Valerie @ Webster Hall

While I've heard tracks and mixes from Russ Chimes, Anoraak, and College, I'm afraid I've been blogging about completely unaware of the Valerie Collective Blog/Crew/Steez. Well I did a bit of research prior the the NYC show (which was their US debut) and I was able to rediscover a lot of what I had missed or forgotten about. Anyway here is a set-by-set recap of how the night went off.

Unfortunately I arrived at Webster Hall at around 1:30 and missed Lovelock I think. I read somewhere that Lovelock was doing a DJ set but when I had arrived at Webster Hall it was to the droning sounds of bassy repetitive synthesizers. Friends I had meet up with who had arrived earlier said to me that the same synth loop had been going on for over 20 minutes, I call shenanigans but we are dealing with the French here. But I can imagine it was an alright opener / warm up.
Lovelock - Love Reaction

Now College was a serious tour de force. He was doing some kind of "live" set with his PC. Thats right. PC!!! I can't recall any other laptop DJ I've seen who doesn't use a Macbook. Either way I was VERY impressed with College. The 80's synth pop comic book sound really does it for me. I somehow knew that College was going to be seriously awesome because hes bald and white. For some reason in my head bald white guy with specs = dope nasty DJ. After College's two hour epic set I stepped out for a smoke and thought to myself... that was the most well-crafted and flawlessly executed DJ set I've seen since... Danger. Bravo!
College - I Think About It (Keenhouse Remix)

Anoraak's live set, which I was super excited to see, kind of sucked balls. He seemed like a little boy who wanted tag along and play with a MIDI controller too. I really do feel badly that I can't give Anoraak a favorable review, I really was excited to see him. Perhaps if all the other acts that weren't so amazing. In all fairness to Anoraak the last song/intro for Russ Chimes he played was pretty dope....
Anoraak - Night Drive With You (GRUM's New Wave Remix)


We all know that Russ Chimes is the cats pajamas. His sets are just the side of godlike. Highlights for me were A-Trak's Say Whoa and Cosmos - Take Me With You (Aston Shuffle Bootleg). Now that I think about it,
Russ Chimes' set was very similar (at least in track selection) to the esper? mix I have here. Very predictable but in the best possible way. The tracklist is in the lyrics section of the ID3 tags.
Russ Chimes - Esper Mix (zsh)