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Foundry gigs
- Thread starter erika
- Start date
Juan Atkins was great! Sound system was crisp, and was loud without leaving a 12-hour ring in your ears. The set itself was a lot of fun... some harder detroit-flavoured techno bangers, going a little deeper in the middle of the set, before moving into the fun oldies (Blue Monday, I Feel Love, etc). When he dropped Blue Monday, the crowd cheered.
Gingy and his hard-hatted friend were cool. I tended to prefer what Gingy played than the other guy, and his mixing was better as well. Some funky acid tracks got me moving. They definitely had the floor full and the crowd moving before Juan took the helm.
It was, in my opinion, the way an opening set should be: lots of energy, but leaving *JUST* enough space for the headliner to bump it up a notch... not so incredibly deep and boring that everyone is tired and wanting to go home when the headliner steps up to the decks. Too many Toronto opening sets have bored me to tears, and the headliner steps up to a dead floor, likely killing his or her motivation to bring their a-game. This one was a great build-up where Juan could take over and keep the flow going, rather than having to start from scratch.
The atmosphere seemed good, though I rarely pay attention to these things and mostly just enjoy the music. Seemed like a lot of people were really enjoying the music all night.
PS. I think it was breakandenter that curated the Omar S gig... weren't Promise in another room or something? I don't think Promise is associated with Foundry.
Gingy and his hard-hatted friend were cool. I tended to prefer what Gingy played than the other guy, and his mixing was better as well. Some funky acid tracks got me moving. They definitely had the floor full and the crowd moving before Juan took the helm.
It was, in my opinion, the way an opening set should be: lots of energy, but leaving *JUST* enough space for the headliner to bump it up a notch... not so incredibly deep and boring that everyone is tired and wanting to go home when the headliner steps up to the decks. Too many Toronto opening sets have bored me to tears, and the headliner steps up to a dead floor, likely killing his or her motivation to bring their a-game. This one was a great build-up where Juan could take over and keep the flow going, rather than having to start from scratch.
The atmosphere seemed good, though I rarely pay attention to these things and mostly just enjoy the music. Seemed like a lot of people were really enjoying the music all night.
PS. I think it was breakandenter that curated the Omar S gig... weren't Promise in another room or something? I don't think Promise is associated with Foundry.
mandapanda
TRIBE Member
we went to see omar s on saturday. luckily we had tickets, cos it seemed like the line outside was not moving at all. loved the venue - what a great space with the two levels and the visuals projected on the screens behind the booth. the sound was fantastic. i don't really love omar s and couldn't really get into his set, but still had a great time - i preferred reference's set. the crowd was really friendly with no attitude, so thumbs up for that.
coatcheck was a fucking fiasco though! it literally took half an hour of waiting in a line that was not very long to get our coats. it seemed like they had just haphazardly hung people's coats up, but not in order of the ticket numbers. honestly, who knows, but they couldn't find anyone's stuff. people in the line were having to go in and search for their coats themselves. it was kind of ridiculous. luckily, mine is red, so it was easy to find. ;-)
would love to go to more events at this venue - pretty sure we're going to Martyn, so i'm looking forward to it!
coatcheck was a fucking fiasco though! it literally took half an hour of waiting in a line that was not very long to get our coats. it seemed like they had just haphazardly hung people's coats up, but not in order of the ticket numbers. honestly, who knows, but they couldn't find anyone's stuff. people in the line were having to go in and search for their coats themselves. it was kind of ridiculous. luckily, mine is red, so it was easy to find. ;-)
would love to go to more events at this venue - pretty sure we're going to Martyn, so i'm looking forward to it!
praktik
TRIBE Member
Didnt matter if you had tickets for Omar-S! We got there right as the cops, for no apparent reason I could learn, were messing up both parties - Omar-S was nowhere near capacity but they weren't letting anyone in!
After 90 mins we just got some poutine and gave up! (though were sorted by B+E next day - not their problem was the cops!)
