Fuzzy pres. Krafty Kuts @ Prince Bandroom, Melbourne (15/02/08)
I want to start this article with the word SHIT. After many a courteous request to not talk about shit, I thought it would be a good idea to start off with the idea of SHIT and all associated connotations. Thankfully for all of us, it ends with that because Krafty Kuts has nothing to do with SHIT except being the complete opposite of it. Krafty Kuts is awesome, he doesn’t just belong in the universe of awesome, he created the universe of awesome.
The night kicked off with a awkward and amusing encounter with Lynt, a supporting DJ. He approached me and demanded drink cards from me. I kindly told him that I am only reviewing the event, and I didn’t realise that I was entitled to drink cards let alone given enough to supply myself and the DJs. My reaction was initially one of excitement until we figured out Lynt had mistaken me for the promoter for the event, some dude called Ming, and that I wasn’t going to be getting free drinks tonight. The situation was cleared up quickly, we had a good old laugh about it, I got over my very brief moment of disappointment and we both continued along with the adventure of our lives. Aside from that mix up, Lynt played a colorful set kicking off the night with electro tunes, shifting his sound into surprisingly outstanding minimal breakbeat. I am not usually a fan of minimal house/electro/breakbeat mash up but his set was perfect. Rather than pumping hard-hitting breakbeat into the audience from the get go, his music fit the atmosphere as people were getting still getting warmed up with tracks like Fatboy Slim – Demons. It eased the audience into the night and set a great foundation for the night.
By the time Melbourne’s own Nick Thayer arrived, the dance floor was happily populated and he got our attention by throwing us straight into Pharoahe Monch – simon says. Nick Thayer kept our attention following up with super funky remixes of Jungle Boogie and vocals from The Roof Is On Fire. He took us on a journey through some of the most memorable songs of the past and present mixing Calvin Harris’s Merrymaking At My House through to the classic Tupac’s California. The crowd was thumpin, especially when Nick Thayer threw a Chemical Brothers tribute with the Salmon Dance followed by Do it Again, which really stepped the energy. We PUSHED IT real good with Salt n’ Pepper and then dropped one of my favorite tracks, Move on Up remixed by DJ Ayers.
Before we go any further, a disclaimer to you readers, I love Krafty Kuts. You have been warned.
By now the crowd was well and ready, and its about this time that the boy wonder stepped up to the decks, affectionately known as ‘Krafty’ by his fans. And he did not mess around, jumping straight into the juice, where he immediately dropped this mash up of vocals of old and new that got the crowd screaming like little school girls. Within milli seconds I found myself jumping like a maniac to Fatboy Slim’s remix of Renegade Master, and it just kept on going. The first couple of hours moved between pure party happy dancing through to brutal rock stomping.
I am not one to re-create the night in these articles track by track. It’s like someone trying to retell a comedian’s joke; it’s not entertaining, and a waste of my time and yours. Even if I were too attempt to, it would be nigh impossible. Krafty Kuts mashed together 5+ tracks at any one time so much so that there was no distinguishing where the original tracks start or end. This, in turn made my night my worst nightmare in terms of documenting the set. It was hard enough sifting through my alcohol impaired memory for the names of five tracks he is dropping at any one moment, whilst fighting off the urge to completely fuck off writing the review and rock out. To give you a mere fraction I have collected the names of a few highlight tracks from the set in the following list.
The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,
Daft Punk – Harder Better Faster Strong,
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Can’t Stop
Axwell – I Found You
House of Pain – Jump Around
Dizzee Rascal – Old Skool
Stanton Warriors – Shake It Up
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Beastie Boys – Intergalactic
Justice – We Are Your Friends
Krafty’s own Bass Phenomenon
Aretha Franklin – Respect,
Plump DJs – System Addict
Green Velvet – La La Land
Taking a glance at that and you would think that Krafty went schizophrenic while buying records at the shop. But it was the absolute opposite, Krafty Kuts made it work. He constructed a 3-hour party masterpiece, mashing the enjoyment of all these tracks together for satisfaction beyond your imagination. On the very rare occasion when I wasn’t dancing, I was stuck glaring at Krafty in awe and sometimes disgust at how amazing his track progression and remixing was. This continued for hours as Krafty dropped bomb after bomb and the audience loved every phat beat he bought down onto the dance floor.
After hours of dancing harder than I have EVER dance before, the set ended with a Bittersweet Symphony, remixed into something chilled and relaxed leaving the audience roaring in appreciation. Krafty returned for a quick encore, Bringing That Beat Back just in time for Brewster, where he played out the rest of the night with traditional banging high-energy breakbeat. There were no french men dressed as robots, no massive pyramid, no lasers. Just some old fashioned flood lights, strobes and disco balls, with the best music we have heard in our lifetime all krafted (i had to use it once) into the one of the best nights of my life. You know it’s something special when person at the decks creates the entire party experience with the music that thumps out of those speakers. And that’s what Krafty did, he rounded us all up, grabbed our hands and lead us through an awesome night. It shows because my face hurt at the end from I smiling non-stop for 3 hours.
I could’ve saved us all this time really and summed up the night by saying, Krafty is THE best party DJ, period. Look, for me this review was bloody hard to write, there is so much more I want to say and I REALLY did want to share the experience this time with all you people who weren’t there, but there is no way I could do it justice. So do us all a favor and make it to the next Krafty Kuts gig. You missed out on an performance from ‘The Master of Party”, and we all missed you too. I don’t care if you have to reschedule your wedding, remortgage your home, give up a hot date with Jessica Alba. You don’t want to miss a party with Krafty Kuts.
PS. okay don’t give up your hot date with Jessica Alba, pass it on to me.
PPS. All of you who were there, I love you.
dobrien75 says...
Total agreement in every way. Mr Kuts was brilliant as were all the supporting guys. It helps that the Prince has a kick arse sound system...
scandalo says...
yeha grreat fucking party!! needs photo's....where thay at?
Juzman says...
Mate, that was a great review. Shattered I missed due to being o/s... Wonder if a sneaky recording of the set will pop up somewhere? He is the master.
clubantix says...
well written review, and what an amazing set !! he is the master indeed
lewy says...
how good is he...... Sooo much fun the music was great. Nick thayer tore the place a new one. Great night and what a turn out the prince was sold out. breaks at it's best
Pandahmonkey says...
seriously Nick Thayer rocked so much harder than Krafty. I know none of you guys are going to agree with me, but he played a really average house set. I mean, he chucked in a few samples and played songs that other people had remixed, like that lucy in the sky song. And does he normally play straight house sets? I was expecting a heavier hip hop/breaks influence, considering his albums and remix work are all like that. I realised when I got really excited when he used the daft sample I just wished I was seeing daft playing or even just listening to their live album. Now THAT is genius mixing. Nick Thayer dropped Simon Says at the start of his set! When have you ever heard that track work so well? He mixed brilliant songs, bringing them into the contemporary Krafty played a house set. I was so excited for it too...