Fractal Species in Review

Through the yellow-cast fog banks that lined the Gardiner, we were led us out of the metropolis, awash in the deafening bass emanating from Jeff/Tweak’s car stereo. A quick stop in Burlington to load up more gear proved to be incredibly surreal for me; Pat/Mind Grinder lives in a house with the same plan as the one I grew up in. This comes as no surprise considering the prevalence of cookie cutter homes in the sprawling suburban neighbourhoods of the west end, and yet, I’ve never seen a home exactly like the memory of my own. From there, we made our way up to the highway and into the somnolent town of Guelph, headed towards Fractal Species.

The event was held in the basement of an Odd Fellows building. In my travels across Canada I have seen their name before, but never knew what they were about (though I figured they were some sort of creepy Masonite-type organization). After reading the Wikipedia entry I’ve linked, I discovered my suspicions were incorrect. At any rate, it worked as a venue for this small charity event.

Arriving on the scene I found a party in full bloom. The space may not have been large, but people were up and active, sweating away in the misty sauna-like atmosphere, ablaze with spot lighting, struck by a strobe and a green laser, and vibrated by a pumping sound system. The side room was adorned with mounds of pillows, gear strewn across a table at front, and black-light paintings by a local artist. I never had the chance to meet him, but really enjoyed his organic style – especially the piece with the animals in the forest canopy and the dark gaze of a wolf staring from between the spires (too bad the pictures didn’t come out). With giant fuzzy animals sprawled across the wood-panelled room the effect was complete. Stargazer and friends really went all out working with the space to create a very nice environment for a night of trance!

Pat and Jeff kick out the jams as Rogue Electric Surgery (now known as The Industrial Spies). Sometime after midnight they went to throw down some ambient experimentations in the chill room, but the sound bleed from the main room was too much for the little space. Instead, they opted to assault the small space with some heavy techno, including a killer Head Like a Hole remix that went off like a firecracker. I missed the end of their session, but apparently the equipment froze and they said fuck it. No wonder, with the amount of moisture in the air! I caught up with them outside on the temple steps, where I later witnessed the party sprawl out on to the street as a frisbee was tossed around. This wasn’t to last, however, as the cops made a visit to tell everyone to keep a low profile.

Back inside, Dharma Lab rocked the joint with their interesting hybrid of DJing and live action. Heavy psytrance beats formed the seething underbelly of their sound, while high-end melodies and crazy noises were improvised on-the-fly. This was, lamentably, the first occasion I really had to pay close attention to their set. I really enjoyed the keyboard jamming, snapped several photos, and took a few videos to send on to them afterwards.

I was all set to play close to four, as the venue began to empty out. Shortly before I headed downstairs to hook up my gear, one of the crew handed me an envelope and said “this is for you.” I asked, “should I open it now or later?” Not knowing exactly what this was about, I opted to save myself a surprise for the journey home.

I had another interesting set of equipment woes to overcome at this event. The left channel from the second deck was dead–something I realized after mixing the second song in. In another daring example of hasty equipment substitution, I snagged another mixer that was lying around, and re-routed the bad signal. It was a two-stage crossing, with the assistance of Andrew (who was in charge of the excellent lighting system). First we hooked one deck up through the main mixing board, and I threw on a long track–Lucas and Aphid Moon’s collaboration OK People–to give us time to work. It was highly treacherous to be fiddling with the power bar beneath that table–everything was covered with a slick layer of rave goo the likes of which I haven’t seen for ages. Somehow I managed to avoid getting electrocuted, and a smooth transfer was made!

Fractal Species was another show where I was very glad to have brought out two full binders. I had no real idea what I would be playing up until about half an hour before I went on. A friend had been asking for old school, and I had wracked my brain to come up with something that would work. I ended up opening with Solar from Pigs in Space, a killer from 1998 at 150 BPM. From there I gradually lightened the mood, as it was time to push through full-on territory into the morning space. It really brightened up when I had the chance to play the excellent Altom & Wizzy Noise collaboration Fifty-Fifty, soon followed by the live remix of Magnetik by Protoculture (requested), down through to Ticon – The Analogue H, Andromeda – The Dreamer, one from the new Sonic Cube, some Rai (as always), and into lush progressive morning trance at 128 BPM. Three hours and 22 BPM later, we reached the end as the cops came back, knocked at the front door, and politely said “it’s time.”

Sometime before eight I was on the road, with the kind assistance of two friends who had made the trek up from Buffalo. I would have been stranded otherwise, so big thanks for that! Once we hit the highway I decided to see what was in the mysterious envelope. It turns out the whole crew had put together a thank you card, in appreciation of my time and effort spent coming out to Guelph and pitching in for a good cause. I must say–this is easily the nicest thing any crew has done for me in all my years of DJing. It was way better than being paid!

Friday night in Guelph was a great time. It was often remarked during the night that Guelph has a big enough electronic music following to throw a few events, but few are willing to bother. I’m glad Stargazer & company put the effort into this night, as it was a real success. Perhaps it will inspire others to dust themselves off and invest some time and energy into forging interesting experiences in the region.

The other good pieces of news I have to share from the aftermath of the event is that the charity drive was a complete success! Fractal Species raised over $750 for Wyndham House, a local shelter. I must say, Stargazer and friends put on a great event! Good luck with the next one!