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View Full Version : Richie Hawtin and Ricardo Villalobos, a party fantasy come true


Der geile Ami
Mar 15th, 2004, 08:25 PM
Sunday was one of the best parties I have ever been to and especially to be involved with. I had first heard the 2 play together and ricardo at all at the demf afterparty in 02. That party redefined what I'd like to experience. Sunday redifined things again.

In novemeber i met the beatstreet people when I setup a friends mackie system for them. It was an instant match and we have done maybe 8 parties together since. The approach has been to be underground, high quality and hospitable. No flyers, promotion has mainly been through emails and text messaging 2 days before the events. The guests are great party people and treated as such, as the perfect production means shit if theres an asshole crowd or the promoters care mostly about money or ego.

Wow, sunday.

We managed to go with a Meyer UPA and USW system. It was really the best system one could rent for the room. There is a newer selfpowered series, but the old generation we were using allowed for more control. Richie brought in his mixer and away I went. Tweaking the tops was standard fare. The subs were another story. Somehow one of hte sub amps had a test cable shorting the outputs and hte fan blew up. Luckily we had anotehr amp of similar specs in another rack for anotehr rig we otherwise use. However, it was a bitch to do so much disassembly, but u gotta do what u gotta do sometimes.

The mixer is way dope. On minus there are some tech briefings, but none of the pictures clearly make out the top. Now I had it firsthand and still had no idea. There are knobs and buttons added all over and im sure some of the stock buttons have changed fucntion. There is labeling -- in numbers. One could reasonably guess some parameters controlled, but there is a lot going on. There's even a foot pedal integrated into it.

Richie had final scratch, cycloops sampler, and ableton. Ricardo had a korg electribe mx1 (the blue one, which i had mistaken as hte sampling one before), laptop (presumably running ableton), and a cdj800 (yes records as well). Cassy Britton, a rising dj with Perlon, opened and provided some delcicious vocals here and there. Don't me ask what any of them were doing. It was too loud and cramped for me to want ot hang out any longer than necessary and hte dancefloor was too good.

Altho we have to limit ourselves with bass as we do have neighbors, the sound was undoubtedly my best work. We can still hit close to 110 in the middle of the dancefloor tho, so bass is not lacking too much. I've certainly heard better sounding dancefloors and even by others that I've had no part in, but it was certainly a better result than I've heard anywhere in berlin thus far if i can pat myself on the back a lil. The party makers all wear more than one hat so I had to spend a lot of my dancefloor time picking up bottles and periodic window openings (like liquid nitrogen blasts, but the opposite -everythign is quiet til the windows close - and free!)

Locals Manfred and Dan provided chillout support inthe theater room, with tiered couches positioned so the room is hte stage and play.

Crowd? Perfect. About 400 people made it through and we had hte door held for hours and hours. People waited up to 2 hours to get in, but when they came in they found there was still room. Perfect mixer of freaks, trannies, gays, straights, bi's - sweaty bodies rubbing and undulating to some proper techno music. Pictures will evoke antihipster reactions from nycers, but there is no attitude to be found and nobody worried about getting theri outfit filthy. Its the type of crwod where guests will go back outside to help bring more booze (ran out twice, when there is often a surplus) and ask for cases to pick up bottles.

Party officially went from 10 am to 10pm and then after most eeryone left we chilled til 3am with 20 or so people. It is very refreshing to wakup from good sleep before a party. It's magnitudes less stressful on the production side.

Music? I don't think a better lineup than richie and ricardo can be billed aside from sonic youth jamming in there too........hmmmmmmm..., for my taste at least. I had worked with richie before at twilo, but in a much less involved sound capacity and ricardo 2 parties prior, but really, the combo was a dream. I did not hear many tracks I knew, altho I was bouncing in and out to help monitor the rset of hte party. I can offhand rem Plastikman's "Panik Attack", Green Velvet's "I'm losing my mind" (or whateverhte track with that smaple is called), "The Wipe," and some tweaked remixes (including live vcals) of Ricardo's "Easy Lee." I'm no longer a dj so i have no idea what new tracks are called, but there was very lil of the standard berlin sound. The set was that edgy - not sure what is going to happen next - flavor. Never too hard and never that atmospheric. Some atmospheric stuff might have been interesting, but perhaps early mornings are better for that.. They had played differently at decemebr Groove Magazine party at watergate, but that was indeed a different party.

