in the back room. During the Taco Portal days this room was closed, and I only saw it once during a big party. I was rather looking forward to this, since I was curious what Sammy's spin would be. However, when the boyfriend and I left at 11.15, this room still wasn't going. On the print flyer it says "KOIT's Storm presents Light Rock Inferno," but nothing was burning as far as I could tell. Again, if you put it on the flyer, you better be making it happen.
The boyfriend and I didn't really spend any time in the main room because we discovered a third room that I had never seen before, a kind of VIP lounge space in the shape of a narrow U in the very back of the bar. There was the standard leatherette banquette seating with a table in the center of the U, but the walls were covered with very narrow mirrored stripes. Seven clear lightbulbs with orange filaments hung from the ceiling, and their reflection in the mirrors created the effect of being in the middle of a shower of sparks, or, if you kinda squinted (or, in my case, took off your glasses), it was like looking out into a cityscape at night. A truly awesome optical effect achieved very simply. Too bad the room was empty, though we did find it a good place for a quick toke.
When we did make it out into the main room, just before we left, we found that it had been considerably reconstructed since the Taco Portal days. The DJ pulpit now towered up in the middle of the dancefloor, and the illumination was provided by red, circular lighting fixtures. Very ultra lounge. A small number of people had showed up by this point, but the party energy had yet to manifest and I was ready for the bed.
This space has a lot of potential, and from the upcoming line-ups on the print flyer it looks like this might be a great night during the week to check out some new tech house sounds. But if you're going to do a middle of the week party you can't be slack in how you set things up and make them run, because us working stiffs aren't going to be patient to wait for things to get up to steam. I'll definitely check it out again.
I used to frequent the Luna Lounge some years ago when they hosted the Taco Portal psytrance parties on Thursday nights. It was a pretty non-descript bar with too-expensive drinks ($6 each for well) that had the one redeeming quality of selling deep-fried Mexican bar food (hence, Taco Portal). That regular night ended about two years ago, and after that the Luna Lounge passed into deserved obscurity. Now, as the Icon Ultra Lounge it has a lot more flair, but they need to pull their act together if they're going to keep this thing going.
The flyer said 9PM - 11PM, and since it was a school night, I was inclined to be there early. I show up at 9.30 and while the door was open, there was no music and it looked like set-up was still in progress. I took a walk to check out the SoMa street theater, and when I came back ten minutes later sound check was still underway, and the bartenders were still counting out their cash drawers. At 9.45 I finally was able to get a drink, and the tunes started up. Now, I know from experience that, especially on a Saturday night, 9 can mean 9.30. But on a Wednesday, when people are inclined to go out early and leave early, if you put 9.00 on your flyer, you better start at 9PM.
Also on the email flyer was a promise of Kontrol DJ Sammy D. djing a "darker side of light rock" set as Lark After Dark in the back room. During the Taco Portal days this room was closed, and I only saw it once during a big party. I was rather looking forward to this, since I was curious what Sammy's spin would be. However, when the boyfriend and I left at 11.15, this room still wasn't going. On the print flyer it says "KOIT's Storm presents Light Rock Inferno," but nothing was burning as far as I could tell. Again, if you put it on the flyer, you better be making it happen.
The boyfriend and I didn't really spend any time in the main room because we discovered a third room that I had never seen before, a kind of VIP lounge space in the shape of a narrow U in the very back of the bar. There was the standard leatherette banquette seating with a table in the center of the U, but the walls were covered with very narrow mirrored stripes. Seven clear lightbulbs with orange filaments hung from the ceiling, and their reflection in the mirrors created the effect of being in the middle of a shower of sparks, or, if you kinda squinted (or, in my case, took off your glasses), it was like looking out into a cityscape at night. A truly awesome optical effect achieved very simply. Too bad the room was empty, though we did find it a good place for a quick toke.
When we did make it out into the main room, just before we left, we found that it had been considerably reconstructed since the Taco Portal days. The DJ pulpit now towered up in the middle of the dancefloor, and the illumination was provided by red, circular lighting fixtures. Very ultra lounge. A small number of people had showed up by this point, but the party energy had yet to manifest and I was ready for the bed.
This space has a lot of potential, and from the upcoming line-ups on the print flyer it looks like this might be a great night during the week to check out some new tech house sounds. But if you're going to do a middle of the week party you can't be slack in how you set things up and make them run, because us working stiffs aren't going to be patient to wait for things to get up to steam. I'll definitely check it out again.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Vinyl Addiction
San Francisco has plenty of places to buy DJ vinyl - if what you play is house. Trance, techno, breakbeat, electro, anything else, you'll have to dig through those bins with a sharp eye to find anything that hasn't been played so much the grooves are gone. Here's a tour of some local DJ vinyl shops starting at Amoeba in the Upper Haight, down to TWeakin' in the Lower Haight, and then across Market onto Valencia for Zen City Records, Soundworks, and Community Thrift.
BPM Records - a couple weeks ago I walked up Fillmore to Hayes to get my monthy dose of minimal techno, only to find that the best DJ record store in San Francisco is no more. Here's hoping they're just on hiatus and I'll be able to update this with an active link soon.
Amoeba Records - Upper Haight. San Francisco's biggest music store has a hip electronica buyer and a whole bin labelled "Minimal." Recent acquisitions include Marek Bois "You Got Good Ash" remixed by Gabriel Ananda and Roman Fluegel, the Steadicam EP on Kompakt's K2 label, and several tracks on the Platzhirsch label. Unfortunately, you can't listen to any vinyl before you buy it, and you have to put up with the constant click-clack of shoppers flipping through the CDs backed with whatever horrible music the staff has put on. Get in, get what you want, get the hell out.