Just annoying that they pushed their weight around to mess up a festival event like that - very paternalistic and not what this city needs...
After 90 mins we just got some poutine and gave up! (though were sorted by B+E next day - not their problem was the cops!)
Just annoying that they pushed their weight around to mess up a festival event like that - very paternalistic and not what this city needs...
My bad writing: what I meant was I was upstairs at the Great Hall for the Promise party when Omar S was downstairs...
mandapanda
TRIBE Member
that sucks! we got in right away. what time did you show up at? a friend of mine was waiting in line but bailed after half an hour or so cos the line wasn't moving (around 12:45). he said he overheard something about capacity issues. it was busy inside, but by no means rammed.
Spinsah
TRIBE Member
I thought Omar S was fun. The Funktion One in that room is the best system in the city right now, it's just unbelievable and for a while there it was turned up so loud, that I was scared to be in front of it without protection, but it was never distorted. The guys before S were really great and I think they were playing live. The crowd was great too.
Can't wait for Stott this Friday.
Can't wait for Stott this Friday.
praktik
TRIBE Member
12:20 or so... bad timing cause I like an uncrowded room and the cops would have been playing a little protection - at other's expense - to give me the dancing room I crave..
Figured we didn't have to worry about arrival time w/ tickets in hand, but hey, thanks pigs for ruining 1.5 hours out of an already shortened night! We planned to get back home in good time so once it started kissing 2am we were like, no point for an hour lets get a consolation prize (poutine) and blow this popstand! I bet we left only a few mins before people were let in finally..
Glad to hear it was going well in there I am still not sure what the cops accomplished by being there - wasn't capacity or any real violation... seemed more like a "blitz"...
I got there around midnight. Waited for about 40 min and left. The line did not move at all!
We got to Great Hall just before midnight, noticed a big line for Blk Box; meanwhile, bouncers at Great Hall were making us line-up even though we had tickets and it was not so busy - most annoying.
Now that I know this though, I wonder if they got scared by the cops on the other side.
Now that I know this though, I wonder if they got scared by the cops on the other side.
glych t.anomaly
TRIBE Member
I got into Blk Box on satueday night right around 11, fun party !
some great tracks but overall programming for the night from all performers was not as good as i expected it to be. some tracks were just too hit or miss IMO.
i was in line for it and some chick walked up to me and said i have xtra tickets, 20cash = yeeeewwww
they were not at capacity at all, but im glad they kept it at the amount of people they did for DANCING ROOM !
we were there till it closed at 5am
that system is nice, but whoever was doing sound needed to up the bass and mid range more and drop the high's a bit.
some great tracks but overall programming for the night from all performers was not as good as i expected it to be. some tracks were just too hit or miss IMO.
i was in line for it and some chick walked up to me and said i have xtra tickets, 20cash = yeeeewwww
they were not at capacity at all, but im glad they kept it at the amount of people they did for DANCING ROOM !
we were there till it closed at 5am
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Wish i had rocked up earlier for Omar S, because i got caught in the unmoving line around 12:30 too. Cops schmops, this is the second Mansion party i've been to with a bit of a shady vibe re line-up/coat-check/lack of water after 2am/etc, but i already bitched about that in the KiNK revew, so on to Omar S.
I've managed to go out to gigs for over 15 years without ever seeing a DJ from Detroit, primarily because the word on the street has always been that they tend to play a lot of classics and have a very mashed-up style, which has never been something i'm interested in. But Omar is one of my bestie's favorites so i tagged along for the first time. His set was exactly what i expected it would be - the kind of thing i would love to hear in my lounge room but fairly uninspiring for me on the dancefloor. Every now and then a track would start with a great jacking beat and then turn out to be some 80s freestyle or house or something. The odd techno track he played tended to either be mellow Detroit lounge style or classics that are kinda over for me. But the nice thing about the venue was being able to go up on the mezzanine and have a bit more space to enjoy the show without getting frustrated on the dancefloor, so that's what i did. Spent about 2-3 hours on the balcony watching the crowd and the light show, dancing to a track here, half a track there, then back to the balcony again. Usually if i can't stay dancing for more than a track at a time i just throw my hands in the air and leave the party, but Saturday i persevered, and at the end of it i felt unexpectedly satisified anyway. I only heard one track i thought was amazing, and because it was tossed in amongst the other stuff it was just a flash of excitement rather than a real climactic moment of the night, but it was nice to hear a bunch of music i wouldn't normally hear at a party.
