From MikeD Sent Sun, Jun 20th 1999, 17:30
From MikeD Sent Sun, Jun 20th 1999, 17:30
well i ventured up to chicago for yet another Museum of Contemporary Art event...this time it was Summer Soltice. Their annual event celebrating the longest day of the year and the changing of the seasons. It took place from 5PM friday to 5 PM saturday..a full 24 hours of art, music, dance, and entertainment. (and free breakfast =) This years "music featured the likes of Markus Popp of Oval, Derrick Carter, OVT Visuals Vj, Language, and a slew of house djs... the house was in one room and the experimental in the theatre. After the Vaudeville extravaganza and free cheesecake... OVT came on with their video and music mixing... the video was extraordinary... beautiful colorful landscapes melting into each other...amazing..as for the djing..well it just plain sucked. from techno to house to 4 of the 6 tracks on the Big Load EP being played (he didnt know the EP well at all..let the track run out once and the next start up...then backspun out of the intro to it *laff*)...then he mixed in boring tech.step *shrug* after them came Markus Popp =) excellent. amazing lush soundscapes with clackity clicks and bleeps so beautifully done...i couldnt tell if he was mixing or playing live due to the position of the stage/audience... he played for an hour and was downright amazing... OVT was still doing visuals during this...and they went along witht he music so well... they mixed more minimalist dark colortones and the static fuzz woudl come up at the right points int ht emusic....it seemed as if they had practiced for a while... near the end of Markus's set he changed tones and went harsher...seemingly to wake up the crowd...the guy enxt to me almost jumped out of his seat =) blasting hard noisey chaos with huge deep basslines amazing... after this Language came on... i went out an explored the museum..as the whole museum was open during the festival.. Charles Ray has an exhibition running there right now... amazing... the abstractedness of his art is nice...yet minimal at times... the monster toy fire engine..the orgy... the balck reflective cube... the spinning disc in the wall...and much much more...if you live anywhere near chicago..i recommend checking this out... the cost is minimal. after the main stages ended...some drummers started going at it...adnt hen they fed us freebreakfast 9frappachino and donuts/bagels)..pretty nice... i left due to my lack of sleep and need for a ride home...it went on most of saturday..free body massages... the seussmobile and more... all for 5 bucks. nice. ill be back. -mike.davis