Where were you last Saturday, Spokane? Anywhere but Aclub, apparently, which is a damn shame, because that’s where you could have found the DJ Explo — the first in a series of concerts showcasing local DJs.
It was awesome.
Before a crowd of way too few, Benjamin Jorgens, Stone Tobey, Coz McDust, Forcefeed, Likes Girls, and Jah spun together a blanket of sound, wrapping the audience up tight, while lights and smoke played off the walls and mirrors of the Aclub ballroom. A guy spun color-changing light balls, two dredlocked people made out, and the bartender ran out of PBR. Cans and keg.
The DJs faced the audience as they played on an array of turntables and Apple laptops, mashing old, familiar artists like Cake and the Pet Shop Boys with obscure hip hop, all tied together with solid, addictive beats. The crowd (for a few minutes anyway) was transfixed on the DJs, who bobbed behind the glow of their apple-studded laptop screens, scrambled to lock in the beats, then eased back as the next song settled in. They looked suave and unflappable – James Bond meets Diplo.
Likes Girls and Jorgens (who we wrote about this week) closed out the evening, simultaneously working four tables between the two of them. It was an impromptu duet, just two guys jamming together on their instruments (sans the usual shitty '80s metal power-chording that usually entails).
In a previous discussion with Likes Girls, he talked about his process – how he tailors the music to his audience, paying attention to what people seem to be into, then builds the remainder of the set from there, on the fly. Next time this happens (stay tuned here for news), you’re going to want to be part of the form he tailors on.
[Photos: Thomas Bechard]
