Flying Skulls

This show sort of just fell in my lap. My friend Christie called me down to the Madrone Lounge on Wednesday night to see a free show. This is great news for a broke guy. The Madrone is a pretty stylish place, decorated in what I would call skater chic, the art and design sensibilities that pervade the Lower Haight neighborhood where I live. It rides the line between expensive and divey, adorned with a rotating exhibit of pricey local paintings, a gorgeous carved wood bar, and an array of infused vodkas, but also has homey couches, cheap drink specials and many free music shows. It reflects the mixed crowd that lives in and around the neighborhood.

I checked the Madrone calendar and found that The Flying Skulls were playing. I had never heard of them, but the free price and the words "nu school electro breaks" used in their description sounded interesting enough for me to take the four block walk down the hill.

I thought they'd start playing right at 10pm. Silly rabbit. I forgot to notice the "and friends" after their name in the calendar. A couple of really good djs played before them. One guy opened and closed the evening with some dance floor friendly tracks spun from his laptop/vinyl Final Scratch setup. I enjoyed his tracks and selections. He started the show slow and groovy, and ended the night with uptempo dance floor friendly tracks - the only ones that really got anyone on the dance floor for the evening.

Another fine gentleman rocked an Ableton Live set with some crazy uptempo beats. He was on fire with his PC-less knob & button station, twirlin' and queuein', fadin' & groovin'. But still only a smattering of dancers.

Only the truly foolish will try and judge the merits of music. But I sometimes remember that one objective metric that can sometimes say a lot about a DJ. If the music is uptempo and there are people ready and willing to dance.... then why aren't they?

Around midnight or so, the Flying Skulls came on. Three guys, one with a keyboard, and two others with some random electronics. From the buzz I had heard on the street, I was expecting them to blow my mind.

They didn't though. And the guy that was buzzing about them actually got arrested that night. Go figure. This is why one must see a group for one's self.

I enjoyed the music. There was groove to it for sure. To me it sounded like if the Gorillaz made a full length movie, this would be the background music. It had a slow movement to it, more lively than ambient, but mostly not dance worthy. The crowd reacted appropriately in my estimation. Stand with your drink and bob your head along with the band.

The DJ that followed them proved the crowd was indeed prepared and willing to dance. He threw on some soulful tracks that got everyone going.

So the question is... If the crowd doesn't dance, is it a success?

I suppose that depends on the genre and the expectation of the audience. But somehow in this case it felt like it mattered.