Electric Deluxe At Melkweg, Amsterdam

We had been to the other half of Melkweg earlier in the day for Breakfast Club which had been held in the Max, Old Hall and Theatre rooms. Electric Deluxe was in the larger Rabohall next door, which was huge. You walk in past the ticket office, then check your coat and walk up a rather wide and lengthy wooden staircase (or opt for the lift), past various open landings to the main room which has epically high ceilings, was draped totally in black and had geometric panel installations on the side walls and above the stage with pattern projection mapped onto them for simple and effective edgy décor.

Fresh from the stage and a great set I just caught the end of, I sat down for a quick chat with ex Motor member Bryan Black. Following a career as a keyboard tech for Prince and releasing albums as part of Haloblack and Motor (who toured extensively with Depeche Mode and worked with Gary Numan as well as sharing stages with Daft Punk and Kraftwerk), Bryan signed to CLR as Black Asteroid in order to “develop the stripped down heavy techno thing.”

For the past year Black Asteroid has been releasing under Speedy J’s Electric Deluxe label. His debut for them was ‘Black Acid,’ mixed by Chris Liebing thus tying his CLR work together with his venture into Electric Deluxe. Earlier this year came the follow up ‘Black Acid Remixes’ and in the next two to three months we can expect the third instalment, titled ‘Metal on Metal’ – release date tbc which Bryan describes as a sequel and continuation of the journey so far.

Bryan appears to be to be a very thoughtful and well considered person who is very analytical as well as creative and that comes across in his music. We talked for a bit about films and he cited the first Alien as his favourite film of all time. “Visually it’s beautiful, it’s like the perfect film for me. I could just watch it without volume. Just the art direction and cinematography is beautiful.” This is a stark contrast to his current musical guilty pleasure – he’s been loving some Tears For Fears sounds of late and is quite the 80s synth pop fan (but then again aren’t we all?!).

Bryan Black is one of a few very lucky people on planet earth to have met all of his heroes. He has worked with Prince, Depeche Mode and most recently Rick Owens, all people he tells me are his heroes and now all his friends; a lucky man indeed! His biggest idol is still Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, with whom Black has always wanted to collaborate. They have now met but not worked together as yet – so that’s still one for the bucket list. Having met so many people and made a lot of music before ever taking to the decks in public, it was no wedding, pub back room or mate’s house party for Bryan’s DJ premier appearance… He was invited by DJ Hell to play a party in Berlin. He “kind of just made it up as I went along – I was thrown into it forcibly, not knowing what I was doing and having to learn in front of 2000 people.” Judging by his set tonight I’d say it’s turned out alright for him though hey?!

Back on the dance floor, I re-entered the room for the last 15 minutes of Sawlin & Subjected delivering a solid live set. The place was really busy but not packed. There was plenty of room for manoeuvre which is something I long for in most clubs in London. It’s great to have room enough to get your stomp on, without getting stomped on.

Lucy was up next. This set was far less experimental and a lot more banging than the last time I had seen him play at Black Atlantic in London earlier this year. This time around was far more accessible dance floor techno – driving, slightly funky but still pounding; building layers of tribal beats and sonic pulses, galloping horses and continuous haunting high pitched drones floating across the top end. Near the end of set Lucy brought in a comparatively housey relaxed melodic track  and all was calm for a moment as the intro teased us into a more chilled vibe before Lucy slammed into the next banger and wiped out the fluffy melody – no messing about. The set ended to massive applause and blast of bright lights on the crowd – we didn’t look that pretty at this time of night and hands shot up over eyes as if we were vampires subjected to the sun.

Continued on page 2

Black Asteroid @ Electric Deluxe, Melkweg (ADE 2013, Amsterdam) [CLR 244] – 19-Oct-2013 by || Sh4r3 0r Di3 || on Mixcloud