What wasn't nice was fucking records. They sucked in the 90s when it was the only thing available, they sucked even more in the 2000s when CDJs became the norm, and now it's just a big wank. It's the 21st century, man, i'm listening to music on a pristine sound system (best i've heard in Toronto), and i have to listen to hiss and crackle? Give me a break. And then to add insult to injury, the fucking needle skips all night most likely because promoters don't know how to set up turntables properly any more (and why should they have to?) I get that vinyl is visually appealing. I get that people enjoy the hands-on feel and the sense of owning something physical. That's awesome. Play it in your bedroom. But to me a party is supposed to be a something bigger than that, and the experience shouldn't be marred by antiquated media. The fortunate thing about Omar S was that because of the style he was playing it didn't bother me as much as it would've if i'd actually been really sucked into the dancefloor journey.
All in all it was kind of a nice throwback event. After the first half hour or so when i was getting a bit annoyed at the mish-mash style i kinda settled into what he was doing and enjoyed it for what it was. It made me smile to see a DJ pull out records again, blast through tunes one after the other instead of playing 9 minute tracks and standing around doing nothing for 6 minutes. It was cool to see a great mix of old heads dancing around to their classics and young kids who loved it just as much for their own reasons. And it was a breath of fresh air to see a headline DJ actually get given a decent length set instead of a shitty 1.5 hour block amongst a bunch of other people we could see any other weekend of the year.
Best track was one i don't know that he played right after a loungy Detroit number that had a relentless polyrhythmic synth hit coming in every 3/16ths. No lyrics. No melody. No bullshit. He also played one of his own tracks i can't remember the name of toward the end of the night that was just cool weird sounds (before Claude VonStroke - The Whistler). And whoever was before him who i only caught 10 minutes of seriously kicked ass. Definitely gonna try see them again and catch their whole set.
So yeah, just bitching because that's how i do, at the end of the night i went home with a smile and just as inspired as i was after Peter van Hoesen, albeit in a very different way.
I've managed to go out to gigs for over 15 years without ever seeing a DJ from Detroit, primarily because the word on the street has always been that they tend to play a lot of classics and have a very mashed-up style, which has never been something i'm interested in. But Omar is one of my bestie's favorites so i tagged along for the first time. His set was exactly what i expected it would be - the kind of thing i would love to hear in my lounge room but fairly uninspiring for me on the dancefloor. Every now and then a track would start with a great jacking beat and then turn out to be some 80s freestyle or house or something. The odd techno track he played tended to either be mellow Detroit lounge style or classics that are kinda over for me. But the nice thing about the venue was being able to go up on the mezzanine and have a bit more space to enjoy the show without getting frustrated on the dancefloor, so that's what i did. Spent about 2-3 hours on the balcony watching the crowd and the light show, dancing to a track here, half a track there, then back to the balcony again. Usually if i can't stay dancing for more than a track at a time i just throw my hands in the air and leave the party, but Saturday i persevered, and at the end of it i felt unexpectedly satisified anyway. I only heard one track i thought was amazing, and because it was tossed in amongst the other stuff it was just a flash of excitement rather than a real climactic moment of the night, but it was nice to hear a bunch of music i wouldn't normally hear at a party.
