Sat, 23 Nov 2002
- Richie Hawtin is a king among men
-
This past Thursday night Steve "Dry" Walker and myself went to see Richie Hawtin and Sven Väth at Turbo nightclub in Toronto. The event was part of a tour to promote their upcoming combined effort, The Sound of the Third Season.
(It is interesting to note that Sven Väth and Richie Hawtin have been DJing for roughly the same amount of time. Coincidentally, when Moonshine started distributing Mixmag's Mixmag Live! series in 1995, the first such release featured Richie Hawtin while the second release featured Sven Väth and Moby. In that time, however, Richie Hawtin has progressed light years beyond most techno DJs, with his minimal style which involves subtracting away elements to reach the barest definition of techno, his encorporation of the 909 and an effects mixer into his sets, and his use of the Final Scratch mixing component which allows him to spontaneously create new tracks from existing ones. One need only look at the mix CDs Hawtin has released since 1995 to see this progression.)
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the night, although I had a few theories. The first was that Hawtin and Väth would DJ back-to-back. I thought this the least likely scenario since it seemed fairly standard and not in going with what I supposed was the concept of the album (ie. a meeting and collaboration of the DJ minds). The second was that the two DJs would tag-team, one spinning a few tracks, the other continuing on with another few throughout the night and so on. I also thought this scenario unlikely. The third option, and the one that I preffered, was that the two would spin on four decks simultaneously with Hawtin throwing his trademark 909 and effects into the mix. I wasn't sure how the two different styles would combine, but I somehow thought they would find a way, seeing as though they managed to collaborate on an album.
Unfortunately, the worst option prevailed with Richie Hawtin and Sven Väth performing one after the other. Even worse (or better, depending on your view) was that Sven went first.
My first, and most recent, experience with Sven Väth was at a club in Montréal in the fall of 1998. If you can believe it, Derrick May, one of the godfathers of techno, opened the party with a lightly crowded dance floor and spun a gorgeous but much-too-short techno set which I thoroughly enjoyed. Sven Väth followed this up with an aggressive, no-holds-barred set which was both soulless and boring. I have said this many times before and I will say it again: Germans rip the heart and soul right out of techno. Oh, there are some exceptions such as those on the Trésor label, Ian Pooley and Kraftwerk, who helped to originate the genre. For the mostpart, however, German techno lacks a soul; there is no love, no pain, no hope, no anger, no happiness, only aggression and plenty of it. Väth's set at the time contained predictable drum-roll builds which whipped the Montréal crowd into a frenzy. Five years had passed since then and I hoped that Sven had learnt some new tricks.
Sadly, this was not the case in Toronto on Thursday night. Väth's set was exactly the same in style as his one five years previous, and the crowd responded with raised arms and cheers at every predictable build. Don't get me wrong, the mixing was pretty good, if obvious and lacking subtlety, but the track selection was unimaginative and boring. Steve and I sat that set out with worried looks on our faces, hoping that this would not influence Hawtin's set, and desperately praying that these aggressive hordes, who were obviously attracted to the event by Väth's name, would disperse after last call when Hawtin would begin. It would not have been so bad if Sven Väth hadn't acted like a pompous cocksucker his entire set, waving his fist in the air at the crowd, sporting a shit-eating grin whenever he let in the bass, and accepting the cheers with a knowing and self-congratulatory nod. At one point, Sven let go with a track which chanted his name over and over again, and the sheep ate it up responding with their own chants in turn.
Finally, the music changed slightly, still aggressively thumping but somehow different, and Steve and I knew, although we couldn't see the DJ booth, that Hawtin had stepped up to the decks. Within minutes the crowd magically halved in number, and a different, more relaxed vibe took control.
I have witnessed Richie Hawtin on the decks some five or six times since 1995 and every time I do so, this man redefines my concept of a what a DJ should be. This is unfortunate since now there are only a handful of DJs who are able move me such that I have no control of my own body. As soon as Hawtin steps up to the decks, some other being inhabits my bones and it is all I can to watch helplessly as I flail about. Under other conditions, I will never be able to produce the same body movements as they never seem right or natural. When Hawtin spins, these alien movements emerge, totally in synch with the shifting music yet beyond my control.
Such as it was early Friday morning. Without fanfare, Hawtin took the music down to a minimal and beautiful style, laced with round acid sounds and clipped beats. It was a combination of the old with something of the new. Gorgeous and hauntingly beautiful backdrops to old-school minimal acid techno. At some moments the music consisted of only a waveform coupled with a minimal beat, building with the addition of a few beats here and there, suddenly fusing into some sort of minimal funky breakbeat electro style. (It always amazes me that when Richie Hawtin controls my body, I know precisely when the sound will change and how but it is never boring or predictable. I know this seems odd and paradoxical, but others who have been inhabited by Richie Hawtin's music can confirm this.) It was a beautiful set, possibly the best I have ever heard Hawtin spin. There was no rapid assault with drum machines like when Hawtin was touring to promote Decks, Efx & 909, but lots of empty space which the mind would fill with infinite possibilities.
Whereas Sven Väth built with thirty-second drum-rolls, Hawtin built with silence. He may play a very minimal track, over and over, subtly twisting it, fading it in and out and morphing it slightly, for what seems like ten minutes or more, and then will introduce a missing element which completes the sound and closes the loop. One particular example is when Hawtin played what seemed like an old-school acid track with a robotic voice chanting "I am your speaker, and I am speaking, speaking to you" over and over. In and of itself, this was an inspiring moment and a bad tune. Because the track was very minimal, you could feel the tension building, but didn't really notice anything missing until Hawtin brought the bass in from another track and then it was as if the experience was complete. The crowd at this point had thinned out enough so that there was room to dance comfortably and those that remained were deep into the minimal vibe. There were still cheers, but they were few, leaving the master to continue with his work. Again, unlike Sven Väth, Hawtin's style was very modest and he was content to focus on his work, and not the crowd. There was the occasional smile to the masses, but for the most part Hawtin was emersed in his music, not his ego.
Incidentally, Richie Hawtin looked happier than I have ever seen him before, playfully joking with Sven Väth during the latter's set, and beaming ear-to-ear when not on the decks. He also looked younger as well, either because of his lack of eyeglasses, or possibly because he has discovered the fountain of youth in his techno experiments. Whatever the cause, he looked much younger than his 30-odd years.
Despite the bad start, Richie Hawtin's set was well-worth the wait and torment. I look forward to hearing what he does when I see him again next year.
