Niamh Madden posted on May 06, 2009 12:26
MSTRKRFT (live in The Academy, Dublin)
Review Snapshot: Toronto’s electro remixers blast out the tunes to an adoring, dancing, day-glo crowd. Subtext? Not for the over-25s.
The Cluas Verdict? 6 out of 10
Full Review:
‘Isn’t that just Mr. Scruff spelt wrong?’ I was asked when heading to see Toronto duo MSTRKRFT at the Academy. No, it’s Mastercraft (also spelt wrong). The moustachioed men have remixed all your favourites: Buck 65, Death From Above 1979, Bloc Party, Metric, Justice. Due to arrive on at 12.30, the masters were supported during the wait by LA Riots, a DJ who decidedly kept quite serious but popped out some tech-house tunes for the filling crowd to bop to.
Somehow we garnered a spot in the VIP lounge, which was ironically equipped with opposites in excess - a large wooden Buddha and several bottles of Cristal. Looking down onto the crowd I noticed many neon T-shirts and indoor sunglasses and began to feel a bit removed from it all.
Resembling a pair of cowboys (with a bottle of JD on the decks to back up that point), ALP and JFK aka MSTRKRFT bounced onto stage eventually at 1.15am. With alien sounding beats on their build-ups and inspiring a blonde guy to stage dive, they moved the crowd to a level of insanity not far off the emotional outbursts of hysteria at festivals. Strobe lights, purple lights, flashing lights; the venue did its best to raise the level of the show far above simply two guys on decks. It worked.
Men posed at the barriers while MSTRKRFT knocked out heavy remixes of Spiller, Justice’s DVNO, Simian Mobile Disco, and more Daft Punk era floor-fillers. It was about this time that the crowd began to jump and the DJs did too. This inspired a vast number of crowd-surfs, another stage dive (see above) and people trying to get across the barriers while the bouncers quickly made little of them in their massive arms.
Two years ago I would have been right there, until the very last tune, dancing without purpose or care. But I’ve started to believe that maybe nights like this are not designed for the over-25s.
This one left me with a brain melt, as well as the vision of a hairy white bum that was exposed as one man tripped down the Academy staircase.
Pint of Guinness in Doyle’s anyone?
Niamh Madden
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