Monday, May 14, 2007

Cajjmere Wray & Stephan Grondin @ Stereo - May 5, 2007

How to get tickets was my main concern for this party, things have changed and one thing I don’t like is to arrive at Stereo with no tickets at all. If it is choosing between (a) going there with no assurance I will get in, and (b) not going at all, I have chosen (b) a couple of times already. Anyway, got my tickets two days previous to the party, nevertheless for Stephan Grondin I might have picked (a).

I was probably one of the first to arrive at Stereo, and stayed like that for a while. “Where is everyone?” I kept asking myself. It was like everybody was taking their time to come down, or maybe they were just trapped downstairs in the bar. One hour later and place was still empty, never mind that, the volume was already as if the main DJ had arrived.

Cajjmere Wray, excuse my ignorance but I had no idea who he was, or what type of music to expect from him. Asked around to see if someone knew the name of the first DJ, until I finally found someone that gave me the answer. At first I have to say I was lost with his music, I tried to understand what was going on, until I stopped trying and just let everything in.

The volume was way up for a small crowd, and the music was not really upbeat in order to make the few people around to move to the dance floor - music was a mix of everything, and several times I just stop dancing and looked up as if waiting for something else to happen. 4:00am and finally the people had started to arrive, and it didn’t take long for the floor to be “at capacity +.”

It had taken me this long to finally make up my mind about what I thought Cajjmere was doing. I might be wrong, but I believe he was taking us in a trip thru different eras of the house music, throwing some classic old beats, some knew stuff, tribal anthems, lots of vocals, some electro, but the most important thing was that he was progressively given us an introduction to what was to come. Good introduction, perhaps it could had been a lit bit more organized at the beginning, this way it wouldn’t had taken me this long to understand the initial journey for this evening. It would be interesting to see him as the main DJ of the evening, in other words, I super enjoy the last hour of his set.

It was a little bit passed 5:00am and the crowd was perfectly marinated for the passing of the torch. Not sure if this is what happened, but Grondin started with the same record Cajjmere ended, with a different twist, and even if it wasn’t that the case, what an incredible transition, not even in the Olympics you see this type of passing of fire.

I can comment on the people already, because whoever was there, stayed until super late. Who was there? Stereo was there, yes, the Stereo we have fallen in love with, the people that smile when you look at them, and make you feel like you are home. People with shirts on and without them, drag queens, geeks, electro boys, crazy girls, beautiful healthy males (borrowing the expression from this guy from Toronto I met during the night), guys with suits, first timers to the temple, Barbies, the Brazilo-Venezuelan couple and their Argentine friends, old friends. Believe me when I say Stereo was there.

Stephan Grondin used his magic to make a happy combo mixing up all the energy available in the dance floor, because no one was left untouched and nobody wanted to be left behind. Track after track of hard beats, “tribalisimos” for some, “sensuales” for others, and just “increibles” for me.

There are few Djs that are able to maintain such an incredible level of enthusiasm in the dance floor, and Grondin with his tunes is clearly one of them. Tribal melodies that were mixed in such a happy sensual fashion that left me with a big smile in my face. Just looked around and you could see similar smiles around.

Some vocals were given to the crowd, in a way only Grondin is able to delivery, but his speciality is to mix and remix those tunes so well that you don’t get tired of them, on the contrary, you want more and more. If we want more, Grondin give us more, and the never ending cycle only ends when our bodies tell us is enough.

The party to celebrate the release of the new CD, was unique and perhaps of the best sets I have heard from Grondin, and let me tell you, I’ve been many times in the dance floor while he has been spinning up there in the DJ booth. It was everything you expect from him and more, sexy, tribal, dark, delicious, “amazonicly” hot, savage, anyway you get the idea. People understood what Grondin did, and Grondin gave back to the floor his understanding of us.

Grondin, thank you for an unforgettable evening, and thank you people for being yourselves, if there is ever a movie about Stereo, make sure to mention this party.

I cannot forget to talk about the unbelievable party Mr. Danny Torrence had waiting for us down at Stereo Bar. I only stayed for 2 hours, not because I was tired, but because I had a previous engagement.

Great job these guys have, getting paid to do something they love so much, and we just love dancing because they are working.

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