popwreckoning updates |  |
- Tori Amos, Sinful Attraction Tour @ WAMU Theatre, Seattle
- Raphael Saadiq’s “Let’s Take a Walk” video
- Under Cover – Michael Jackson Tribute (”Man In The Mirror”)
- Movement 2009, part 2
| Tori Amos, Sinful Attraction Tour @ WAMU Theatre, Seattle Posted: 16 Jul 2009 09:15 AM PDT
As I have seen in shows past, Tori takes time to woo her adoring fans, both men and women alike. With a subtle androgyny, she attracts us all. The WAMU Theatre behind the Qwest Field is unassuming at best, but Miss Amos declared it her house on that beautiful Friday night. Wearing an emerald dress and gold shiny tights, she proclaimed, "Look I wore emerald for the Emerald City!" She plugs into our minds as we are entranced by "Cornflake Girl" and "Crucify", the standards we grew up on. But it wasn't until "Landslide", the cover written and made famous by Stevie Nicks, a cover I have lived in for so very long, and have heard many a performer attempt. Miss Amos not only made it her own, but she created an entirely new way to listen, a new planet to live on. With every song she continues as though she is a first time traveler to the world, giving her best performance at each note. Her dual microphones on both sides forcing her to turn her head as she belts is so pseudo sexual that you cannot help but wonder if it were on purpose, or did some technician find it the best way to vocalize her, either way, enthralling. As the night comes to a close, you begin to realize that yes, Tori Amos is an icon, but she was also a part of Seattle, she brought her best and gave it to us, and made us want it. Performing as both seductress and scientist, Tori bleeds on the keys, only there are multiple units on both sides and we are amazed at a multitasking wonder. People dancing in the isles wanting more, hippies and corporates alike, in the shadows waiting for those lines we live in like "…your mother stands up in a nasty dress.." and "…sometimes, I think you want me to touch you, how can I went you build the great wall around you." Somehow, hearing those words live and out loud, gives you peace, to be able to live in the moment. Tori Amos in her Emerald dress is still and will remain an icon. Photos: Dese’Rae Stage (Philadelphia 10/07) Related Posts |
| Raphael Saadiq’s “Let’s Take a Walk” video Posted: 16 Jul 2009 08:30 AM PDT |
| Under Cover – Michael Jackson Tribute (”Man In The Mirror”) Posted: 16 Jul 2009 07:49 AM PDT
Michael Jackson – “Man In The Mirror” (original 1988) Kris Allen of American Idol (cover 2009) James Morrison (2009) No Strings Attached (2003) Rhymefest cover (2008) U2 live (2009) Related Posts |
| Posted: 16 Jul 2009 07:15 AM PDT see part 1 of Movement 2009 here
We went over to catch the end of Tiefschwarz, one of the artists I’d wanted to see ahead of time thanks to some good M.A.N.D.Y. remixes I’d heard. They were finishing up on the Beatport stage with some deep house and had taken the party on to the stage with them. They were quickly followed by fellow Germans the Wighnomy Brothers who played techy sounds and also had a crowded stage (something I saw a lot in the Beatport area, which seemed to attract the more hedonistic DJs, and had the largest dancing crowds during the day).
We went off to the Red Bull stage, probably the most experimental stage at Movement, to check out Londoner Neil Landstrumm. I’m glad we did as his was the first impressive set of the day for me (though I’m not sure my friends agreed, they were more into the four to the floor stuff). Landstrumm mixed up harder techno with early rave sounds and breaks and threw some dubsteppy bass on top that was pretty stunning. It was a great mash-up of styles and one onlooker put it well when he declared himself “mesmerized by the nastiness.” The concrete pyramid was crowded to the top for the set, while dance-off circles formed in front of the stage.
It was at this point that I found myself reflecting on what a unique experience this was. I’m sure if you look hard enough you can find an electronic music scene in most American cities, but how often can you drive to your local downtown and partake in a huge techno festival? One that’s fully supported by the city and has helpful local police patrolling it rather than trying to shut it down? Standing there by the Detroit River, surrounded by lads dancing like it was 1983, noting the diversity and the good vibes, I was happy to have some association with the D. Then I saw the ‘Recycle Detroit’ booth and thought “how ironic,” before heading to the Made in Detroit stage.
Scotty Deep and Marc Kinchen were holding it down underground with music loud enough to rattle teeth, a filtered electro sound with a hard techno edge. It was as crowded as ever down there but I managed to bump into an old DJ friend regardless. A nice part of the festival was seeing the same faces throughout the day, recognizing people despite the huge numbers. I saw the French bloke from the plane at least twice and it lent to a familiar and friendly feeling. I also noted how many people seemed to have wandered in just to check out what was going on. Kudos to Paxahau for keeping entry prices low enough for people to be able to just show up for a day out, as if they’d thought “let’s check out this electronica thing in the city.” The event seemed to serve as a bit of a magnet to get people into Detroit, kids in tow (though I didn’t see any pets) — seemed like a big change to me, as I remember many metro-Detroiters who’d never been downtown.
But back to the music and back to Dennis Ferrer, who finished his set off nicely with some harder techno sounds that were at the same time melodic and mellow, perfect for some of the incense-waving kids in the crowd (a first, and I’m not sure what the point is cos the Detroit river isn’t even particularly stinky). After that it was back over to the Red Bull stage and RJD2. The crowd here was now spilling out into the vendor area as the DJ played mellow melancholy hip hop and soul samples to a concrete mountain full of hands in the air. He seemed to mix into a new track every minute, and it was his skills on the decks that really got people excited — the music itself ended up feeling a bit disjointed and was hard to get into. He also had a very violent backdrop video, which I think is worth noting.
After a bit of that it was back to the four to the floor stuff and Luciano vs Loco Dice on the main stage, another act who’d got the crowd up and out of the amphitheater they were playing in. Their start left me cold though so I left my mates behind and wandered back underground to check out closer Anthony Rother. He proved to be another stand out act and the glowsticks were out! Rother put together a great live techno set, which isn’t something you come across too often. The squelchy synth stabs and washes were accompanied by his own distorted industrial vocals. He created an overall feeling of darkness, which was a sharp contrast to the more positive party vibes I’d gotten used to at Movement. The music was complex and muffled by a dense swamp of reverb but still had enough peaks to keep the crowd dancing and whooping. The rave-era siren blasts helped in that regard and I found it hard to pull away to check out the main stage again. Rother helped me out by playing some squealing high notes — not good, and enough to get me to join my friends back in front of Luciano and Loco Dice. They’d gotten into a nice house groove by that point and the crowd dancing along was huge. I had other events to get to though and had to drag myself away, stopping repeatedly to turn around on the way out. I left the festival to their tunes bouncing off the skyscrapers around me and the streets around Hart plaza crowded with people out to enjoy themselves in a uniquely Detroit way. Leaving the city, I couldn’t help but feel reflective again. There I was, in Detroit, a city bearing the brunt of the economic meltdown, and a place that had already been much maligned even before that (Murder City, anyone?). But on that spring night, surrounded by skyscrapers, house beats ringing around and into my ears, the people mover trundling over top, I felt like I was in a good place, in Detroit as it’s meant to be — one of the edgier cities in the US, and probably the only one that could put a festival like Movement on and give it the attention it deserves. I hope Detroit turns out to be a forward-looking city, and I only expect Movement to get better — next year is the 10th anniversary and Carl Craig has already signed up as the creative director. I might not make it onto that Montreal train, but a return trip to Detroit is definitely on the cards. Related Posts |
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