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Alex Whalen @ Club 5, DC
by Raven: 07-28-2001 |
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Hating trance is like hating shopping malls, television or fast food. All
such products of mass culture might offend our aesthetic sensibilities,
but sooner or later most of us turn to them for comfort or convenience
- not necessarily by choice, but not without a certain amount of
guilty pleasure.
Listening to a trance set, then, is like sitting down under duress
to watch an episode of "Friends" or "Buffy."
We might have to admit, at the end, against our better judgement,
that it was pretty good. There's a reason people eat Big Macs, shop
at the Gap and watch crap TV: It's pleasing. With the right mindset,
so is trance.
Ill be the first to admit that trance is my preferred genre
of electronica. I enjoy quality trance, deep trance with soulful
mysticism capable of titillating your emotional sensibilities. I
cant stand how true electronic heads generally
typecast all trance as cheese, as commercial pop garbage. Nothing
can be further from the truth. Not all trance follows the formulaic
big buildup and breakdown that appeals to the uneducated ear. A
lot of trance is tasteful and deep, in a way progressive and driving.
That said, it's a lot easier not to loathe the genre when it's executed
with as much restraint as Alex Whalen exhibited at Club 5 in DC
last weekend. His farewell set ending his weekly Saturday residency
there was amazing. The bombastic chug-a-thons of our collective
cultural nightmare were notably absent; instead, the DC-based DJ
sequences a number of tastefully hypnotic, mildly banging productions
into an obligatorily 3-hour beautifully mixed set. High on lithely
sinister atmosphere and low on cheesy breakdowns, these tracks pump
effectively and durably, their epiphanies spaced for maximum effect.
Thumping bass drums, ethereal vocal snippets and shimmering synths
are, of course, the order of the day, but fans of more rarefied
electronic genres aren't necessarily averse to such elements. He
played tunes that had a dark, driving intensity that wouldn't sound
alien to fans of minimal techno. While other tracks would appeal
to fans of tracky Chicago hard house.
The club for the most part is not rave oriented. It is your typical
shishee DC nightclub, with a dress to impress attitude and patrons
too dumb, drunk and horny to appreciate the amazing set Whalen was
spinning. I arrived with 3 other guys and 3 girls, whom we ignored
for most of the night as they were not into the music
and preferred to stay on the outskirts of the small dancefloor for
most of the night.
Whalen's track selection was delicious. A sweet array of progressive
house and brain-melting quality trance. My friends and I, already
established fans of Whalen, danced our hearts out
.or at least
attempted to in our Kenneth Coles and Armani pants. Nothing compares
to a good pair of UFOs and some addidas superstars. He was
having so much fun behind the decks, playing with the mixer.He dropped:
Satoshi Tomiie
Love In Traffic (Dark Path Dub)
Tall Paul vs INXS Precious Heart (Riva remix?)
Pole Folder & CP Apollo Vibes
Nick Holder Inside Your Soul
Dimension 5 Deep Space
Accadia Into the Dawn (James Holden remix)
Danny Tenaglia Turn Me On (Bedrock remix)
Then the world turned gray as I lost my shit when he played these
tunes in order:
Sasha Xpander
Three Drives on a Vinyl Greece 2000
Space Manoevers Stage One (Pariah remix?)
Salt Tank Eugina
Depeche Mode I feel Loved (Danny Tenaglia remix)
Underworld Cowgirl
V-One Dead Cities
Unknown (Hybrid remix?)
Encore:
Alanis Morissette Uninvited (Brothers in Rhythm remix)
His encore proved to be a resilient and melodic arm-raiser. A slightly
older tune remixed by Dave Seaman but never released, this track
used to be caned a lot by Paul van Dyk in the Fall of 99 and
early 00. Few avid fans remained at the club till the last
beat. He bid us farewell and I wanted so bad to shake his hand on
an unforgettable set but the security rushed us out promptly at
3 AM.
What a fantastic night. Let me reiterate again and again
.Alex
Whalen is an AMAZING DJ. Watch out for this kid. He begins to tour
with fellow Buzz resident, Dave Ralph this Fall.
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