Virgin

MSTRKRFT (read as “Master-Kraft”) is an electronic group out of Toronto. This year at the Toronto Virgin Music Fest they replaced SebastiAn, when he missed his flight and they didn’t disappoint. The group came together in 2005 and consists of JFK (Jesse F. Keeler) and Al-P (Alex Puodziukas). The group has remixed over 30 songs of various genres including the latest remix of John Legend’s song “Green Light”.

On Friday I attended Fist Of God, which is the official name for the MSTRKRFT tour as well as their upcoming album, which is expected to drop in January of 2009. The stop I was at had Felix Cartal opening up, but there will be various openers throughout the tour such as DJ A-Trak, DJ Aoki, LA Riots, Congorock, DJ Assault and the aforementioned Felix Cartal. Blueprint Events, which is known as one of Vancouver’s best electronic promoters for a minute now, was hosting the event as well as the after party.

The event took place at Celebrities Night club and was fully packed, in fact this show could have easily taken place at Commodore Ballroom to accommodate more folks, but nonetheless the vibes were good as people were ready to dance their fuckin’ asses off. The duo came on at around 1am and they immediately had the crowd going crazy, as their sound is fairly distinct with that 4/4 beat and heavy heavy synths.

Like usual they played a range of stuff including their own remixes, from the Presets to Dem Franchise Boyz to Cupid to Daft Punk to Usher to Kylie Minogue and throwing in stuff from their first album as well. The set was filled with energy throughout and both MSTRKRFT and the crowd seemed to be feeding off of one another and it was non-stop. The set ended at about 2:30am, but an encore had JFK continue to rock the house til well past 3am. If you left this party not soaked from head to toe in sweat, then you my friend were not partying hard enough. Overall one word can describe this set. EPIC!

Thanks to Alvaro from Blueprint Events for hooking me up with the opportunity to attend the show. For more of their upcoming events check out www.blueprintevents.ca. For those out in New York on October 10th, MSTRKRFT will be playing at Webster Hall, but they’ll also be at the New Era Flagship store as they have a New Era collaboration that’s dropping.

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David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

Here are the rest of their tour stops:

Fist of God tour dates:

09-26 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre (with A-Trak, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-27 San Diego, CA - House of Blues (with Steve Aoki, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre (with Aoki, Felix Cartal, Congorock)
09-30 Pomona, CA - Glass House (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-01 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-02 Seattle, WA – Showbox (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia – Celebrities (with Felix Cartal)
10-04 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Exchange Event Center (with Felix Cartal)
10-06 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-07 Chicago, IL - Metro (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-08 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-09 Columbus, OH 0 Boma (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall (with Felix Cartal, Congorock, DJ Assault
10-11 Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-12 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-13 Boston, MA - The Estate (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
10-15 Baltimore, MD - Redrock (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-16 Charlotte, NC - Forum (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-17 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-18 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade Music Park (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-19 Memphis, TN - Hard Rock Café Memphis (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-22 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-23 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-24 Dallas, TX - House of Blues (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-25 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience: The Tenth Ritual
10-27 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-28 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT - Salt Palace Convention Center (with Felix Cartal)
11-01 Las Vegas, NV - Fabulous Festival

This video clip here from Perth signals the end of my whirlwind tour of Australia V Festivals. First came Sydney, then Gold Coast, followed by Melbourne and we wound up in Perth - and Perth rocked, as you can see. There literally were fireworks. Duran Duran put on an amazing show and had everyone singing along (and yes the girls got their la-las out for Girls On Film), the crowd went nuts for CSS and The Presets while the Smashing Pumpkins and Queens Of The Stone Age took Australia by the scruff of its neck and shook it for all it’s worth. But just think - next year this could be you. Not only will we send you to Sydney V Festival, we’ll also send you to Toronto V Festival in Canada, Baltimore in the US and Chelmsford in the UK. And it’s you that’ll be filling these pages on music.virgin.com with all your adventures home and away. Not only do we want to hear all about the Virgin Festivals around the world - we want to hear about the music scene in your neck of the woods all year round. So this is your chance to be the music journalist you always wanted to be. How? Just enter the Global VPass competition and the world of V is yours for the taking…

