Still recovering from a stellar week of shows in Chicago. Big thanks to all the people who made the week possible, and all the people who came out and danced the nights away!
The week started off at Rodan, playing for the Chicago broken-beat staple Push Beats. Push residents opened the night with some chilled r&b, followed by increasingly groovy sets by Morbidly-O-Beats and Radius. Radius was kind enough to ramp up his bpm a bit for me towards the end of his set, before I came online with a set of weighty electro and bassy techno. Kenny Keys closed out the night with some golden-era hip hop vibes.
Push Beats resident starting the night off right
Morbidly-O-Beats bringing things up with eerie samples and killer beats
Radius hid away in a booth for his set, but the energy was undeniable, really got the crowd grooving
Kenny Keys closed out the night with timeless breakbeat hip hop vibes
My set managed to get filmed in its entirety! Here's a few minutes from early on. (more clips from that night to come soon)
I was fortunate enough to have a layover for the next 48 hours. My back and feet were quite thankful for the bit of rest (and double+ thanks to Tiger Balm patches!). I used the time to lazily walk around the neighborhood a bit, and be reminded of just how amazing Chicago is in the springtime. Managed to squeeze in a bit of digging in the bins at Groove Dis and the newly re-opened Reckless Records too :)
perfect temperatures all week kept my mood, well, perfect :)
Thursday evening I had a bit of a double header. I played live for about an hour and 40 minutes at Gramaphone Records (recorded some video, clips to come!), before heading up to WNUR radio in Evanston for a midnight DJ set on Ashina's weekly Streetbeat show. I took the time to play (rather loudly!) some of my favorite recent Gqom tunes, as well as a few original productions, and closed out my set with tracks by Chicago luminaries Garo and Lokua.
Between the sets at Gramaphone and WNUR, D&B head Chris Diaz (aka Structural Damage) brought me to SmartBar, where the long-running MIA drum and bass night was just kicking off its 9-year anniversary party.
MIA drum & bass at Smartbar
Ashina recorded my WNUR set that night too, you can stream it via her soundcloud page:
Friday night found me back at Rodan, this time as DJ Lgcc, for a night of funky house and disco sounds, via resident John Simmons' monthly night. Watching John work the floor was a real treat, and the room was quite receptive to the bassy direction I took things.
John Simmons gettin' em moving
And last but not least, Podval! Saturday evening brought together many of the Podval residents for a night of heady dance music, in a way only Podval can provide. Upon those glorious speakers, M50, Slowerson, Gera, Mm!sha and myself layed down serious tuneage. I played a "For-Podval-Ears-Only" live set full of subterranean drum and bass and techno vibes, and ended up going for longer than intended, fueled by Podval's enthusiastic audience and unparalleled frequency response coursing through my veins :)
Once I'd finished my set at Podval, it was time to pack things up for the 5am flight home. Turbulence throughout the trip kept me in a zombie state, which didn't really become apparent until the final few blocks of my journey home, when the neighborhood chickens enthusiastically clucked out questions for me about how the week went, and the whoosh of passing traffic became almost musical :P I arrived home and promptly passed out for the entirety of the day, dreaming of the week's events.
All in all, a great trip to the Midwest! Great times with old friends, and met a bunch of new friends too. I'll be back in 6 months to do it again, yay verily :D
New Wax n' Cats stickers arrived while I was in town, too!
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