Garage (upstairs)
London
Words & Video by Marisa Brickman
Photos by Rory Phillips
Blondes are duo Zach Steinmann and Sam Haar. They live in Brooklyn but have been in the UK playing some shows will soon be trying out their set on the crowds of Berlin. To celebrate the launch of their most recent EP Touched (released on Merok in the UK and RVNG in the US), the guys played a free show with Sheffield’s Ghost Hunter(who recently remixed Blondes). We thought it was going to be rammed and almost didn’t go at all for fear of not getting in. Hardly the case. The crowd was small, only about 50 people, but it included several members of the London (and Canadian) music glitteratti, about 15 rabid fans, 10 blogger geeks, NME journalists, PRs, two handfuls of London DJs, a couple of music industry folks and our rag-tag crew. It was actually quite nice and reminded me of when I was going to gigs all the time before new rave exploded, with pretty much all those same people.
We arrived in time to catch the end of Ghost Hunter’s atmospheric bass heavy set. Not sure how old Mr. Rob Verrecchia is, but he looks about 14. If he is making music this good now, then we can’t wait to see what happens after puberty.
I’d been listening to Touched for a while over and over – mesmerized by the hypnotic, soft trance-like beats and the freshness of their sound, and in my mind, Blondes were an obscure European Manuel Göttsching influenced band. I literally had no idea they were from Brooklyn. Not that it mattered hugely when I found out, but their music is so analogue and electronic that it hadn’t even crossed my mind that they might be American. Bands like Holy Ghost! (see ‘SUP’s footage of their first live gig) and the whole Tanlines crew have been helping shape New York’s recent dance sound for a while now and of course there’s all the more straight-ahead techno artists from Underground Quality and Wolf & Lamb, but Blondes are something new. And we’re excited.
They started off the set with “Moondance”, the 1st track off the Touched EP. This is signature Blondes material.
Sure there’s a chillwave micro-explosion, but Blondes aren’t even in that category. They just play techno music that’s a bit slowed down. Even with lack of a light show or any sort of stage antics, Blondes’ live act is considered minimal but it’s totally engaging. Even in the dark with a few blue lights and a few red lights, we were converted. Blondes are musical tech heads making electronic music, rather than indie guys trying to make dance music.
Towards the end of the set they played a live version of their remix of John Talabot’s “Sunshine”.
I left the Garage feeling totally satisfied. The only downer was then deciding to go see Holy Ghost! DJ at the Cuckoo Club.
