no, I won\’t make a table to make this look nice. suck it up.

Will and I went to see Donna Summer on Monday night. Hot diggity damn, baby, that was a damn fine show. Not as good as the Doormouse show, nor the Suicide show, but other than that, it was one of the best shows of the year. Once Jason called for \”all the girls to get in here,\” the room filled up, and the beats started to flow. Combination of the sound and the images was powerful, and after fifteen minutes, even DC couldn\’t help but be moved and shake their booty.

It was a poor crowd turnout, considering how packed glitch shows usually get. Fucking Prefuse 73 is headlining the mainstage of the Black Cat now that he has a more hip hop-ish record out. I saw his ass back at AU in April or so when he played to a crowd of about fifteen of us, and other than the fact that he performed with a desktop computer, it was not that impressive. His records are mostly rather nice, but put that man in front of a crowd — even ones that are shaking their booties — and he goes cold. Bad case of stage fright, perhaps? At any rate, I am sure that show will be packed, which is, in a way, a damn shame, because his music is getting rather blah compared to his (former?) peers in the power noise IDM scene. And so he will have a show in DC, on the goddamn main stage of the Black Cat, and Donna Summer, king of the scene and rightfully so, gets about twenty people at the show. None of whom, I might add, I have recognized from any other electro show in DC. I wished I had had my flyers with me, but they were not quite done yet.

Disco, disco is what matters, but apparently not in DC. Yet, at least. Will and I hauled ass up to Pittsburgh back in April for the best damn show of the year — Doormouse, Otto Van Shirach, Baseck, Impercept, and Gonzojunglism, and that show was the most off the wall party I have seen in years. Garfield Artworks was packed to the brim, full of drunk, fucked up, freaky kids doing the Pittsburgh pogo and the Wisconsin wobble.

Baseck and his girlfriend actually a choreographed dance going on (seen here, somewhat), as they jumped around like Popples and yelled along with the occasional lyric, fists pumped high in the air. Everyone was literally bouncing off one another and off the walls, but not in a mosh like fashion. Instead, they were using each other to launch higher in the air, high off the music and the copious amounts of 40s purchased at the gas station across the street. The show tore the roof off and damaged our ears for nearly a week. But it was good. Very good.

The energy, excitement, talent, bizareness, lunacy, ridiculousness, and fun just do not seem to be present here. Even with the minimal crowd that was there Monday night, and even once they finally started dancing, there was none of the passion like there is at shows in the midwest and New York. Why the hell is that? I know DC is stodgy and dusty and entirely too full of itself, not too mention too inhibited to shake their arses when called for, but all that aside, why is there nothing similar in DC? This city is all too entirely Thievery Corporation, and not enough raw power.

Yes, yes, 302 Acid are nice and innovative, EBSK and the Microknytes are lovely, Hat City Intuitive, rdk, Microbes, Caution Curves, and Bustghosters are all well and good but have not the raw, frenetic energy that rips through their shows and recordings like a good slasher flick. DGE, DJ Panic, and the No Skillz crew are all pretty cool, but again, not a lot of power house going on. The only hope I see here at the moment are Facemat, who tear into it like nobody\’s buisness. But other than that, the offerings here are rather dull. Lots of noodly improvisation, which is all well and good, but if the music is so tame that everyone sits through the whole show…. That sort of thing is great to hear to contemplate the possibilities of free flowing, creative music, but when it comes to getting your groove on and feeling some energy, it is absolutely shite.

But maybe not for long. Thing are happening here, slowly, but surely. Now if I can just find three other people here who are into Girltalk, things would really be looking up. Speaking of Girltalk, Jason is playing cuts from the new Girltalk album for me tonight on his show. New Girltalk… oh yeah! I have been waiting too long. Hopefully someone will pick the new album up soon. Hin hint, Jason, IBOL, hello? Even Illegal Art might want to grab the new one. If I had the money, I would do it myself. Unfortunately, I have to stick all my funds into other arenas right now — good arenas, but even so, somebody needs to pick up that record, and I would not mind terribly if that someone was Cock Meets Pussy. Oh well. Next time.

More coming soon.