King Street Garage show - one of the more memorable events of my earlier
years in techno/ambient. Bass bins were in abundance. Alex Windsor
introduced me to Morris and Namlook. What more can you ask for a
formative experience... Need you ask what I'm doing for my radio show
tomorrow night? In addition to his formidable output, Namlook was one of
the nicest guys in the business, but managed to steer his label around
the shoals that wrecked many prominent Frankfurt labels (the EFA
collapse sank quite a few).
kent williams wrote:
I had to look it up because it was a memorable thing related to Peter
Namlook. From Pete Ashdown March 28th 1994 -- 18 years ago! He's
describing Namlook's set that ended up on Namlook IV.
http://www.discogs.com/Namlook-Namlook-IV/release/1360
From: pashdown@xxxxxxx (Pete Ashdown)
Subject: Mixmaster Morris/Pete Namlook SF
To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
(Intelligent Dance Music)
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 1994 15:01:08 -0700 (MST)
Cc: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
(SF Raves)
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL22]
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 4213
Sender: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
Status: OR
"Something different" was the general consensus on what people were
expecting from the completely ambient show with Mixmaster Morris, Pete
Namlook, and Spacetime Continuum. There seemed to be a large
excitement over the night since for a large part the rave scene has
run its course in breaking new boundries. In usual form, I'd flown
into San Francisco for the weekend to witness yet another event.
It was broadly advertised that there would be little to no dancing at
this show. Pillows, beanbags, blankets and whatever were encouraged
accessories. The organizers had covered the dancefloor with a large
padded carpet, then put remnants around the top level balcony. The
decorations were definitely homespun, but interesting nonetheless.
For the most part, the room looked like a large psychedelic Arabian
tent. The sound itself was not obnoxiously loud, just loud enough. I
sat near the speakers when it started with no problems, but stuffed my
ears with toilet paper later. As I moved around the room, I would
take it out to hear better based on my placement.
Initially, I sat watching Spacetime Continuum do his stuff. Although
his collaboration with Terrence McKenna makes me green, I do enjoy his
solo music quite a bit. He concocted an interesting, yet varied set.
His show dipped into dance, but not for long. It seemed that
whenever a beat kicked in, the crowd cheered and started to throb.
Otherwise, the audience looked very much like a large slumber party.
When Mixmaster Morris finally came on, he crouched in front of the
carpet behind two 1200's and a Denon 2000 (yay!!). The beginning of
his set started with an old recording of relaxation techniques that
was used on "Flying High" as well. Over the course of the night, he
brewed a mostly beatless set. I only recognized a few tracks, and in
his first set, there was no Irresistible Force that I could place.
The reason I say this is because there were a couple of tracks that
sounded dead-on in the IF style. Maybe we have another album to look
forward to in the near future?
While Morris was spinning, Pete Namlook sat behind him messing with
some equipment on the desk. It was a subject for debate as to whether
he was actually doing anything or not. What I believe it ended up
being was the fact that he was doing setup for his performance. When
Morris finished, Namlook took over immediately with some light airy
ambience that ranged from simple sweeps into odd electronic noise.
About half an hour into this, THE BEAT KICKED IN. The largest cheer
from the audience yet went up as this very slick
n' cool 110 bpm crusher bounced around the room. Namlook let it fly
for a while, then when back to straight ambience. This went on for a
performance of almost 90 minutes. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if
the whole thing was sent to DAT for later publishing.
Morris came back on and proceeded to mix into the morning. This set
was airier, more angelic than the first. I fell asleep twice, waking
up to what seemed like the heavens opening up for me. Around 5:00 AM,
the ambient version of "Space is the Place" came on. I smiled as he
worked in Psychick Warriors of Gaia's "Obsidian" underneath it. I
really think it was the best thing he played all night. What a
brilliant track. My only complaint with his performance is that it
wasn't much of a performance. I would have much rather seen him do
something live and/or play more of his own material. This is why I
feel Namlook bested him.
Overall an excellent show. Certainly nothing like the Orb or Orbital
shows I was in town for previously, but a certain newness prevailed.
Besides the fact that this was an over-21 show, I think there was an
even older crowd present. It seems that whenever a new idea comes
around the highschool kids are the last to embrace it. The ambient
slumber party may or may not take off as a replacement for rave, but I
certainly think it has some potential. I received one flyer from a DJ
who I had seen do ambient rooms at Wicked events advertising an
ambient outdoor event. If it wasn't so cold here right now, I'd fire
up the generator and do one of my own. Instead, all I have to do is
look forward to summer.
