This post and the next will be somewhat of a recap and/or review of the Soul Clap and Nicolas Jaar gigs at Bar25 on Monday. Check the bottom for downloads.
Soul Clap: Collars Up
The Bar was half full when I arrived 1.5 hours into Soul Clap's 4 hour set. I had been listening to the beginning of their set at home waiting for something to pull me there sooner. It was Jaar who was the not-to-be-missed act after all. Then over the radio I heard Mau's Maulongated Discofied Tribute of Fleetwood Mac's Brown Eyes, so I put on my shoes and got on my bike.
Soul Clap: Collars Up
The Bar was half full when I arrived 1.5 hours into Soul Clap's 4 hour set. I had been listening to the beginning of their set at home waiting for something to pull me there sooner. It was Jaar who was the not-to-be-missed act after all. Then over the radio I heard Mau's Maulongated Discofied Tribute of Fleetwood Mac's Brown Eyes, so I put on my shoes and got on my bike.
Erown Byes (MAU's Discofied Tribute) by mau
I happily paid the 5 euros entrance, got a drink and easily made my way up to Eli and Cayce (Soul Clap). Eli was in control and in an 80's groove. As the sound system at the Bar is sub-par I had no trouble chatting to him between mixes about everything from slow-tempo jams, the tracks he was playing, his love for Berlin and the sub-par system itself. Regarding the latter, he couldn't care less as it was the infamous Bar25 after all and his first time playing there, although he said he did play at Bar24 recently. Regarding the former (slow-tempo), he stated with confidence that slow house was "catching on" and that club promoters don't hassle them about dropping the tempo. He said that their sets typically drop to around 90 and generally never go over 120 bpms. I guess when your some kind of representative for slower house music as Soul Clap and anything Wolf + Lamb is, promoters book you for that very reason.
Some notable tracks they played are as follows:
Metro Area - Caught Up
808 State by Pacific State was a pleasant surprise and very appropriate for the vibe of the room the time it was played.
They played Alan Smithee - Blue Blackness (Masters at Work Remix) but I cant find it to embed here, so here is the Smooth Edit, which is also ace and similar to the one they played.
I urged then to play some newer tracks and they eventually responded with an absolute dynamite unreleased track called Principles by Benoit and Sergio; a track that will make you want to stay close to their myspace for release info.
They also played their new remix of Kathy Diamonds' Love Saves the Day. The original is nice too.
They also played their new remix of Kathy Diamonds' Love Saves the Day. The original is nice too.
But throughout the 2.5 hours of Soul Clap's remaining set, I wavered constantly between being blissed-out and impressed by the melodic house and annoyed by the hip-hop influenced and overly-Americanized music they played. With 4 hours to kill they needn't stick to one style of course, but their foray into hip-hop and R&B sampled music was jarring when juxtaposed with their tasty Wolf + Lamb vibe. Of course with tracks like Extravaganza, their rip-off or remix of Jamie Foxx's R&B hit, I shouldn't be surprised or disappointed when that sound made its way through the Bar's boxes repeatedly throughout the set. But I was. 
Its nothing against hip hop or R&B, I would never attack a genre, its just that I find the attitude behind or infused in the songs to be off-putting at the least and nauseating at worst. I mean Soul Clap's Extravaganza is billed as a guaranteed "ladies-report-to-the-dancefloor-for-booty-shake" anthem, but is this a good thing?? Maybe in Texas, or Chicago where Soul Clap are from, but not in Berlin. Of course the piano work, drums and synth work are great in Extravaganza, but the vocals instantly put the listener inside a rap video, where drinking and dressing expensively, bragging about one's unremarkable and likely fictitious accomplishments, political and social unconsciousness and sexism are rewarded and enshrined as 'the good life'. That is to say that music infused with this attitude seems to only contribute to the ills of the world, through everything from shit product promotion to amorality. I wont rant further, although much more needs to be said - huge statements like these should not be without factual and philosophical support, however, this is a blog - a medium based on freeform editorialism. So then lets just be clear on what I'm not saying; rap and R&B music can be great (without egoism, sexism and hyper consumerism) and Soul Clap are not bad, (although for me they would be better if they toned down the gangster attitude - wearing sunglasses while you dj in a club at night is just childish at this point, Cayce). Having a hip-hop influenced set, with rhymes is often a nice variation, lets just try to keep the rhymes about socially positive themes and not about ego-stroking.
Its nothing against hip hop or R&B, I would never attack a genre, its just that I find the attitude behind or infused in the songs to be off-putting at the least and nauseating at worst. I mean Soul Clap's Extravaganza is billed as a guaranteed "ladies-report-to-the-dancefloor-for-booty-shake" anthem, but is this a good thing?? Maybe in Texas, or Chicago where Soul Clap are from, but not in Berlin. Of course the piano work, drums and synth work are great in Extravaganza, but the vocals instantly put the listener inside a rap video, where drinking and dressing expensively, bragging about one's unremarkable and likely fictitious accomplishments, political and social unconsciousness and sexism are rewarded and enshrined as 'the good life'. That is to say that music infused with this attitude seems to only contribute to the ills of the world, through everything from shit product promotion to amorality. I wont rant further, although much more needs to be said - huge statements like these should not be without factual and philosophical support, however, this is a blog - a medium based on freeform editorialism. So then lets just be clear on what I'm not saying; rap and R&B music can be great (without egoism, sexism and hyper consumerism) and Soul Clap are not bad, (although for me they would be better if they toned down the gangster attitude - wearing sunglasses while you dj in a club at night is just childish at this point, Cayce). Having a hip-hop influenced set, with rhymes is often a nice variation, lets just try to keep the rhymes about socially positive themes and not about ego-stroking. Downloads
Right Click, 'Save As'
Fleetwood Mac - Brown Eyes (Maulongated Discofied Tribute)
Nicolas Jaar - Airdrop 19 Podcast, Jan 2009
Fileshares:
Metro Area - Caught Up (4shared)
Kathy Diamond - Love Saves the Day EP (incl. Soul Clap and Mario Basanov remixes) (Filestube)
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