Five dollars won’t normally get you too far in this economic climate. You could get a foot-long sub, maybe. Or a three-pack of ankle socks.
This past Friday, though, One Voice, with the help of A&O, provided Northwestern students with a considerably more exciting reason to spend five bucks. The two student organizations cooperated to organize a benefit show featuring mash-up artists Clash Gordon and The Hood Internet, with popular indie-hop DJ RJD2 in between.
All manners of thrill-seekers, from b-boys to hipsters with neon-framed shades to slightly bewildered looking friends of mash-up fanatics, filled the Louis Room early in the evening. Their motives for coming varied — many came for RJD2’s big name act, but some were particularly drawn to the student groups running the show. “I am supporting One Voice; I liked their concert last year,” Weinberg junior Rachel Park said.
Clash Gordon, a.k.a. Gordon Ferris (Bienen ‘08), started the night off with a bang, calling all attendees sitting in the chairs lining the room to get up, “unless [they] got an injury.” His set consisted of bass-heavy, inventive mash-ups, with a little scratching thrown in. It wasn’t necessarily the most technically proficient DJing, but the energy and crowd response were undeniable, particularly when instantly recognizable tunes, like “Eye of the Tiger” and “Push It” made their way through the mix. Nevertheless, his stage presence was conspicuously lacking — Weinberg freshman Sam Wheeler said, “Overall it was pretty good, but they needed a solid figure that the crowd could relate to.”
Shortly after Clash Gordon left the stage, RJD2, a.k.a. Ramble John Krohn (a real name arguably as cool as his pseudonym), took the stage. The music started with the hypnotic chimes of “Someone’s Second Kiss,” which quickly gave way to the thoroughly funky “1976.” RJD2’s set was overall considerably more cerebral and nuanced than the previous act, with fewer thumping club beats than Clash Gordon and more subtle, melodic grooves. This is not to say his set lacked thrust — heavy-hitters like “Exotic Talk” and “Ghostwriter” moved many a body — but the off-kilter breaks and occasionally bizarre obscure samples, along with the surreal projected video imagery accompanying the music, had a markedly different effect on the crowd than did any of the other music of the night, with less wild romping and more relaxed grooving with the music.
McCormick senior Kevin Greene saw this kind of response coming. “I think Clash Gordon was a good crowd-starter. RJD2 is kind of too slow for this crowd. People are so used to Girl Talk nowadays, and all they want are quick mashups that are thirty seconds and move to the next song but still on the same beat, and like, Britney Spears mixed with Radiohead, that’s all they want nowadays.” Greene said he was a fan of RJD2’s style, but felt the crowd was a little too unfamiliar with RJD2’s music to appreciate it fully.
RJD2 closed his set with the epic funk track, “Good Times Roll (Part 2),” but naturally, the bounds of a “last song” are ambiguous with a DJ set, and he managed to sneak in some other melodies and samples into the song, ending strong.
The Hood Internet closed the night, playing to a considerably smaller crowd than the previous two acts, but their dance-oriented mash-ups still kept everyone moving. They were technically cleaner than Clash Gordon, but somewhat less daring, with their set largely dominated by four-on-the-floor beats and no scratching. The music nevertheless took a strong hold on the crowd, a large portion of whom had to be escorted off the stage after rushing on during The Hood Internet’s final song.
When asked about how they felt the sold-out show went, Weinberg senior and A&O Director of Concerts Forrest Wickman said, “The crowd response was extremely positive. We had people crowdsurfing, and singing along.” Weinberg junior Aditi Srinivasan, the programming chair for One Voice, agreed. “I think it was amazing. I was really happy with the turnout. I think people had a really good time.”
“Our campaign this year is based around primary education for children,” Srinivasan said, concerning this year’s beneficiaries, UNICEF and By The Hand. “I’m really happy people came out and supported us, and had a good time.” Well, with a five-dollar ticket to a dance party with the proceeds going to two good causes, it’d be tough for people not to.