A crowd of young new Yorkers some with illicitly large pupils packed Summerstage's Astroturf on the mild summer day in anticipation of a free afternoon of house music featuring Drop the Lime and electro wunderkind Boys Noize. The show was sponsored by Meanred partnering with the Fader and clothing brrand Mishka. Meanred has been putting on media and music events in NYC for the past couple of years including bringing acts like Santogold, Diplo, and Lee “scratch” Perry to Summerstage.
Drop the Lime(DTL) is the stage name of electronic musician Luca Venezia whose shiny gold tooth and slicked back greaser haircut create a visage almost as memorable as his music. Venezia started things off with a short DJ set including a chopped up, break heavy version of the “Godzilla” theme song. Venezia’s sound was bass heavy and dubsteppy; as he played a gold chain swinging from his neck. Venezia then brought out red haired keyboardist Nick Hook (who also plays in Cubic Zirconia) and drummer Guy Licata (from Hercules and love Affair) for live renditions of some of his songs. Having live instruments always adds a much needed visual element to electronic performances, and Hook’s fuzzy synths provided an excellent interpretation of DTL’s originals. As part of the live show, DTL also incorporated two women in silver spandex onesies who danced about erotically and intermittently sprayed the crowd with supersoakers. For his part Venezia delivered bluesy vocals, his face strained with effort and emotion as he sang on tracks like “Losing You.”
“For though the groove is hard to beat/ it’s still you stand with frozen feet,” blasted Vincent Price’s voice through the Summerstage system as German Electro-tech DJ Boys Noize began his set. Price’s atmospheric voice (an unused recording from Thriller) was a bit of a cliché in a summer that has seen innumerable tributes to Michael Jackson. Cliché or not, the song did build anticipation, and when the the robotic, prerecorded vocals and hard hitting electro of “Come with Me” kicked in, the music mesmerized the crowd. Unlike Drop the Lime, Boys Noize provided few visual elements or stage presence for the show; for the most part, the lanky unibrowed German was motionless behind his turntables. At one point, Nick Hook ran onto the stage and dove into the crowd, surfing above them until a deranged, souvenir-hungry fan ripped a sock off his foot. Hook’s stage dive provided a comical moment, but otherwise Boys Noize pumped through his set straight-- driving beats with nothing to look at. Even without visuals, the crowd was loving the music as Noize warped the pitch of voices over thumping instrumentals. It was a long set, and after the DJ used up his allotted time, he was essentially kicked off stage by festival organizers to the chagrin of the crowd. The eager-to- please DJ and his fans were ready to continue ad infinitum.
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It was another gorgeous day for another fun show at Central Park's SummerStage venue. I was interested to see how this show was going to go, considering it was three DJs and it was the middle of the day. Somehow, I never really think of 3PM as the time to start a dance party. But I was assured that it was going to be packed, and whoever told me that was right -- even from the very first act, Canyons, the place was filled and ready to go.
Canyons was up first, and they took the stage to relatively little fanfare. Most of the crowd sat through their set because it was hot and humid, but the first couple of rows were on their feet and moving or, at least, paying attention to the band at all. In the middle of one of their songs, I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw one of my friends pointing in the opposite direction, telling me to look at something. What I was seeing was one of the greatest things ever: two young brothers, probably 4 and 6, rocking out to the music. It's definitely an age where kids have very little concept of rhythm, so they were just kind of... moving. But they were more into it than the crowd was, and you've got to give them credit for that.
After, Drop The Lime came on. From the minute Luca Venezia stepped on stage, he had the crowd moving. He himself moved far more than I'm used to seeing a DJ move, amping up the crowd with his arms on every beat he wasn't making something happen. After awhile, Venezia was joined by two dancers, a keyboardist, and a drummer, turning it into something a lot like a rock show but with very electronic music. He evidently likes to experiment with vocals -- and most of the time, it works in his favour. To start one song, Venezia took the mic and sang nearly a cappella for a bit, his passionate vocals hitting the crowd before he dropped into a song. There was a section of his set where I think he lost the crowd -- he started doing either slower or more hardcore stuff, and while I was endlessly entertained, I think maybe the audience didn't appreciate it as much. The treatments he put on the vocals made them raspier, more strained, and sounded a little bit more like metal than electronica, but I thought it was a really interesting take on the genre. Toward the end he picked it up with poppier stuff and got the crowd moving again.
Boys Noize was up last. With all the hype surrounding him, I was definitely looking for a really upbeat and uplifting dance set, and luckily he delivered. Boys Noize is the pseudonym for Alexander Ridha, a young producer and DJ from Berlin. His set started with him playing simply the creepy voice-over from Michael Jackson's Thriller, smiling directly at the crowd as they mouthed the words along with it before he dropped into an up-tempo crowd-pleaser. I think something switched when he stepped on to perform, and the crowd must have all of a sudden realised that it was time for rave mentality. People were going nuts around me -- jumping, dancing, flailing, and, very prevalently, lighting up their cigarettes and joints. Ridha is very enigmatic when he moves on stage, though from what I saw he barely lifted his feet to move one way or another. But he was open and feeling his own beats, which usually makes it more accessible. When the person on stage is having fun, you can't help but try to yourself.