It was also the first time I could experience this world with some of the friends I have made. There has always been something that prevents my rooamtes or neighbors from attending, but this time we got to party a lil bit.

Man, everything was jsut perfect. Soaked, exhausted, and happy.

pictures to come.


not too shabby for a less than a year of starting a new life. And tomorrow I start my first self designed major install. Turbo tms3 and tse 218 corners and tse111 sidefills for a 9 by 6 meter dancfloor in a 500 person room with arched pillars and located 7 meters underground. Was used as a bunker in ww2 and total underground space is 7000 sq meters which works out to 70,000 sq ft. not to toot any horns, but it really finally feels like the shell has crackedand im no longer jsut seeing specs of light while scratching.

randy

ryan
Mar 15th, 2004, 10:14 PM
Thanks for writing that review. Where was that party?

Der geile Ami
Mar 15th, 2004, 10:58 PM
berlin

rich4468
Mar 16th, 2004, 01:13 AM
Randy, that's an awesome review. Congrats on taking the initiative to do something crazy and make it work. That party sounds perfect... and what a time to have it too.

I'll be in Germany in 2 weeks, but in Rosenheim for a gig and only for 2 days really. If I was coming to Berlin you know I'd be looking you up.

:)

Mark S. Krüx
Mar 16th, 2004, 02:42 AM
So did you meet my buddy Josh at this shindig Randy?? He was over there this weekend to hang out with Rich et al.....

Great fucking review btw...now I really can't wait to get over there=)

Maudib
Mar 16th, 2004, 10:53 AM
cool shit Randy!
Now that the Sardenian's
movin over I'll be by for a visit
soon... :D ..

\M/

bald0ne
Mar 16th, 2004, 09:35 PM
Richie and Ricardo parties take it to another level.

I've only seen them the once at the fabric appearance last Novemeber.

And the afters in room 3 with Madga was another level again.

Great review - makes me wanna move to Berlin.

jmaz
Mar 16th, 2004, 11:01 PM
Richie and Ricardo parties take it to another level.


Yes they do! I got to see them once at the Control party after the DEMF...simply amazing.

Mark S. Krüx
Mar 16th, 2004, 11:48 PM
Yes they do! I got to see them once at the Control party after the DEMF...simply amazing.

Whew!! Now THAT was a sound system!! Fuckin' Hell....my insides are still mangled from that morning.....

Turbo Sound...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

ryan
Mar 16th, 2004, 11:56 PM
Another Control II alumn here. Great 2pm party in Detroit. That was the first time I saw Ricardo. Followed by a few Cocoon appearances with Hawtin in the main room the last two. You can't ask for more. Except for the party to be in Berlin of course.

Randy, will there be another Hawtin / Villalobos in Berlin party again later this summer?

boa_boy
Mar 17th, 2004, 09:38 AM
Richie and Ricardo parties take it to another level.

I've only seen them the once at the fabric appearance last Novemeber.

And the afters in room 3 with Madga was another level again.

Great review - makes me wanna move to Berlin.

WTF are you doing here :confused: ;) :lol:

great review Randy, glad to hear it's going well!

jmaz
Mar 17th, 2004, 11:26 AM
Whew!! Now THAT was a sound system!! Fuckin' Hell....my insides are still mangled from that morning.....

Turbo Sound...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......

Was that Turbo Sound? I thought it was that Quadrophonic System, or are they one in the same? Either way, it felt like a damn jet was taking off in there :evil:

playtime
Mar 17th, 2004, 01:28 PM
Richie and Ricardo parties take it to another level.

I've only seen them the once at the fabric appearance last Novemeber.

And the afters in room 3 with Madga was another level again

Aye, it was a good night.

