- Communikey's unique talent in Colorado has been to build bridges between various communities. On this particular snowy night in Boulder, that was in full effect, with the group hosting two shows, one that appealed to more indie-inclined audiences, and the second to techno diehards in the area.
The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Arts saw host to the first event, which doubled as a fundraiser for both the museum and the Communikey organization. A pleasant, hipster slash neo-hippy crowd parleyed over cheap drinks and conversation. Local talent Ukulele Loki's Gadabout Orchestra and The Dovekins were joined by Portland's AU to perform sets of strange, gypsy punk rock that no doubt held an interest to their fans in the dimly lit loft space upstairs. Downstairs was my choice to mingle in the brighter, open space where some interesting personal photography was on display and local Communikey DJ, Attenat, was laying down a nice soundtrack of bouncing, quirky techno.
From there, a quick and snowy jaunt saw us over to the backroom of Bsides, a noteworthy after-hours venue, which was playing host to the highly anticipated showcase of the night. Great sound, efficient bartenders and a capacity of maybe 200 combined for a friendly, intimate setting for a proper dance. Detroit legend and Denver resident Clark Warner made a select appearance to warm up the night.
At 12:30 he opened with an ambient selection that mixed into Mount Kimbie's "Vertical." His set quickly moved into a choice selection of deeper 4/4 and dubstep, with a pitched up appearance of Moderat's "A New Error" sewn in. He was a perfect booking to accompany the German guests of honor, Peter Kuschnereit, AKA Substance, and Rene Lowe, AKA Vainqueur.
With hands in the seminal Hardwax Record store, early and groundbreaking releases on Chain Reaction and successful solo careers as well as their collaboration as Scion, Pete and Rene are walking, talking pieces of techno history. It was their first time in Colorado, part of a five-date North American tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The duo went on performing as Scion to stormy dub washes backed with driving 4/4 beats. Harder than locals usually hear, it was questionable if the crowd was up for it initially.
But by the end of their short but enthralling set, the answer had come: The room was in a total dub dance. The two then went on to sonically destroy the room individually with DJ sets. Pete played first, again keeping the pace up, but his set quickly mutated into some form of future bass music. Lines were blurred. Techno or dubstep? Who cares? It was amazing, and I've never heard anything like it before. Female vocals over bass with drums skittering in out of sequence but all making sense. More and more, it felt like what I think goes on musically at Berghain when he takes to the decks.
Not able to exhale, Vanqueur took over and shredded the place to pieces. Again, the beats came with a pace along with a feeling that there was a history behind the records he was playing. He ventured a bit more into house territory, but toed techno with ease as well. At this point he was playing mostly to the heads that remained. "Wow" was the word heard most when the music came to an end.
Photo credit
Sam Campbell / Stephen Cardinale, AKA Tocklab