Review of Howells@Arc

[kramadas]

My friend Ricardo wrote this...check out his site www.electrophobic.com

The first time I saw Danny Howells play was January

20, 2001 at Twilo here in New York. In the two plus

years since that time, I've heard Danny Howells on

sixteen other occasions, including this past Saturday

at Arc. Now, if I were to collectively compare all

seventeen sets to each other, only one set remains at

the top of my list. This set is the same snowy

January night at Twilo in early 2001. Maybe it was

the element of surprise that still can't be beat but

for some reason that first night hearing Danny Howells

stands out in my head. No one in the building could

stop dancing the entire time he was on the decks and

for six hours he layered beats upon beats and

crescendoed into an enormous onslaught of peak time

tracks that had the place going completely wild.

Then, to top it all off, Danny pulls out some melody

and places Planet Funk's "Chase The Sun" on the decks

to perfectly bring us down. Everyone, including the

early arriving Junior Vasquez fans, was applauding the

performance. The night was truly one to remember and

I believe there really hasn't been a night that has

come close to beating it until my recent visit to Arc

this past Saturday.

I stepped into Arc just before 0200 and, as I often

do, I stood in the back for a moment to take it all in

before getting the night started. Upon doing so, the

first thing I noticed was that the main room had an

unusual amount of energy. I assert this because in

the last year or so of Danny Howell's residency at

Arc, it seems that his elongated 10 hour sets have

become somewhat predictable. In the time period from

0200 until 0330, the set is usually composed of

housier and more downtempo music while the period

immediately following is a necessary segue into the

more peak time related music. However, on this night,

I was pleasantly surprised that Howells decided to

play music that had so much force so early in the

night. It wasn't that he was banging it out from the

start but every track seemed to have a constant

backbeat to it that got everyone off their asses and

dancing a lot earlier than they had expected. It was

this increased level of energy earlier in the night

that led to some of the best crowd reactions I've

heard at Arc in months. It wasn't even peak time and

the crowd was already shouting at the top of their

lungs!

If you haven't noticed, it's plain and simple. I am

biased towards harder music. To be truthful, this is

really the only reason I go to hear Danny Howells

month after month. And, on all seventeen occasions, I

have never once been let down with respect to hearing

a high quality peak. During the numerous peaks I've

heard from Howells there have been times when Danny

has played more on the techier side (i.e. Tiga &

Mateo) and there have been times that he's stayed on

the progressive, yet extremely hard side of the house

spectrum with classics like Chab's "Shaiva" or Lucien

Foort's "Juggernaut 1". There's no doubt that these

types of peaks are fun but in my eyes they are not

that original and they don't really separate Danny

Howells from other DJs. It wasn't until last October

that I started to notice a change in Danny's peaks

that really caught my interest. Not only was his

sound changing but his peaks were becoming more and

more entrancing and he was beginning to touch on

elements of pure techno and retro* trance.

I happened to miss his residency night at Arc in

November but I was able to make it out the following

Monday to Baktun for the weekly Tronic Treatment

party. For those that are not aware this Monday party

has long been the centerpiece of techno enthusiasts in

the 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 Tronic

Treatment party with Bill Patrick, I knew it was one

night I couldn't miss. Without delving into details,

I think it's a fair assessment to state that Bill and

Danny absolutely devastated Baktun and, by a long

shot, the highlight of the night was Danny's

production titled "Nobody Listens To Techno". Written

in collaboration with Ali and Sharam of Deep Dish,

this pure techno piece is not only a subtle attack

against Eminem's claim in his song "Without Me" but

also a new found exploration by Howells into what I

hope becomes a major trend, the rejuvenation of

classic techno.

Just before Christmas, Howells made his final trip to

New York in 2002 and further elaborated on his peak

time transition by complementing "Nobody Listens To

Techno" with some absolute killer tracks. The

December peak really got me yearning for more but

because Danny was taking a break in the month of

January, I would have to wait until his February gig

last Saturday to see what he had in store for his

first peak at Arc in the New Year.

Absolutely incredible. That's how I would describe

the peak last Saturday. Danny's constant backbeat he

utilized earlier in the night built an amazing amount

of energy that transitioned perfectly into the best

peak time I've ever heard from him. Those in the know

knew without a doubt that we were going to hear

"Nobody Listens To Techno" but we had no clue what was

going to be played before or after the crowd pleaser.

Imagine, for moment, the sound of minimal bass

overpowered by the most mellifluous synths that are

completely overwelming. This is music that is

completely entrancing. This is the kind of music that

releases the most damaging fluttering tangents - the

kind that force you to remain on the dancefloor

because the music is that fucking good. In addition

to the entrancing peak time tracks he was laying down,

Howells also played some other monsters including the

Lexicon Avenue mix of John Creamer and Stephane K's

"Wish You Were Here", a new collaboration, the Dirty

Gringos, by New York producer Hisham Sawami and

upcoming producers Dennis Rodgers and Brendan Benke

called "Cowbell" as well as an enormous white label

production by an already named New York producer that

absolutely destroyed Arc.

Following the peak came the breaks which were a much

needed respite from the violent disorder. Not too

long after the breaks there was about an hour left

before the usual closing time and in this final hour

Danny Howells decided to step out of the underground

and into the 80's with some throwbacks to The Clash's

"Rock The Casbah" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You

Out. While the final hour wasn't comprised entirely

of 80's throwbacks, it was these few 80's songs that

threw me for a loop. With that said, the night was

still amazing but I couldn't regard it as my favorite

because of the ending. Nevertheless, nothing was

going to take away what I had experienced earlier in

the night. The music was completely intense with

everyone around me possessed by an inordinate

excitement to dance as hard as possible. That's the

beauty of the peak with Danny Howells.

* I felt obliged to add the modifier retro because of

the mere fact that the word trance is completely

hackneyed and is rendered almost completely useless,

unless the conversation turns to that certain head of

Perfecto Records.

[cookiegirl]

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. . .but the first part looked great

[tinybutterfli]

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!

[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.

[kramadas]

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!

[rockyblue]

grrr, can't believe i missed it. i'm definitely going to have to go up to see him soon.

[janky]

Nice review...