Effekted

Last Saturday night saw one of the most eagerly anticipated nights of the year in Dublin finally arrive, when the legendary Dopplereffekt rolled into town for their debut (and most likely only) Dublin show. I’d first heard wind of this gig as far back as March, when at Bloc Weekend whispers abounded of the attempt to put on a night of nights; Dopplereffekt performing an early gig to be followed by Dutch maestro’s Alden Tyrell and Intergalactic Gary rocking up for Lunar Disko‘s 2nd Birthday party.

The fact that Doppler’s show was being put into place by not one, not two but THREE promoters was proof enough how much of an event this night would be. I arrived up at The Sugar Club just before 7.30 and already a small queue had formed while Gerald Donald stood outside smoking a cigarette looking decidedly normal. I’d had a (very) late night the night before so I made no attempt at any sort of small talk with the man himself, I just stared at him for a bit instead.

Ireland’s own don of electro; Decal, was on warm up duties but there was to be no electro from Alan tonight, instead opting for darker, dense compositions rarely relying on any beats, more so on feedback and distorted sounds. I hadn’t expected any traditional electro from the warm up and it was an obvious pointer to the type of set Dopplereffekt were going to perform. To be honest anyone who was expecting Dopplereffekt to storm out with Pornoactress or it’s ilk obviously haven’t really paid any attention to them post-Gesamtkunstwerk. Also the fact that The Sugar Club is a seated venue made it a bit of a no-brainer really.

By the time Dopplereffekt arrived on stage the venue was pretty much packed, proving that Donald and his many guises still matter, with a mixed crowd of younger clubbers through to some who may not have seen the inside of too many dance-halls in the last few years. Doppler kicked off the show as they planned to continue with heavy washes of synths both on backing track and being performed by Donald on his Korg. For the first 15 minutes or so his female companion did an excellent job of staring straight at him, and eh, not much else. Due to the coupling of a serious hangover and a few sneaky whiskeys I am unable to start reeling off track names, but I did hear some of Myon-Neutrino/Z Boson and (I think) “Non Vanishing Harmonic Spinor” from Calabi Yau Space, but this was less about individual tracks and more about mood and spectacle. As the photo above shows, the performance consisted of the pair sitting facing each other backed by projections – some of which amusingly revealed Donald even though he wore a mask on stage. It was deceptively simple but also strangely engrossing, as their fingers would twitch in time to the music before hitting the keys. As with the Calabi album there was very little in the way of beats, mostly random sounds triggered by Donald as those deep menacing synths came in and out, at times even sounding like an out-take from the Blade Runner score.

Before the end though they would concede somewhat and for the last ten minutes or so some classic Doppler beats were dropped, prompting some of us at the front to even get up and have a little shimmy. They had very slowly but surely built up to this and it was great to see that after 45 minutes of the more avant garde side of Donald they could show that no one has bettered that crisp electro sound that had all of us fall in love with them originally. With as little fanfare as their arrival, the pair got up and exited stage left with no acknowledgement to the crowd, instead leaving us dancing to a loop that could have gone on for another 20 minutes.

While personally I thoroughly enjoyed the show (as did many others), it was not without it’s detractors, with the main criticism being just how much of the show was actually live. “When are they gonna change the CD” and “the milli vanilli of electro” were just 2 digs over heard, but if there is anyone who couldn’t give a fuck about peoples perceptions its Gerald Donald. As I mentioned this was just as much about the mood and spectacle of the show, one as original as much of the groups output. Congrats to the promoters for choosing the perfect venue in The Sugar Club, an environment perfect for the show, with its tiered candle lit seating and table arrangements. It certainly made for a nice change to your typical club environment.

With the sounds of Journey of the Dragons playing out over the PA many slipped away down to part 2 of the night where Intergalactic Gary and Alden Tyrell raised the roof off for the Lunar Disko lads 2nd birthday party. Intergalactic Garys seemless mix of classic electro and italo with newer cuts (including one of John Dalys new 12″s) was the perfect precursor to Tyrells new live set, generating the best atmosphere I’ve seen in a Dublin club in a very very long time. Tyrell dropped classics such as Love Explosion and Hills of Honolulu along with newer bombs from his latest releases on Moustache and his The Hasbeens guise, with the crowd singing along while flinging a blow up Llama through the dancefloor (obviously) and generally going nuts. I stumbled out of the dancefloor literally dripping with sweat, gasping for fresh air, unable to dance anymore as Gary finished off the last half hour of what is sure to go down as a classic night.

No doubt speaking for many in attendance, I’d like to give a big vocodored shout out to the Electric City, Test and Lunar guys for putting together such an unforgettable night.