Thursday, March 19, 1998
Electronica bands rock Palladium crowd
MUSIC: Five groups combine talents for a concert loaded with good, bad performances
By Trinh Bui
Daily Bruin Contributor
Techno, house, electronica ... call it whatever the people (or the media) deem appropriate, but one thing proved painfully clear at the Palladium's Friday night mini-dance festival: People for the most part still can't figure it out.
For the past two years, record companies have signed, mega-marketed and dumped a hundred new "electronic" albums on consumers. To date, only Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers and Prodigy have certified gold record sales. If grunge was the gifted, successful child of the recording industry, electronica is the underachieving bastard son who on occasion stumbles upon moments of brilliance.
The Palladium engagement brought together five breakthrough artists of electronica for one five-hour party. The quintet bill of BT, David Holmes, Propellerheads, Fatboy Slim and Crystal Method featured super-talented musicians with the potential to carry such a long show but not all got their proper respect as attendees failed to catch on to electronic etiquette.
Dance music's effect on the mainstream audience was evident when looking at the Palladium's mostly straight-laced crowd. Audience members in denim shirts, blue jeans and hockey jerseys came just to see the latest craze. This Toad the Wet Sprocket crowd mixed with the more up-on-the-scene wannabes juxtaposed the tight cult-like following that started the hype and grabbed the attention of music industry experts seeking to profit from rave music.
Brian Transeau's (BT) set saw a sparsely-filled dance floor appreciating his efforts. People nodded heads attentively rather than gyrating about during BT's hour-long, melody mix-matching performance. The Maryland native spun tunes off his previous "Ima" album as hardcore afficionados lingered in satellite groups around the sides of the Palladium, dancing away to BT's beats, which had landed him a collaboration gig with Tori Amos with the hit single, "Blue Skies." In the end, BT did his best to prep the sell-out audience for the rest of the night.
Unfortunately, any progress made by BT died during David Holmes' disastrous session on the turntables. Electronic DJ's are often knocked for being a class of faceless, soul-less entertainers, and that point hit home during Holmes' set.
Holmes opted to perform in the back of the room hidden behind consoles and sampling machines. Either the audience didn't care or just didn't know that Holmes was performing. Virtually no one danced; they either left the dance floor for the bathroom, to drink or reload on speed.
Ignoring Holmes' big beat extravaganza, the remainder of the audience gazed tentatively at the sound technicians readying the stage for the Propellerheads. Not even a resurrected Jesus Christ spinning New Testament break-beats could have livened up the joint. A sad sight indeed, Holmes' set raises the ever-present question: Can electronic artists flourish in a concert atmosphere where people usually come to watch an artist perform? That question would be addressed later in the show.
Propellerheads got to go after Holmes' unappreciated set and they blew the Palladium eight ways from Sunday. A refreshing smack to all the people criticizing the emotional emptiness of electronic music, Alex Gifford and Will White won the crowd over with their bass-heavy sound. Giving the show life and a reason for all the tweaked-out anorexic chicks in attendance to freak out, Propellerheads balanced between synthesized and live music.
Gifford played all the bass lines and White recreated the drumbeats with a live drumkit, leaving the distortion and melody bending effects to the machines. Rivaling Prodigy in spunk and energy, the band blasted away material from their latest release, "Decksandrumsandrockandroll." The mix between organic sounds and downloaded music pumped flavor into rave faves, "Spybreak" and "Clang."
Flaunting on stage, the duo knew how to incite a crowd, choosing to play the roles of outlandish rock and rollers instead of reclusive dance artists. They even jumped on the speakers. Propellerheads could've played an extra hour on just fan encouragement, but left after a painfully short 60 minutes.
Like a high that reached its pinnacle, everything fell down low with co-headliner Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook). Like Holmes, Slim spun his patented Brighton-based big beat mixes in the back of the dance floor, leaving the stage vacant. Offering a tight set that defied the Palladium's usually horrible acoustics, Slim banged out tracks from "Better Living Through Chemistry," plus a drum-crazed remix of Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha."
The audience, still feeling the effects of Propellerheads, was more responsive to Slim's musical alchemy. The majority of the house didn't realize Slim was performing until "Going Out of My Head," with its unmistakable guitar riff loop and whining samples, filled the air. After that, things leveled off and remained cool until the Crystal Method invaded the main stage.
The Los Angeles-adopted Crystal Method (originally from Las Vegas) had the luxury of awesome lighting displays that diverted the audience's attention away from its set-in-stone movement. Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland make up America's version of the Chemical Brothers. Touring for the past year in support of the debut album, "Vegas," the Crystal Method has seasoned its set with veteran-like showmanship. The dynamic duo arranged a symphony fusing together guitar chords, breakbeats, densely layered funk and distortion into every track.
What they lacked in stage presence they made up in sheer energy as the rock in Crystal Method exploded, causing isolated pockets of moshing. Everybody got up for club hit "Busy Child," the grooviest track of the night. "Busy Child" reminded everybody how dangerously innovative electronica music can be.
Yet, while Crystal Method bailed out Holmes' and Slim's attention-starved set, they couldn't capture everyone as people began to trickle out during "Busy Child." However, the boys threw it all out at the Palladium, proving wrong the notion that American electronic acts can't hang with those from England.
The Palladium gathering highlighted the positives and negatives of the scene. While the music may be great and the ambiance may be fantastic, the scene is meant for a niche audience. But don't lose all hope in "big time" electronic acts. There is still a chance for mainstream acceptance as long as ingenious spinners and mixers like the Crystal Method and such keep on playing and believing.
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT
The Crystal Method was a highlight of the electronica show at the Palladium.
MICHAEL ROSS WACHT
Propellerheads played at the Palladium Friday night.