What wasn't nice was fucking records. They sucked in the 90s when it was the only thing available, they sucked even more in the 2000s when CDJs became the norm, and now it's just a big wank. It's the 21st century, man, i'm listening to music on a pristine sound system (best i've heard in Toronto), and i have to listen to hiss and crackle? Give me a break. And then to add insult to injury, the fucking needle skips all night most likely because promoters don't know how to set up turntables properly any more (and why should they have to?) I get that vinyl is visually appealing. I get that people enjoy the hands-on feel and the sense of owning something physical. That's awesome. Play it in your bedroom. But to me a party is supposed to be a something bigger than that, and the experience shouldn't be marred by antiquated media. The fortunate thing about Omar S was that because of the style he was playing it didn't bother me as much as it would've if i'd actually been really sucked into the dancefloor journey.
All in all it was kind of a nice throwback event. After the first half hour or so when i was getting a bit annoyed at the mish-mash style i kinda settled into what he was doing and enjoyed it for what it was. It made me smile to see a DJ pull out records again, blast through tunes one after the other instead of playing 9 minute tracks and standing around doing nothing for 6 minutes. It was cool to see a great mix of old heads dancing around to their classics and young kids who loved it just as much for their own reasons. And it was a breath of fresh air to see a headline DJ actually get given a decent length set instead of a shitty 1.5 hour block amongst a bunch of other people we could see any other weekend of the year.
Best track was one i don't know that he played right after a loungy Detroit number that had a relentless polyrhythmic synth hit coming in every 3/16ths. No lyrics. No melody. No bullshit. He also played one of his own tracks i can't remember the name of toward the end of the night that was just cool weird sounds (before Claude VonStroke - The Whistler). And whoever was before him who i only caught 10 minutes of seriously kicked ass. Definitely gonna try see them again and catch their whole set.
So yeah, just bitching because that's how i do, at the end of the night i went home with a smile and just as inspired as i was after Peter van Hoesen, albeit in a very different way.
glych t.anomaly
TRIBE Member
yeah i was upstairs watching the floor down below when the skipping started and he just stopped everything and wouldnt move till people started getting away from the stage.
some people just wont let go of vinyl .
i honestly dont find that function one sound system to be that much more impressive that the 40hz Rig, especially when i have heard both systems in that venue. either it was just not tuned all that nicely, or something but there was something def lacking in the mid to low range frequency IMO, and the high's were quite piercing.
it would be interesting to hear it tuned properly for the space, but i was really not that blown away by the sound.
some people just wont let go of vinyl .
i honestly dont find that function one sound system to be that much more impressive that the 40hz Rig, especially when i have heard both systems in that venue. either it was just not tuned all that nicely, or something but there was something def lacking in the mid to low range frequency IMO, and the high's were quite piercing.
it would be interesting to hear it tuned properly for the space, but i was really not that blown away by the sound.
Yeah the highs were definitely piercing. I put my earplugs in 20 minutes before the end and was wishing i'd done it earlier. I still think it's amongst the best i've heard in Toronto, though - none of the usual distortion or echoiness. Lightyears ahead of the much-hyped Moskito setup. Other than Omar S the only times i've really noted the sound quality here is at psytrance gigs (which is a given) and the odd BOK or B&E party (Alieninflux?) I get the sense the main problem is people not knowing how to tune things properly for the space. I'm not a promoter or engineer so i have no idea what's really involved, but surely it can't be that prohibitively expensive/difficult?
glych t.anomaly
TRIBE Member
i agree its in the top 3 best sound systems for a space that size that i have heard, and not wearing ear plugs, im QUITE sensitive to sound in spaces.
as well having set up the 40hz rig enough times, and watching Spyne meticulously get the sound right and keep checking it all night, depending on who is performing etc. i guess im just used to people caring more about the whole experience, rather than setup, tune for a bit, and then assume it will sound good for everyone.
as well having set up the 40hz rig enough times, and watching Spyne meticulously get the sound right and keep checking it all night, depending on who is performing etc. i guess im just used to people caring more about the whole experience, rather than setup, tune for a bit, and then assume it will sound good for everyone.
WestsideWax
TRIBE Promoter
I love reviews where people critique sound quality - it isn't done nearly enough.
