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05/14/2005: "andy weatherall and suburban knight."
So many good gigs! On Thursday night I saw Andy Weatherall, who was, well, totally fantastic. This shocked me for several reasons: I'd seen Weatherall spin before and been nonplussed; it was at--egads--APT; it was Weatherall spinning a punk-funk set, which seems like a waste of Weatherall to me, since I'm more interested in what he's psyched for now. It was crowded, but not too crowded--there was enough room to dance and have a good time. (At one point I was accosted by two extremely wasted British dudes wielding $8 jumbo-sized cans of Sapporo, who swore up and down that this "can't be Weatherrrallll, I know Weatherrralll, I'm from England, I should know, this guy's an impostor! This DJ doesn't have any facial hair!" I explained that Weatherall had shaved, which tends to make people look younger. They vehemently disagreed and stumbled over to the bar for more Sapporo.) Weatherall's set felt young, too. Every track taut and sproingy, everything sounding unpredictable and unexpected. Fresh as a daisy. Still one of the best DJs in the world by my reckoning.
Last night was Underground Resistance night! I got to see, for the first time in my life, James Pennington, a.k.a. Suburban Knight, along with DJ Dex. I was blown away. I like a lot of Detroit techno, but I'd hardly consider myself a dyed-in-the-wool Detroit acolyte. But you know when you get so overcome by the sheer gorgeousness of music--totally sober, I might add--that you can barely stand it? During the unstoppable peak of Suburban Knight's set, it seemed like the radiant heavens parted over the dank, dark basement. My heart rose into my throat as I realized what was playing. The Martian - "Stardancer." I actually stood in a corner and wept. It was a beautiful moment.