Reverb - across the street from Amoeba and formerly known as F8 - I guess they got tired of being associated with candy raves and cyber trance. The only place you can get current progressive trance (unfortunately mostly of the prole-techno variety), and the very few psy-trance releases that come out on vinyl. Decent breaks selection too, but not my field of expertise. My last big purchase here was when they decided to close out the psy vinyl for two bucks a pop and I needed to stock up for Burning Man.
Tweakin' Records - Lower Haight. Let's not talk about the implications of the store's name and just mention that there's a bin of Tech House right by the register that's offered up some nice finds. Recent acquisitions include remixes of Husky Rescue's "Diamonds in the Sky" and Mikkel Metal's "Victimizer" EP. Also carry vinyl from local tech house label Dirty Bird, where you will find tracks by Kontrol's Sammy D.
Zen City Records - Upper Valencia. Where back catalog stock goes to die. At one time I could find interesting minimal psy on labels like Traktor and Plastic Park here, but as far as I can tell the only new vinyl they bring in is strictly house. Another record shop owner once told me he doesn't know how they stay in business, and I haven't bought anything there for a loooooong time. TIS NO MORE - closed as of May 2007.
SoundWorks - Two blocks down Valencia from Zen City on the right. Where Castro DJs come to get their pop house and Club 40 tracks. Owner Sam LaBelle is a DJ and can be heard out on occasion, and is generally better than most of his clientele. Hang out on a Saturday afternoon and you'll hear all kinds of local gay DJ gossip. Sam and his co-owner Tom Seymour are both super friendly and helpful. Techno leans toward the hard, sounds-sampled-from-a-construction-site variety, but you can also pick up offbeat, older stuff. They also run a record pool, which has some pretty horrendous stuff in it, but if you need cheap Club 40 vinyl, this is a way to get it. My recent acquisitions include Gabriel Ananda's "Waehrend die Andere die Mull rausbracht," which would look cooler if I could do umlauts.
Mission Thrift - Valencia and 17th. You gotta dig in those bins, and ninety-nine percent of it is crap, but at a dollar a disc, you can take some chances. Recently found a 12" of Hanzel and Gretyl's "Galaxia Malakia" here for when I want to throw down some late 90s industrial. Oh, those were the days!
BPM Records - a couple weeks ago I walked up Fillmore to Hayes to get my monthy dose of minimal techno, only to find that the best DJ record store in San Francisco is no more. Here's hoping they're just on hiatus and I'll be able to update this with an active link soon.
Amoeba Records - Upper Haight. San Francisco's biggest music store has a hip electronica buyer and a whole bin labelled "Minimal." Recent acquisitions include Marek Bois "You Got Good Ash" remixed by Gabriel Ananda and Roman Fluegel, the Steadicam EP on Kompakt's K2 label, and several tracks on the Platzhirsch label. Unfortunately, you can't listen to any vinyl before you buy it, and you have to put up with the constant click-clack of shoppers flipping through the CDs backed with whatever horrible music the staff has put on. Get in, get what you want, get the hell out.
Reverb - across the street from Amoeba and formerly known as F8 - I guess they got tired of being associated with candy raves and cyber trance. The only place you can get current progressive trance (unfortunately mostly of the prole-techno variety), and the very few psy-trance releases that come out on vinyl. Decent breaks selection too, but not my field of expertise. My last big purchase here was when they decided to close out the psy vinyl for two bucks a pop and I needed to stock up for Burning Man.
Tweakin' Records - Lower Haight. Let's not talk about the implications of the store's name and just mention that there's a bin of Tech House right by the register that's offered up some nice finds. Recent acquisitions include remixes of Husky Rescue's "Diamonds in the Sky" and Mikkel Metal's "Victimizer" EP. Also carry vinyl from local tech house label Dirty Bird, where you will find tracks by Kontrol's Sammy D.
Zen City Records - Upper Valencia. Where back catalog stock goes to die. At one time I could find interesting minimal psy on labels like Traktor and Plastic Park here, but as far as I can tell the only new vinyl they bring in is strictly house. Another record shop owner once told me he doesn't know how they stay in business, and I haven't bought anything there for a loooooong time. TIS NO MORE - closed as of May 2007.
SoundWorks - Two blocks down Valencia from Zen City on the right. Where Castro DJs come to get their pop house and Club 40 tracks. Owner Sam LaBelle is a DJ and can be heard out on occasion, and is generally better than most of his clientele. Hang out on a Saturday afternoon and you'll hear all kinds of local gay DJ gossip. Sam and his co-owner Tom Seymour are both super friendly and helpful. Techno leans toward the hard, sounds-sampled-from-a-construction-site variety, but you can also pick up offbeat, older stuff. They also run a record pool, which has some pretty horrendous stuff in it, but if you need cheap Club 40 vinyl, this is a way to get it. My recent acquisitions include Gabriel Ananda's "Waehrend die Andere die Mull rausbracht," which would look cooler if I could do umlauts.
Mission Thrift - Valencia and 17th. You gotta dig in those bins, and ninety-nine percent of it is crap, but at a dollar a disc, you can take some chances. Recently found a 12" of Hanzel and Gretyl's "Galaxia Malakia" here for when I want to throw down some late 90s industrial. Oh, those were the days!
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