BT DJ set: R & R (Rare and Remixed) CD release party
@ the Pinky, Centro-Fly, New YorkTuesday, October 23, 2001
Rating: 8 (for a Tuesday night)
BT is a good producer, but is he a good DJ?...
BT the DJ. Brian Transeau has been in Gotham as a producer (Bowery Ballroom, July 2000) and even with his 4-piece live band (Roxy, Oct 2000), but now he's here as a DJ and we eagerly anticipated his debut.
I caught up with him at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square New York, where only a month ago thousands of mourners gathered to the colossal makeshift memorials that had sprouted around the park. All those traces were gone, but still hundreds lined up to meet and greet Brian Transeau who was promoting the release of R&R (Rare and Remixed). BT was all grace and smiles, chatting it up pleasantly with eager fans and posing for photographs by request. Everybody found him to be friendly and not struck with stardom as sometimes the talented and famous can become.
At Centro-Fly, we entered at 11:45pm and surprisingly found BT already on the decks. This was an unusual but welcome Tuesday occurrence, as many have jobs to report to in the AM. While many other victims of the string of recent layoffs in New York since 9-1-1, were ready for a full-on night of dancing. The Pinky (downstairs at Centro-Fly) was packed with about 250+ party people. It was a great crowd with great energy and friendly faces with everybody getting their groove on. I usually determine the vibe by the smiling faces and the amount of eye contact that one can make as we dance together on the dancefloor and tonight would definitely score high marks. It was a sure relief from the usual drunken, languid looks from the wannabe scenesters in the main room upstairs vibe. The parties in the Pinky definitely have it going on with their own distinct personality.
So, BT's DJ-ing skills were minimal. The tracks would get played out without any real mixing from track to track, but then again we already suspected that. Good producers, even excellent ones like BT don't necessarily translate into good DJs (i.e. Timo Maas). For enthusiasm though, BT gets an A+. He was so cute and animated throughout his entire set, dancing and engaging himself and the crowd into a whooping frenzy. He started off the night with some nu skool breakbeats and then, started trancing out a little after 12am. He dropped signature BT tunes: Never Gonna Come Back Down, Dreaming and Godspeed. This is how most of us came to know BT and still admire him even though his DJ skills fell a little short. Although, his quality productions are only a part of his talents which include soundtracks for video games, movies and the Millennium Dome in London and creative collaborations with other talents including Paul van Dyk, Sasha, Madonna and Tori Amos, just to name a few. His most recent work with N-Sync may have raised a couple eyebrows. BT is looking to venture even further out into is the realm of hip-hop. He's come a long way baby. In a recent interview with Virginmega.com, BT said "the techy sort of progressive stuff that Timo and Sasha and John (Digweed) play I listen to but I've completely gone off the stuff Judge Jules and Paul Oakenfold play - it's just f**king diabolically bad."
BT's set ended by 1:30am and Terry Casey continued to rock the party with progressive house and breaks. Terry Casey's name has been around in the NYC scene, but this was to be another DJ first for me. He recently opened for Adam Freeland and from what I could hear; he is definitely someone to listen for in the coming days. During his set, the layers of tracks and the blend of tech-house-progressive-vocals were right on. It's not an easy task, but Terry did it was ease and a subtle flow that kept the rest of us bouncing way past our Tuesday night bedtimes. Remember the name, Terry Casey.
Virgin Mega
I caught up with him at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square New York, where only a month ago thousands of mourners gathered to the colossal makeshift memorials that had sprouted around the park. All those traces were gone, but still hundreds lined up to meet and greet Brian Transeau who was promoting the release of R&R (Rare and Remixed). BT was all grace and smiles, chatting it up pleasantly with eager fans and posing for photographs by request. Everybody found him to be friendly and not struck with stardom as sometimes the talented and famous can become.
At Centro-Fly, we entered at 11:45pm and surprisingly found BT already on the decks. This was an unusual but welcome Tuesday occurrence, as many have jobs to report to in the AM. While many other victims of the string of recent layoffs in New York since 9-1-1, were ready for a full-on night of dancing. The Pinky (downstairs at Centro-Fly) was packed with about 250+ party people. It was a great crowd with great energy and friendly faces with everybody getting their groove on. I usually determine the vibe by the smiling faces and the amount of eye contact that one can make as we dance together on the dancefloor and tonight would definitely score high marks. It was a sure relief from the usual drunken, languid looks from the wannabe scenesters in the main room upstairs vibe. The parties in the Pinky definitely have it going on with their own distinct personality.
So, BT's DJ-ing skills were minimal. The tracks would get played out without any real mixing from track to track, but then again we already suspected that. Good producers, even excellent ones like BT don't necessarily translate into good DJs (i.e. Timo Maas). For enthusiasm though, BT gets an A+. He was so cute and animated throughout his entire set, dancing and engaging himself and the crowd into a whooping frenzy. He started off the night with some nu skool breakbeats and then, started trancing out a little after 12am. He dropped signature BT tunes: Never Gonna Come Back Down, Dreaming and Godspeed. This is how most of us came to know BT and still admire him even though his DJ skills fell a little short. Although, his quality productions are only a part of his talents which include soundtracks for video games, movies and the Millennium Dome in London and creative collaborations with other talents including Paul van Dyk, Sasha, Madonna and Tori Amos, just to name a few. His most recent work with N-Sync may have raised a couple eyebrows. BT is looking to venture even further out into is the realm of hip-hop. He's come a long way baby. In a recent interview with Virginmega.com, BT said "the techy sort of progressive stuff that Timo and Sasha and John (Digweed) play I listen to but I've completely gone off the stuff Judge Jules and Paul Oakenfold play - it's just f**king diabolically bad."
BT's set ended by 1:30am and Terry Casey continued to rock the party with progressive house and breaks. Terry Casey's name has been around in the NYC scene, but this was to be another DJ first for me. He recently opened for Adam Freeland and from what I could hear; he is definitely someone to listen for in the coming days. During his set, the layers of tracks and the blend of tech-house-progressive-vocals were right on. It's not an easy task, but Terry did it was ease and a subtle flow that kept the rest of us bouncing way past our Tuesday night bedtimes. Remember the name, Terry Casey.
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