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We Will
Play: Massachusetts College of Art, Boston
The Toneburst Collective know how to put on a party with a cool mix of bands, DJs, videos, and interactive activities. And to top it off, the only charge $5, offering a nice alternative to overpriced raves. For five hours people moved between a downstairs room (drum 'n' Bass and techno, video projections, and some videos courtesy of EBN) and the upstairs (live hip-hop and DJs). On the second floor, a solid line-up, which included local hip-hop acts B Side and Politics of Experience, kept the crowd grooving and sweating. B Side particularly caught people's attention with their live, jazzy songs. Downstairs, DJs Brynmore, /rupture. and C were amongst those rocking the house in anticipation of illbient headliners, We. One thing that's notable about Toneburst's DJs (as well as their outside associates) are their distinctive styles: Brynmore slowly mutated an ambient set into some frenetic techno, /rupture offered his share of discombobulating beats, and C would alternate between drum 'n' bass and some quieter amgient and dub interludes. We began an hour-long set at 1am and quickly got the crowd hopping with a more rocking version of their eclectic ambient grooves. One of We's monitors coutght on fire early in their set, but that problem was quickly resolved. Another notable downstairs niche was the Noize Toys Rum (as in "room"), where random passersby could jump in and jam on everything from transistor radios to toys and turntables; some even brought their own gear, like keys, bass, guitar, and synthdrums. It was definitely a surreal performance space. Another first floor attraction was a live video projection screen which clubgoers could dance in front of--the resulting video feedback generated multiple shadow images of those cought in the path of the camera, including on curvaceous blonde beauty who seductively swayed in front of it for nearly an hour. That alone was worth the price of admission. -Bryan Reesman |
