Thanks to the gentlemen and taste-makers over at BURLESQUE there is another new-age dance night for the kids of Minnehappiness. It's called "BOMP!" and is held at Bedlam Theatre on the West Bank/Cedar area every last Friday. I attended this affair because 1) it's within walking distance from my humble abode, 2) Jimmy 2 Times was on the DJ list and 3) everything BURLESQUE does is fun and cool without being pretentious. Unfortunately milady was feeling under the weather and couldn't help me cut a rug. Instead, my brother and I went. Despite the lack of liquor (they only served beer and wine, with some coffee on the side) everyone was having a good time and were plenty loose. HIPSTERS...EVERYWHERE!
I was caught off guard by the type of crowd. I couldn't believe how many hipsters there were in attendance. Hell, I didn't even know Minneap had that many hipsters in the entire city. I had the hardest time figuring out who was gay and who was a crazy kid on the fringe of culture. Everybody was rocking pants and thrift-store joints plastered to their seemingly prepubescent frames. In an event that epitomized the night, I found myself in the restroom pissing next to a dude with pants so tight he had to unbuckle and drop trough while behind me was a guy with his trendy flannel shirt completely unbuttoned, over his shoulders exposing a shaven chest and bright scarf that he had been "swinging around like a helicopter." Around the corner was guy and gal-pal philosophizing about previous club-restroom experiences. I was half-expecting to see Kanye in the stall.
I LIKE IT RAW!!! (but also mixed, thank you)
Unfortunately I got there late due to my brother sober-cabbing the tardy ladies and missed Jimmy's heat. I caught Wes Winship rocking some crazy build-ups with square-wave madness then do his thing snapping up photos of the proceedings. The Moon Goons were the last DJ's to rock the crowd. Being a DJ myself, I'm hyper-critical of track selection and mixing techniques so take the following with a grain of salt. While the Moon Goons definitely dropped some big-time crowd pleasers like classic Biggie and ODB's "I Like It Raw" that had the crowd buck, the way they did it was less than impressive. Maybe it's part of their style (I haven't seen them more than a few times), but they neglected some basic DJ techniques and seemed to disregard the 4/4 meter and the 3/16 track pattern. What this means is that the sound and vibe gets jerked around. Ultimately the dancers get jolted out of their trance and back to sad reality. It bugs me not only as a DJ but as someone who loves to dance. The last straw was when a non-beatmatched train wreck occurred close to closing. That was my cue to leave and start walking home. I've seen the Moon Goons before and have enjoyed them and I don't mean to bash them. They just seemed off last night. Since they were the closers they didn't quite bring that dancefloor climax that is needed at the end of the night. I wouldn't attend a show where they were the only group I was familiar with. But if they're rocking out with some of the Minneap's best, I'll give them another try.