Maybe it's because I'm so used to it, but I don't mind the odd pop and crackle in a vinyl set, nor a DJ who knows how to work well with the medium - but yeah, they should have set the decks up proper-like if they knew that's what he'd be using. Skipping = major annoyance on both sides of the booth.
Maybe it's because I'm so used to it, but I don't mind the odd pop and crackle in a vinyl set, nor a DJ who knows how to work well with the medium - but yeah, they should have set the decks up proper-like if they knew that's what he'd be using. Skipping = major annoyance on both sides of the booth.
That mindfulness of the flow of the night is something i hope the Mansion guys will learn through this month of gigs. I think it's fantastic that they are getting "big name" acts into town, that they're getting the kids excited about music that isn't dubstep and that they're paying attention to great lighting (and theoretically great sound)... Just need to work on the things like making sure people can still get water when the bar closes, having an organized coatcheck and door, managing (over)-capacity, setting up the fucking turntables properly, turning the volume down when the room thins out etc. I dunno how long these guys have been doing it (i've only heard about their gigs in the last 6-9 months) but i don't think they have the experience of promoters like Suma, Promise etc who've been doing parties since way before i moved to Toronto. They seem to be on the right track at least, a lot of the other "new" promoters don't give half as much of a shit about lighting/sound/etc.
Illuminati
TRIBE Member
There have been huge strides re: sound quality of digital tracks but you still can't compare the quality of a properly mastered track on vinyl. I've had the misfortune of hearing both cd and mp3 skips during sets and I'd take a vinyl skip anyway of the week.
JamesM
TRIBE Member
that Prosumer set was stellar! the venue was awesome too. wonder if they still use it.
Keep drinkin your Kool-Aid, dinosaurs. Skipping is skipping and it sucks regardless, but you're never going to go to a rave where the decks and vinyl are pristine enough to avoid hiss/crackle and warping. The track was clean coming out of the DAW, why shouldn't we get to hear it that way on the dancefloor too? Of course i've heard tons of vinyl-only sets that i enjoyed, and a good vinyl set is always going to be better than a bad digital set, but now that there's clearly a better option it annoys me when DJs play new records when the exact same track is available digitally. You aren't fucking Qbert. Use Serato if you still want to see some plastic spinning around.
Something else that annoys me is the apparent proliferation of vinyl-only labels, especially in the techno scene. If an artist wants to release on a vinyl-only label because they want to earn a bit more cash or street-cred then bully for them, but to me it's just perpetuating that "undergrounder than thou" elitist knobbery that has been the bane of the scene for years. I've been a massive supporter of this music since i was a teenager, i've spent huge chunks of my income on gear and CDs and parties, but because i chose never to buy vinyl i've been denied the opportunity to hear some of my favorite tracks at home. This idea of trying to artificially make something scarce seems to be the opposite of what art should be about; don't these guys want people to listen to their music? Don't they want to move people, make them happy? I dunno. I'm not a collector, i'm just someone who appreciates good tunes, but i guess i don't qualify as a serious enough fan to be worthy of some of these guys' art. Meanwhile the kids download pirated vinyl rips for free anyway. Meh.
Something else that annoys me is the apparent proliferation of vinyl-only labels, especially in the techno scene. If an artist wants to release on a vinyl-only label because they want to earn a bit more cash or street-cred then bully for them, but to me it's just perpetuating that "undergrounder than thou" elitist knobbery that has been the bane of the scene for years. I've been a massive supporter of this music since i was a teenager, i've spent huge chunks of my income on gear and CDs and parties, but because i chose never to buy vinyl i've been denied the opportunity to hear some of my favorite tracks at home. This idea of trying to artificially make something scarce seems to be the opposite of what art should be about; don't these guys want people to listen to their music? Don't they want to move people, make them happy? I dunno. I'm not a collector, i'm just someone who appreciates good tunes, but i guess i don't qualify as a serious enough fan to be worthy of some of these guys' art. Meanwhile the kids download pirated vinyl rips for free anyway. Meh.