M.A.N.D.Y. October 17, 2008 Beta Better than: Most acts with that much superfluous punctuation
M.A.N.D.Y.’s entry in the Fabric series has been spending a lot of time on my speakers and headphones, and each listen reveals new reasons to like their style. That can be a double-edged sword, since it can set up unrealistically high expectations for a live set. Without the benefit of infinite retakes, a carefully selected batch of tracks and maybe a little digital editing, too many DJs simply can’t live up to the promise of their discs.
Slide showLuckily, M.A.N.D.Y. didn’t let me down. They kicked off with a series of tribal sounding house tracks. They were fairly minimal, with lots of groovy, organic percussion patterns. It was definitely ass-shaking material. They kept up that basic blueprint for the better part of the opening half of the set, punctuating it with the occasional surprise, like the weird polka/circus tech-disco track they dropped.
The mood and pacing was good, but it got a little slow and seemed to lose the crowd after a while. A few more of those surpises wold have helped. Eventually M.A.N.D.Y. delivered exactly that, in the form of a sweet, acid techno groove that signified a switch to a more upbeat, techno-leaning section of the set that carried through to the end.
Overall, it was an excellent, enjoyable set. It was similar in feeling to the Fabric disc I’ve been digging, but definitely more streamlined and stripped down for the club. The mixes were all technically proficient, the pacing was solid, the energy level was high. Apart from one section that drug on a little long, it was a set that met or exceeded all expectations.
-- Cory Casciato
Critic’s Notebook
Personal Bias: I’ve been liking the Get Physical (M.A.N.D.Y.’s label) sound for a while now. Random Detail: There was a guy in a leopard-print vest (no shirt underneath), a bone/claw/tooth/some-damn-thing necklace and some old-school, long, straight rocker hair – very glam-metal refugee, and very conspicuous in the crowd. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. By The Way: I love the laser rig at Beta. It never fails to entertain me.