Uffie is ready to… what?
Last night at Tapas in Newport Beach, Orange County's hipster contingent turned out in middling numbers ($15?! On a Monday?! Outrageous!) to gawk at Uffie, the sassy Ed Banger recording artist/fashionista whose best-known track is the lad-baitingly lewd “Ready to Fuck.” Unfortunately, Uff only performed two songs (including “Ready to Fuck”), and even those sounded like they could've been lip-synched.
I should've felt ripped off, but the DJs on the bill brought it strong. DJ Dan-O, a bearded dude in a baseball cap and T-shirt (no, really) spun some choice cuts, ranging from '80s electro to marauding, rough house to flamboyantly gimmicky dirty disco and acid-rave anthems (was that a remix of Josh Wink's “Higher State of Consciousness”? I think it was). A series of strident bangers was capped off with Daft Punk's “Technologic.”
Gina Turner followed and impressed the hell out of me. The 23-year-old LA disc jockey overcame a shaky start (her software glitched out during a track with the immortal line “Let's get this party started right.” Killing irony there.). During the silence, some in the crowd started singing the chorus to Justice Vs. Simian Mobile Disco's ubiquitous club hit “We Are Your Friends.” Miraculously, I restrained myself from going on a killing spree.
Gina Turner played some real 'ead bangers.
With the power returned, Turner bust out some hyper-sexual, pneumatic techno and disco as well suited for baby-making as it was for dancing. She smoothly made the transition from DJ Shadow's “Organ Donor” to Matthew Dear's “Dog Days” while in-between dropping a lot of bass-heavy 140-bpm tracks that reminded me of my '90s raving days. Some of it was thrombosis-inducing, but in a good way. You could feel the music's girth in your forehead veins. The volume in Tapas could've been toned down a bit without hampering the festive mood. If you plan to go there , bring earplugs.
LA's Skeet Skeet came on the decks and immediately went into party-rocking mode with Deee-lite's “Groove Is in the Heart,” before shifting into some Death From Above 1979's “Sexy Results (MSTRKRFT Remix),” Go! Team and a remix of Jackson 5's “I Want You Back.” He knew what he was doing and the crowd ate up his set.
This event (thrown by Discoteca) featured more photographers than dancers and more people outside smoking than both combined. Something was wrong with this picture.
