Electronic music for the last several years has been dominated by a flood of DJ's rocking dark, minimal techno. These adjectives are not ones that would typically be applied to Basement Jaxx. Their concert at the Congress Theater last Friday was decidedly anti-minimal. The venue was awash with the sounds of big electro, disco house and what has been labelled by some as "maximal" techno. Doors opened at 7, and some local Chicago DJ's got the crowd warmed up in the main hall as well as the entry hallway all night. The headliners started at a quarter after 10 with the German techno duo, Modeselektor. This pair played live versions of their own heavy hitters. Dirty, gritty techno and breakbeats were the sounds coming out of the speakers while a pair of large screens displayed some breathtaking visuals to set the right tone. The producers kept things interesting by providing some live vocals and eventually sharing a bottle of champaign with the first few rows (read: spraying everyone they could).
After a very short downtime (shorter than any rock concert), the main event began as Basement Jaxx appeared on stage. They immediately took to the turntables, where they would stay for their entire set, and kicked things off with a couple mellow house tunes. However, they wasted no time getting to business when they played their first big hit of the night, "Red Alert". The DJ's dropped an instrumental of the song, while they were joined on stage by their touring vocalist, Vula Malinga. After her terrific rendition, she remained on stage for the rest of the performance to intersperse some live vocals while the Brixton duo continued to throw down a little bit of everything. From french house, to dubstep and even some hard techno, there was almost no genre they refused to visit. Many Basement Jaxx classics were sprinkled throughout the show, such as "Do Your Thing" as well as newer hits like "Raindrops". A couple of remixes of classic rock tunes made their way into the set in the form of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Seven Nation Army". At one point in the show, they even brought out the Chicago native and ghetto house pioneer, DJ Funk, to spread some of his trademark sound into the mix. The set was closed out with a slamming remix of "Where's Your Head At" followed by a tweaked-to-perfection Len Faki remix.
Oddly enough, the evening was not over when Basement Jaxx left the stage. A handful of people were already clearing out, but those that stayed were treated to an amazing set from MSTRKRFT. Even with such a tough act to follow, this Canadian pair managed to shake the foundations of the Congress with a massive electro house mix. They started things off with some cuts from their latest album, and continued with big electro for most of the show, dropping samples all the while from electronic heavy hitters such as Justice, Daft Punk, and Benny Benassi.
When it was all said and done, Basement Jaxx's night at the Congress was a breath of fresh air, and a welcome change of pace from the sometimes dreary and often played out minimal techno that can be heard at almost any other club night.
