Chris Daly was the drummer in the Time.
Ah, the joys of Internet wormholes. I open a YouTube email recommending a new Prince video (somebody has to watch them) and end up stumbling upon the stark, dark world of Dasha Rush.
The expat Russian DJ and resident artist at and founder of the Fullpanda label, recently hosted a Boiler Room set clearly not for the faint of heart. This is dressed down techno by a dressed up DJ. While it’s predominantly synths and ghostly beats, catch the 21 minute mark for some words of wisdom, in French, no less, from the kitten masked bandit herself. She also closes her performance with a bit more spoken word, only this time in English, espousing the benefits of ice cream, love and dancing. I do love me a wise woman.
For such a minimalist feel, Rush certainly knows how to shade in her music for full effect, creating a very rich, textured sound from seemingly very little. Sure, she’s surrounded by more hardware than your average Radio Shack, but notice how she tends to stay glued to the same synth and soundboard. Tones echo and percolate, but nothing is crowded. While there’s very little to shake your ass to, you might well sprain your neck from the head bobbing sure to ensue upon viewing/listening. With the exception of the one bespectacled gentlemen in the chimp t-shirt, the crowd doesn’t seem quite sure what to make of the tunes, but clearly the four-eyed friend of apes gets it.
This is underground and experimental — right where it needs to be. Things get a tad more funky around the 45th minute (check out Chimpy’s friends finally start moving a bit!), but you’re still not going to confuse this for anything you’re used to hearing at your “typical” rave, if ever such a thing even existed. Filmed live for Boiler Room’s CTM Festival special, if this is the future of techno, color me interested for the first time in decades.
