Well this DJ certainly knew what he was doing and he was doing it in quite a refreshing way…..rapid variations, short but completely contrasted introductions almost totally unrelated….tracks which don’t go on and on ad infinitum! Never afraid to be beat less at times with orchestrated or pianotic (yay I’ve just made up another word: piano + hypnotic!) sound-scaped hoverings, this DJ introduced those drums into a frenzy!
Timing absolutely perfect. And I never thought reggae could be transmuted into drumnbass!! This kept that sweating white youth (will they ever lose their blinkers?) happily ensconced on the pulsing dance floor.
The DJ never missed a beat….and given these overheated sweaty Durban conditions this was NO MEAN FEAT.
Tracks infused and defused in and around each other in a seamless non-break that is quite rare for a Durban event….well certainly from this perspective at any rate.
And then there was Mark. A black guy with short dreadlocks who one could literally call a SPIN DOCTOR.
His microphone technique was fantastic as he kept up loose commentary (never intrusive) of things HAPPENING and at one point earned my DEEPEST RESPECT by preventing a crowed TEETERING ON dishevelling into an all out PUNK MOSH PIT from happening – the DJ looked alarmed, glanced at MARK, cut the music then Mark said in an inspired CAMP VOICE:
“Hey guys….let’s not do the mosh pit…”
It was a magic moment and I shall never forget it. The crowd immediately pulled itself up (in horror at the implications?) and relaxed. The DJ speedily pumped in with the music.
WOW. Nobody was fazed.
It was a momentous moment to moment.
The DURBAN heat is in itself AN ANARCHY – it forces you to reach a point where you just…just let everything GO!
But as it stands: drumnbass is the NEW PUNK.
The Willowvale has GOT TO BE the WARMEST SUMMER spot in Durban. The only place that is COOL is out on the STREET.
The HUMIDITY LITERALLY SUCKS INTO that place and you swelter in a muddled puddle of mingled body fluids!!
Its called being IN A SAUNA! Surely just a few strategically placed stand alone fans would do the trick?
About 10.