Shame I missed the afters, someone was feeling ill. :mad: ;)

bald0ne
Mar 17th, 2004, 08:29 PM
WTF are you doing here :confused: ;) :lol:

great review Randy, glad to hear it's going well!

:lol: :lol:

Just because I am in Australia doesn't mean I don't have the internet.

Or wait - maybe it could. :nonono:

It's fucking grim down here, mate.

Stay there. :beer:

yussel
Mar 19th, 2004, 02:21 AM
You pretty much pegged it Randy- nice sound btw.

But you forgot the best part of the party...

THE HEAT

easily the hottest party I've ever been to in years. Walking into the danceroom was like hitting a wall. But it was all worth it when they would cut the music down to a whisper and throw open the giant windows. Talk about a steam room. It was like one of those CO2 systems, but completely natural.

The best was when Rich played the Pressure Cooker (was it right before or after the windows?) He looped just the bell part for about ten minutes before dropping the track. AS soon as heard it I screamed like a girl- and then everyone looked at me when nothing else happened :nonono:

Still- definately hit the reset button on my love for this culture (get a party like that about once every other year- Control 2, Tenaglia @ Industry- Toronto...). Berlin seems like a time machine. Took me right back to Detroit circa 1995.

Wow!!!

boa_boy
Mar 19th, 2004, 09:34 AM
:lol: :lol:

Just because I am in Australia doesn't mean I don't have the internet.

Or wait - maybe it could. :nonono:

It's fucking grim down here, mate.

Stay there. :beer:

oh I will stay here mate - look what you missed......

http://www.rhythmism.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2133&highlight=Melbourne

bald0ne
Mar 21st, 2004, 01:42 AM
They should have hammered the nail into his head and left him to die, IMO.

PJay
Mar 21st, 2004, 01:56 AM
We managed to go with a Meyer UPA and USW system. It was really the best system one couldrandy



yeaaaaaaaa randy !! Meyer UPAs = some of my favorite boxes, in a class by themselves, i'd really like to own a set of these oneday, they don't look like much but the put out some of the sweetest treble i'ver ever heard. nice. and put them in the right space, wow, musta been a great audio night !!

I havn't heard the Pressure Cooker on a proper dancefloor since KILLER at savetherobots !!
altho some says PC is just a percolator rip-off ;) ha ha

/p

Der geile Ami
Mar 23rd, 2004, 01:17 PM
http://moonbunny.net/photos/2004-3-13_beatstreet/

im wearing the white shirt with some print. im in a couple shots in the dj booth area. oh yea, im the bearded guy getting eaten by some dog.


alberto arrived and stuff. last week i did the install - now theres a space i gotta get pics of. maybe an evil bday party. hmmm evil.

rich4468
Mar 24th, 2004, 11:04 AM
http://moonbunny.net/photos/2004-3-13_beatstreet/

im wearing the white shirt with some print. im in a couple shots in the dj booth area. oh yea, im the bearded guy getting eaten by some dog.


alberto arrived and stuff. last week i did the install - now theres a space i gotta get pics of. maybe an evil bday party. hmmm evil.

Hair and a beard. I don't know if my brain can handle this.

:lol:

Der geile Ami
Mar 25th, 2004, 01:25 PM
The jak system uses 24, yes 24 cerwin vega 18" horn subs. Top boxes are coloseum, if you can ever find the brand online. Bss and macrotech electronics. Undoubtedly a brutal rig in the city club.

yea, ive come to adopt the look of the changing face. I really love the red light photos. welp, here comes another weekend. :evil:

http://moonbunny.net/photos/2004-3-13_beatstreet/wide_stitch.jpg http://moonbunny.net/photos/2004-3-13_beatstreet/IMG_1678.JPG

HotSexyDude999
Mar 31st, 2004, 11:59 PM
Yes they do! I got to see them once at the Control party after the DEMF...simply amazing.


i was there, too :)

very fond memories.

WOW fond memories....

a system so loud it would regulate your breathing
smoke so thick you could not see but 3 feet in front of you

wandered out at about noon into this bright insane world and that great "Just been fucked" grin on ... :)

bless the kind soul who recorded and posted on soulseek ....