The Retrospective

Photo Credit Krob

Guillermo Scott Herren has a lock on the rolling beats and sinewy electronic grooves he’s perfected through a career that spans more albums and side projects than there are backpacks at one of his shows. He’s one of the best known names of the glitch-hop movement, which encompasses everyone from Ghostly International’s scratchy rootmaster, Dabrye, to Herren’s own Eastern Developments protege, Elliot Lipp. On January 20 Herren rolled into the Middle East downstairs under his most famous (and my personal favorite) moniker, Prefuse73.

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photo credit Barry Yanowitz

When a friend offered me a ticket to the Pixies sold out show at Hammerstein Ballroom last Tuesday, I couldn’t resist. Even though I’m the most casual of Pixies fans, being able to identify two, maybe three songs at the most, I figured seeing them perform their 1989 masterpiece Doolittle in its entirety would be the perfect introduction. I couldn’t have been more right.

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MSTRKRFT, 1 Sleazy hookups 0

Last Friday saw the GBH ten year anniversary party take over Webster Hall in NYC with a lineup made in hedonistic electro heaven. Known for throwing some of the sweatiest dance parties around (past guests have included the Juan Maclean, Spank Rock and Drop the Lime), their Nicky Digital approved brand of glamorous debauchery practically demanded the services of banger connoisseurs LA Riots, hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash and upstart dance punks Does It Offend You, Yeah?, followed by the one-two punch of DJ sets by the DFA’s James Murphy and robot pop remixers du jour Jesse Keeler and Al-P, better known as MSTRKRFT. Considering that Murphy threatened legal action against Jesse’s former band, Death from Above (also the name of his NYC based dance punk label with Tim Goldsworthy) which resulted in the new name of Death from Above 1979, I’d love to know who came up with that inspired pairing.

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From the 80s sax solo at the end of “Hearts on Fire” to the dreamy nostalgia of “Future,” Dan Whitford and Co. make some of the most gorgeously crafted indie-pop this side of the century; they get the Pitchfork boys and HypeMachine girls all together now. Since entering my life last year as a Joakim mix on the Bang Gang Deejay’s “Light, Sound,Dance” compilation, Cut Copy has stolen my heart and refused to give it back.

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