Props to Flickr-mastr an93 for this sick shot of SMD.
Check his Flickr here.
So I’m gonna wing this the best that I can; as I mentioned before, Simian Mobile Disco played an absolutely mindblowing set at Pure in Philly this past Friday… to the best of my knowledge. I say this because I myself was awash in the venue’s generous open bar, free pizza, and some unnecessary personal drama that we won’t get into here, heh.
…Again, I’m going to wing this the best that I can. Please feel free to chime in with any excellent moments you have from the show, as my memory is fuzzy at best.
Essentially, despite the doors being opened at around 9:30-9:45 instead of 9 (how DARE they cut into our 9-11 open bar time!) and a surprisingly small amount of people waiting in line at the door, the atmosphere was still pretty electric. Pure itself has 3 floors to go crazy on, with plenty of DJs like Making Time regulars Dave P, Dave Pak, Adam Sparkles, Russ Alexander, and the dudes in Broadzilla spinning some electro/funk hits as well.
Initially I spent the majority of the evening in the basement area, where the DJs like Russ Alexander were spinning. It was a bit more mellow and low-key (R5 touted it as a “rock-tits event!”), and the vibe was definitely an interesting counterpoint. Free Sparks and PBR at this particular bar would eventually be my downfall. Hipsters were everywhere; I half-expected the infamous Hipster Grifter to take my wallet or steal my identity. It wouldn’t be the first time that kinda stuff has happened to me (if you know me personally, *ba-dum-ching,* that one’s for you). But yes: a more down-tempo ambience and smaller-scale light show via projectors definitely did the trick for the time being. Philly’s local DJ scene is pretty legit, I’ll say.
I didn’t really venture two floors up from the basemetn to the mezzanine level, as things tend to get a little too crazy up there. I’m all for some chaos, but it tends to be a bit much, even for me, up on that level. Last time I was at Pure I hung out there for about 15 minutes, got creeped out, and left.
As for the first floor, the main level and the SMD dudes’ set itself, all I know is that the light show was absolutely mind-blowing. Their material works way better with light shows than, say… Justice (who in all reality just flash a lot of lights on the quarter note beats, which works pretty damn well too), but mostly because SMD’s tunes tend to be a bit more minimalistic and melody-driven. That’s not to say they didn’t bring the club bangers as well; to be completely honest, I was so entranced in the bass thumps and light theatrics that the only song I recognized was an amazing re-fix of Cut Copy’s “Lights and Music,” which I’m pretty sure every single person in there went ape shit for — even my non-hipster friends. I was definitely shocked to see the sheer amount of people bouncing around, if only because it seemed pretty dead waiting in line to get in.
Also, I heard Puff Daddy might’ve been there? Apparently according to R5 Productions he’s a huge Simian fan. Anyone know for sure?
Sorry about the lack of real content on this one, guys. Lesson learned: next time, less open bar, more attention to detail for awesome DJ sets. To tide you over, here’s a link to an mp3 for a set the guys played in Japan a while back.
DOWNLOADS:
