03 June 2004

RECOGNISE & RESPOND

An excellent time was had by all at "Recognise" on Thursday. I had the pleasure of meeting several new faces, including Tim Edwards, one of the other 'first time' DJs, who's drunken enthusiasm and wild mix of Aphex/Vibert/Kylie/Prince/Faust/Tears For Fears and er...Nik Kershaw set new parameters for eclectism. Apparently Tim is a member of a group called Bronze Age Fox, which also includes his brother who is better known as laptop experimentalist Minotaur Shock. Tim was proudly displaying his group's new triangular-shaped vinyl release, which was apparently financed by Sony. Nice one, son.

My mate Dave B. put in a good performance too. Despite his initial plan to subvert the event with all kindsa weird shit, Dave's commercial instincts proved too strong and he was soon filling the floor with crowd-pleasers like Beyonce and, of course Kylie Vs. New Order mix of "Can't Get You Out Of My Head". Dave had a picture of his idol Paul McCartney pinned-up in the DJ booth, in the hope that it would bring lot's of luck and good vibes. Must've worked, 'cause the vibe was well moist. And yes, Dave just couldn't help playing "Jet" by Wings. He also made good on his promise (threat?) to play "Conquering Lion" which is a garage rock-style cover of the old Yabby U reggae classic by Whiteworst. Who the fuck are Whiteworst? It's this recording 'project' (I wouldn't use the term 'group') who's members include myself, my mate Aaron and occasional live drums from Dave. Apparently the track went down quite well, although I wasn't able to gauge audience reaction myself as I was deep in conversation in the entrance hallway at the time. Darn...

The third member of the Recognise 'virgin-DJ' triad was also called Dave. His tastes seemed to be very much towards exotica/tropicalia-type stuff. Perhaps his most striking attribute was the outrageously retro moustache he was sporting. Not sure what statement he was trying to make, but I liked it.