kramadas Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 My friend Ricardo wrote this...check out his site www.electrophobic.comThe first time I saw Danny Howells play was January20, 2001 at Twilo here in New York. In the two plusyears since that time, I've heard Danny Howells onsixteen other occasions, including this past Saturdayat Arc. Now, if I were to collectively compare allseventeen sets to each other, only one set remains atthe top of my list. This set is the same snowyJanuary night at Twilo in early 2001. Maybe it wasthe element of surprise that still can't be beat butfor some reason that first night hearing Danny Howellsstands out in my head. No one in the building couldstop dancing the entire time he was on the decks andfor six hours he layered beats upon beats andcrescendoed into an enormous onslaught of peak timetracks that had the place going completely wild. Then, to top it all off, Danny pulls out some melodyand places Planet Funk's "Chase The Sun" on the decksto perfectly bring us down. Everyone, including theearly arriving Junior Vasquez fans, was applauding theperformance. The night was truly one to remember andI believe there really hasn't been a night that hascome close to beating it until my recent visit to Arcthis past Saturday.I stepped into Arc just before 0200 and, as I oftendo, I stood in the back for a moment to take it all inbefore getting the night started. Upon doing so, thefirst thing I noticed was that the main room had anunusual amount of energy. I assert this because inthe last year or so of Danny Howell's residency atArc, it seems that his elongated 10 hour sets havebecome somewhat predictable. In the time period from0200 until 0330, the set is usually composed ofhousier and more downtempo music while the periodimmediately following is a necessary segue into themore peak time related music. However, on this night,I was pleasantly surprised that Howells decided toplay music that had so much force so early in thenight. It wasn't that he was banging it out from thestart but every track seemed to have a constantbackbeat to it that got everyone off their asses anddancing a lot earlier than they had expected. It wasthis increased level of energy earlier in the nightthat led to some of the best crowd reactions I'veheard at Arc in months. It wasn't even peak time andthe crowd was already shouting at the top of theirlungs!If you haven't noticed, it's plain and simple. I ambiased towards harder music. To be truthful, this isreally the only reason I go to hear Danny Howellsmonth after month. And, on all seventeen occasions, Ihave never once been let down with respect to hearinga high quality peak. During the numerous peaks I'veheard from Howells there have been times when Dannyhas played more on the techier side (i.e. Tiga &Mateo) and there have been times that he's stayed onthe progressive, yet extremely hard side of the housespectrum with classics like Chab's "Shaiva" or LucienFoort's "Juggernaut 1". There's no doubt that thesetypes of peaks are fun but in my eyes they are notthat original and they don't really separate DannyHowells from other DJs. It wasn't until last Octoberthat I started to notice a change in Danny's peaksthat really caught my interest. Not only was hissound changing but his peaks were becoming more andmore entrancing and he was beginning to touch onelements of pure techno and retro* trance. I happened to miss his residency night at Arc inNovember but I was able to make it out the followingMonday to Baktun for the weekly Tronic Treatmentparty. For those that are not aware this Monday partyhas long been the centerpiece of techno enthusiasts inthe Big Apple and past names have included Carl Cox,Misstress Barbara, Selway and Christian Smith. So,when Danny Howells announced he'd be DJing the TronicTreatment party with Bill Patrick, I knew it was onenight I couldn't miss. Without delving into details,I think it's a fair assessment to state that Bill andDanny absolutely devastated Baktun and, by a longshot, the highlight of the night was Danny'sproduction titled "Nobody Listens To Techno". Writtenin collaboration with Ali and Sharam of Deep Dish,this pure techno piece is not only a subtle attackagainst Eminem's claim in his song "Without Me" butalso a new found exploration by Howells into what Ihope becomes a major trend, the rejuvenation ofclassic techno.Just before Christmas, Howells made his final trip toNew York in 2002 and further elaborated on his peaktime transition by complementing "Nobody Listens ToTechno" with some absolute killer tracks. TheDecember peak really got me yearning for more butbecause Danny was taking a break in the month ofJanuary, I would have to wait until his February giglast Saturday to see what he had in store for hisfirst peak at Arc in the New Year.Absolutely incredible. That's how I would describethe peak last Saturday. Danny's constant backbeat heutilized earlier in the night built an amazing amountof energy that transitioned perfectly into the bestpeak time I've ever heard from him. Those in the knowknew without a doubt that we were going to hear"Nobody Listens To Techno" but we had no clue what wasgoing to be played before or after the crowd pleaser. Imagine, for moment, the sound of minimal bassoverpowered by the most mellifluous synths that arecompletely overwelming. This is music that iscompletely entrancing. This is the kind of music thatreleases the most damaging fluttering tangents - thekind that force you to remain on the dancefloorbecause the music is that fucking good. In additionto the entrancing peak time tracks he was laying down,Howells also played some other monsters including theLexicon Avenue mix of John Creamer and Stephane K's"Wish You Were Here", a new collaboration, the DirtyGringos, by New York producer Hisham Sawami andupcoming producers Dennis Rodgers and Brendan Benkecalled "Cowbell" as well as an enormous white labelproduction by an already named New York producer thatabsolutely destroyed Arc.Following the peak came the breaks which were a muchneeded respite from the violent disorder. Not toolong after the breaks there was about an hour leftbefore the usual closing time and in this final hourDanny Howells decided to step out of the undergroundand into the 80's with some throwbacks to The Clash's"Rock The Casbah" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock YouOut. While the final hour wasn't comprised entirelyof 80's throwbacks, it was these few 80's songs thatthrew me for a loop. With that said, the night wasstill amazing but I couldn't regard it as my favoritebecause of the ending. Nevertheless, nothing wasgoing to take away what I had experienced earlier inthe night. The music was completely intense witheveryone around me possessed by an inordinateexcitement to dance as hard as possible. That's thebeauty of the peak with Danny Howells.* I felt obliged to add the modifier retro because ofthe mere fact that the word trance is completelyhackneyed and is rendered almost completely useless,unless the conversation turns to that certain head ofPerfecto Records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookiegirl Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 soooolooong!!! . . .but the first part looked great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinybutterfli Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 I haven't heard Danny Howells 17 times but in the 6 times I have seen him this was definitely my favorite set by him. There were times when my body was so freakin' tired but I couldn't bring myself to leave the mainroom to take a break in the arcade. I would periodically stop, put my hands on my hips and just take the music in. I remember getting asked a few times if i was okay. I would just smile and say "oh yeah... just taking it all in" When 9:00 am rolled around, he stopped and even though I didn't think I could move another inch... I desparately wanted him to keep going! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sauvee88 Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 SOOooooooo who coming up next month??? Seriously - He played excellent between 3 and 7 - 4 hours of non-stop action - next time I'll have to show up a little later so I can bounce through the entire set!!! Also wanted to see Bill P. in the arcade - his set was pretty damn good also and a nice change of pace everyonce in a while from the chugging movement of Howells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramadas Posted February 27 Author Report Share Posted February 27 Originally posted by sauvee88 SOOooooooo who coming up next month??? Seriously - He played excellent between 3 and 7 - 4 hours of non-stop action - next time I'll have to show up a little later so I can bounce through the entire set!!! Also wanted to see Bill P. in the arcade - his set was pretty damn good also and a nice change of pace everyonce in a while from the chugging movement of Howells. Yeah, Patrick was really good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockyblue Posted February 27 Report Share Posted February 27 grrr, can't believe i missed it. i'm definitely going to have to go up to see him soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janky Posted February 28 Report Share Posted February 28 Nice review... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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