VHS Won, But Beta Was Cooler
Relapse Theater sits unseen along a stretch of 14th st. near what will soon be the largest mosque in the Southeast. Like every one-off party in a place that is not a club or bar, setup was cumbersome, people were late, and equipment was missing. Everything, however, seemed to work out. Preston Craig warmed the place up as people began filing in. Reacharound played her de facto mix of dirty dirty, for which I (Ellsworth of Factory Aire) relieved her around 11 as the band loaded the equipment onto the stage. VHS or
Beta made their way on the stage, with compliments. Then, just as the massive two-story theater reached capacity, Shock Cinema took over, their visual backdrop totally blocking the DJ booth, which I didn’t really mind. The crowd, however - an aesthetically pleasing mix Atlantans - didn’t really have the patience for the sort of visually inclined art-house rock in which they excel. Wedged between DJs and rock star DJs, people came to see dance music. And dance music they received. Although I missed the bulk of their set, I heard VHS or Beta’s pulsing rhythms of Mylo and Madonna, shocking me, and perhaps certainly shocking all the asymetrical haircuts in the crowd.
The afterparty took place downstairs, which I guess would be more of a continuation than an afterparty. Drew Van Atten and I got all the dirty techno and electro out of our system. Darker, dirtier, and much later, people danced until exhaustion. Then party-host/DJ/surf bum Jeff Myers came on and, in a sort of funky, old school way, killed it. Good party, more to come.
