Something coming our way: Andy Stott @ Fuga
This is an old one. It's the first text I ever wrote for this blog. This was the night when I decided that these impressions were too much to keep them to myself. The experience is a bit outdated, but it was an important one and it wouldn’t do not to publish this just because of my overall delay. So, remember that great night and enjoy the memories:)
These things do not happen often in Bratislava. Exitab, a small label housing some of the best Slovak artists in years, announced its next event on Facebook in mid-January. The headliner was TBA, marketing nonexistent. Only the accompanying event picture offered a clue - a clue that said everything. Within half an hour, 200 people were attending. Just before the event, the count climbed to 300. Andy Stott, the star of British label Modern Love, was set to play in Bratislava. Everyone held their breath.
They exhaled on the third Saturday in February at Fuga, former factory venue converted into a club. Továrenská, the street leading to the club, came alive with people. Normally mostly abandoned, poorly lit and a little scary, stretching out along the fence of one Bratislava’s less fortunate unfinished real estate projects, it suddenly turned into a parade. Crowds were coming in from all across Bratislava since 9pm. Those were the lucky few - the ones who managed to get their tickets early. Due to Fuga’s capacity the count of attendees was capped at 250. Tickets were gone within three days.
This really doesn’t happen often in Bratislava.
Two hours later, listening to dark beats of Bratislava-based Jacques Kustod and looking at colorful visuals by Chaosdroid, a wicked thought first occurred to me. Well, it feels a bit like Unsound here, doesn’t it? (But don’t kill me, if you disagree.)
Another hour later, in the middle of Stott’s performance, I somehow - magically - managed to get into the center of Fuga’s quadraphonic sound system and linger there for about 20 minutes. Pure bliss, a techno-cocoon enveloping me from all sides. And the thought returned. It had occurred to me a couple of times since returning from Krakow, the feeling that there’s something similar here to Unsound’s party-like-there’s-no-tomorrow hedonism, the striving for new horizons and a completely absorbed audience. But this time the feeling was stronger than ever before. Two hundred people hypnotized by a guy who was nearly invisible behind his laptop. "Honestly, one of the wildest gigs," he confessed later to Exitab. And above all this, Fuga’s mascot, a giant dummy insect made of cables, wires and scrap metal, was hanging from the ceiling, watching out for the partying crowd.
A strange force. Not the music itself, maybe, but definitely the atmosphere. It’s been flowing through clubs and pubs and internets here on and off for a couple of months now, but this time, you could really touch it.
(Now, here comes a part, which I’m not really sure about - how it happened or who was the guy. But this is what I think I remember:)
Shortly before leaving, at about half past three, I met a guy in front of the cloakroom. Turned out he was from Birmingham (or was it Manchester?) and lives in Vienna, so Fuga wasn’t really that far away for him. "How did you learn about the event?" I asked him. "I just know about these things," he said in response. Perfect, so the force is getting out.
Next day I talked about all this with Struna at lunch and with Faun drinking tea in the evening. We talked it all over - Andy Stott, Casi Cada Minuto and Jacques Kustod, the whole line-up and the sound. We talked about all that had materialized in Fuga for a couple of hours the night before. I wanted to explain to them that it seems to me that it is all becoming too much. Bratislava’s scene is turning into a pressure cooker and inevitably the lid must come off soon. I did not even have to finish the first sentence. Something is in the air indeed, we agreed on that in two seconds.
Well, hopefully, something good is coming our way.
Toto bol prvý text, ktorý som pre tento blog napísala. Je o noci, kedy som sa rozhodla, že tieto zážitky musím dávať von. Stihol už mierne zastarať, ale bol dôležitý a nebolo by správne, aby ostal nezverejnený len kvôli môjmu celkovému oneskoreniu. Enjoy:)
Takéto veci sa v Bratislave nestávajú často. Exitab, malé vydavateľstvo stojace za niektorými z najlepších slovenských releasov minulého roka, oznámilo v polovici januára na Facebooku svoj ďalší event. Headliner neznámy, marketing minimálny, iba sprievodná fotka k eventu prezradila všetko potrebné. Do pol hodiny bolo attending 200 ľudí, tesne pred akciou 300 a ďalšie takmer dve stovky v maybe. Andy Stott, hviezda britského vydavateľstva Modern Love, príde hrať live do Bratislavy. Bratislavská scéna zadržala dych.
Výdych prišiel tretiu februárovú sobotu vo Fuge, bývalej továreni prerobenej na klub. Inokedy opustená Továrenská ulica vedúca ku klubu, zle osvetlená a trochu strašidelná, ťahajúca sa popri jednom z menej šťastných nedostavaných realitných projektov, zasvinená kilami neodhrabaného topiaceho sa snehu, sa v ten večer zmenila na korzo. Zástupy sa ťahali z celej Bratislavy na bránu už od deviatej večer. Tých šťastných pár, ktorí si stihli zohnať lístky. Kapacita Fugy obmedzila počet účastníkov na maximum 250 kusov a vstupy sa rozchytali behom troch dní.
Toto sa v Bratislave na podobných akciách doteraz naozaj nestávalo.
O dve hodiny neskôr, počúvajúc temné beaty domáceho projektu Jacques Kustod a dívajúc sa na n-farebné vizuály od Chaosdroid, mi prvý raz napadla hriešna myšlienka. Hm, je to tu trochu ako Unsound. Nezabite ma.
O ďalšiu hodinu, už uprostred Stotta, som si ktovieakým zázrakom ukradla 20 minút v strede fugáckeho kvadra. Čistá krása, technokokón obaľujúci človeka zo všetkých strán. A tá myšlienka sa mi vrátila. Niekoľký raz od Krakowa je tu trocha toho, čo bolo aj tam, lenže tento raz silnejšie: nadoraz hedonizmus, úplne pohltené publikum, produkcia, akú tu nepočuť každý deň, párty presne na pulze doby.
Dve stovky ľudí zhypnotizovaných týpkom, ktorého spoza laptopu takmer nevidno, ale nikomu to nevadilo. “Honestly, one of the wildest gigs,” vyznal sa neskôr Andy Exitabu. A nad tým všetkým zavesený maskot Fugy, atrapa obrieho hmyzu poskladaná z káblov a železného odpadu, bdejúca nad hlavami žúrujúcich.
Taká zvláštna sila. Možno nie priamo hudba, ale určite atmosféra. Prevaľuje sa tu po kluboch, krčmách a internetoch už pár mesiacov, no v tej chvíli sa prvý raz dala uchopiť.
(Nasledujúca časť popisuje udalosti, ktoré neviem isto, či sa stali, ako sa stali a kto bol v skutočnosti ten človek. Ale takto nejako si to pamätám:.)
Na odchode okolo pol štvrtej ráno som sa pred šatňou pustila do reči s okoloidúcim. Bol z Birminghamu (alebo Manchestru?), ale v skutočnosti to má do Fugy na skok, žije toť vo Viedni. “Ako si sa tu o tom dozvedel?” pýtam sa. “Proste o takýchto veciach viem.” Super, vravím si, takže tá sila ide občas aj von.
Ďalší deň sme potom so Strunom pri obede a s Faunom večer na čaji preberali Andyho, Casi Cada Minuto aj Jaquesa, a všetko to, čo sa večer predtým vo Fuge na pár hodín zhmotnilo. Chcela som im vysvetliť, že sa mi zdá, že toho začína byť veľa. Že bratislavská scéna sa mení na tlakový hrniec z ktorého čochvíľa zákonite odletí veko. Nemusela som ani dokončiť prvú vetu. Niečo je vo vzduchu, zhodli sme sa behom pár slov všetci traja. A je toho viac ako kedykoľvek predtým.
Držme si klobúky, niečo sa blíži. A hádam je to niečo dobré.
Photo by Gabriela Zigova - thnx:)
Saturday, 2013/02/16 @ Fuga
Exitab prsnts: Andy Stott (live/Modern Love) - FB event
Andy Stott, Casi Cada Minuto, Jacques Kustod + Chaosdroid, Teapot, Break!fast, Jvris
