Event Reviews
Blue Room presents Tribal Oscillation, Kentish Town Forum, 22/8/1997
How can one even begin to describe a party like Blue Room's Tribal Oscillation party at the Kentish Town Forum? To say anything other than "Wow" may seem superfluous. The overall impression was that of force and power, of might and magic. The first impression walking into the Forum was that of a rather dark fantasy-land a la Tim Burton. Indeed, I expected the Batmobile to pull up at any moment. Humongous fluorescent gargoyle-like structures of exquisite complexity outlined the stage, and the front of the balcony upstairs was beautifully done up, too. The walls were lined with some fluoro decorations which may have done their job very well by virtue of the fact that they were not overly distracting.
When I showed up, Dino Psaras was playing a set which ended rather abruptly as Amampondo, a South African drumming troupe, took over. It was quite a different vibe from what I might have expected, but a welcome one which pointed towards some of our more tribal roots that trance parties aim to recapture. The crowd seemed totally into it, so let's hope that more such ventures into non-digital tribal music will become popular.
Next, Mike Maguire spun his usual offering of unusual trance, starting with an organic vibe which blended beautifully with the previous artists' work. We were then flung into another dimension, with poly-tonal cascades and tribal rhythms characterizing the web in which we found ourselves. Juno Reactor followed with a powerful live set (including a super-fast Conga Fury). The vibe here was U2 goes psychedelic, with Ben bearing more than a passing resemblance to Bono. This seems to me less a sign of Juno being commercial than an indication that the public at large is prepared for a psychedelic onslaught. All in all, full power.
Mike threw on another couple of hot ones, including (if memory serves me correctly) a Man With No Name track that got the biggest reaction of the night, before Blue Room's head honcho Simon took over. The first few tracks were not quite to my taste, but he then proceeded to play some of the deepest, trippiest tracks I've heard in a long time. A couple of mixes were disappointing in that they resulted in losing the climax of the track that was fading out, a kind of musical premature ejaculation. I later thought that it was probably a cunning plan on Simon's part to keep people from overheating and losing their marbles, because that was definitely the direction that things were heading in.
Kox Box came on next. It was my first time to hear the Danish masters, and the effect was up and down - again, perhaps a plan to add more suspense, as just when things seemed as though they were a bit flat, the sound and pace picked up so much that one's spirit invariably soared as well. Too Pure was NOT, Tribal Oscillation was, Stratosfear was up there, and the new tracks were as deep as one could hope for.
The deep point of the night for me was Dino's epic one-hour set between Kox Box and X-Dream. How he crammed such a deep message into such a short space of time is less important than the fact that he did it. The music was so introspective, so evocative of a secret extra-terrestrial harmonic code which aims to bring one the digitally-encoded information necessary for a thorough transformation, that one could either get totally lost and find one's self in the process or (as our society has taught us to do) ignore the significance of what was in front of you altogether. Personally, I entered one of the deepest spaces I've ever visited, one which was at once everything and nothing, a dream and reality simultaneously, the music serving as a reminder that our senses are simply one way of being aware of our existence. While too much of this sound would be a bit overwhelming, it should not be ignored - this dose was absolutely perfect.
X-Dream ended the party with a stunning live set featuring old and new favorites, including Radio, Freak, and Panic in Paradise. The crowd desperately wanted more, but they were left hanging. This was one of the most epic parties I've been to in England, but it was too deep and dark for many. The sound problems (some speakers kept cutting out) distracted some, while others couldn't deal with partying in the Batcave. Total Eclipse's no-show was a huge disappointment, too (apparently their equipment had gone missing on the way back from Ibiza). However, this was definitely a show of force - the dark side of the Force, with Darth Vader masquerading as Mike and Dino and Co. - and even if it wasn't one's cup of tea, one must respect the power of what was communicated and the effort that went into it.
© 1997 Mark Ainley