So what was the best thing on the menu at the VFestivals in Australia? Duran Duran? The Presets? CSS? Queens Of The Stone Age? Cut Copy? The fashion? The virgins? The nutters on the Gold Coast? Well - watching those video clips and then this clip here from Perth, I think the answer is as obvious as my burdgeoning pot belly (the essential festival look this summer for the lads)… chips, chips, chips. Mmm, Simon, Billy Josh or chips? CHIPS!

So how did Perth handle this year’s VFestival? They took it by the teeth, shook it like a rag doll, spat it out, danced round it, set it alight and worshipped it. All this in one park in the middle of the city. No expanse of green fields, no showground stadiums - just one big park, three stages in cosy and convenient proximity and a full and pumping Virgin Mobile Venue tent (on a parr with Sydney’s impressive standard I reckon) with a little Duran Duran, Smashing Pumpkins, Queens Of The Stone Age, Presets, Cut Copy, Roisin Murphy, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Modest Mouse and more thrown in to the lethal mix. This was my first time in this part of Australia so excuse me if I look a little overwhelmed - I thought it was quiet and deserted on the West coast? I needed a few bourbon and cokes to get me up to speed (did I mention that before? Bourbon? Coke? In a can? Genius! I think that makes me an Australian chav) but still you crazy Perth guys left this seasoned festival go-er looking a little wide-eyed and innocent. Check out the first in a series of VFestival Perth video clips, you’ll get the drift…

Enmore Theatre
23rd June 2008

That’s what the sign says: Welcome to RockEnmore. Some clever sausage has embellished the sign with a little spray paint, and being an Enmoron (?), I am thankful the folk of Marrickville Council have left it that way.

That being said, the Presets certainly did rock the Enmore. No mean feat for a dance act either. We caught the end of the Cassette Kids which had the crowd so primed & ready that when Presets came out, they were sweaty & salivating.

The set was well laid out, moving through crowd favourites (Steamworks and Down Down Down stood out for me) then giving everyone a chance to catch their breath with just a couple of slower tunes before going off -and I mean ‘going off’ – again with (and I honestly can’t think of a better adjective here) a rockin’ Eucalyptus along with, of course, the hits everyone is so desperate to hear. My People literally had the place jumping AND in unison, which from the back of the dance floor was a delight to watch. When they came back out for an encore, complete with laser light show (seriously transported back to an early Underworld gig or, in some unfortunate corner of my mind- Club Troppo) what else are they going to play but I Go Hard, I Go Home. And they did. And so did everyone else. It made their awesome set at Sydney V Festival look like a f**king tea party. Not bad for a Monday night.

I don’t know whether it was Julian’s mesmerising fluoro pink suit jacket or Kim thrashing away on the drums in yet another daggy jumper (where DOES he find them?), but the Presets are watchable as well as listenable. They seem to attract to a broader demographic than your average electro act– the obvious influences are there, but cleverly used and appeal to those of us who haven’t been to a gig like this since New Order or Underworld many many moons ago, as well as the younger dance crowd. But unlike these acts, the Presets sound even better live than recorded.

I’m still comping to grips with the sea of camera phones, their glows illuminating the crowd like lighters held aloft at a G’nR concert when they play November Rain. Sure, I love to take pics at gigs too. Chosing to record THE WHOLE concert, presumably to capture the memory of a concert you were at so that you can re-live it on You Tube as you were too busy recording it to have any memory of the actual concert - does elude me somewhat.

We aren’t a nation who traditionally produces much in the way of big hit dance/electro acts (hence the oft heard comment ‘they’re so good – I thought they were English’) but with the Presets leading the way for the current wave with the likes of PNau, we can finally step up to the plate.

Check out PaulTCowan’s Flickr photostream for more Presets pics.