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Sep 25, 02
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bad-ass female junglist from NYC
DJ EMPRESS returns!!!
skunkrock - triadd tues oct 8th at automatic (lotus here's ill-esha's review of empress' vancity debut, from junglist.com: DJ Empress (w/ Matty, Jay-Auto, Presha & MC Effect) September 25 @ Lotus Sound Lounge, 422 Abbott St, Vancouver “It sounds like a pet store!” exclaimed my friend Lisa to me; I looked around and had to ask her to repeat herself amidst the loud barking noises emitting from nearly every person in the room. This was one of many similar moments that night as crowds gathered at Vancouver’s top jungle night, “Automatic” at the Lotus Sound Lounge, to hear for the first time the sounds of New York’s own DJ Empress (Groundscore, Skunkrock). The night started out with a fine, steppin’ set from recent Ottawa transplant DJ Presha; he got the crowd rollin’ with some recent techstep favourites. Next up were residents Jay-Auto and Matty, both longtime fixtures in the Vancouver scene. (Matty has gained recent acclaim with his upcoming releases on Dune; himself and Mark Soo make up Quadra, and you can listen to their tracks on Drum n Bass Arena.) The crowd was already getting pumped, barking away. Matty played several of his own tracks, in particular an excellently crafted downtempo number, and the crowd went nuts when Jay mixed Teebee’s “Future Prophecies” into Andy C and Shimon’s dancefloor killer “Bodyrock”. The bar was filling up, and looked even more packed than I’d seen it in awhile. One amazing thing about drum n bass special events in Vancouver is the variety of people they bring out. Here you had your stereotypical “junglist type As” with black hoodies and baseball caps, your “type Bs” with their elegant clothes, pouts and trainspotting stance; your hip hop kids curious for a different kind of show. Your straight-arrow types in their button-up shirts, your beat-loving hippies spiralling all over the dancefloor. When Empress took the stage it seemed some of all types shoved to the front to see just what this diminutive dark-haired lass would do. In particular I noticed a large number of girls, wide-eyed, noses pressed against the DJ booth to check out this sister in action. As I expected (I’ve played with Empress before at her night in New York City), she proceeded to devastate the floor with her hard, driving beats. Playing tons of white labels and promos, all of that slamming hard sound popularized by labels like BC Recordings and Renegade Hardware, I don’t think the city quite knew what hit them. I was impressed when she dropped in a favourite of mine from a couple of years ago, Ram Trilogy’s “Human Future”; she also rinsed out “Warp 2” – Marcus Intalex, “Squid” - )EIB(, and a fantastic new plate called “Think” – I’m not sure if it was some Dylan bizness?? – which got a rewind. Also rewound was Andy C & Shimon’s “Orient Express”. She played one of my personal favourites, “Gene Sequence” by Kemal & Rob Data. I left just as she was winding into )EIB(‘s “Synthetic Sister”. On the whole, a highly satisfying night. Personally, I would have liked to hear a bit more variety, maybe some Hospital or Creative Source, but Empress has a distinctive, driving style that brought the floor to its knees and gave a distinct flavour to the entire night. Her mixing was smooth, sharp and solid, pushing the crowd on relentlessly. Local MC Effect also had some pleasing moments throughout, even freestyling about the multiple martinis my drunken companions were holding. The scene out here is definitely growing, and Empress provided yet another great time in a series of many recently. Make sure to check out my upcoming article on the Vancouver scene for more information about “Automatic”, other weeklies and Vancouver’s best DJs and producers! -ill-esha 
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