Mord Fustang concert and Brooklyn Nets game

I'll admit that this entry is being posted a little later than usual, but I was in Boston this weekend and I've been distracted by learning to use Ableton. Anyways, I went to a Mord Fustang concert on Friday, April 12th at a club called Pacha. I've been thinking about this, and it's a little weird to call it a "concert", because it's more of a DJ set. Regardless, Mord Fustang was the main act, and after listening to him at home and as the opener for Feed Me back in February, I decided that he was a must-see.

Given that this was my fifth concert in New York (5 concerts in 3.5 months, crazy), I knew the drill, and got to Pacha at about 11:40 pm. One of the amazing things about taking part in the nightlife of New York is seeing the sheer number of people out and about in the city at 11:40 pm. It's a far cry from the sleepy suburb that is Shoreline, WA, my hometown. The first thing that I noticed was that there weren't as many people at the club, because Mord Fustang is still up-and-coming compared to Knife Party or Madeon. I was happy to see that the second floor was open, as there is a good vantage point of the DJ booth and its not usually as crowded as the main dance floor.

The opening DJ's selection ranged from good electro house to appalling selections such as "Gangnam Style", which I was hoping had faded away months ago. I guess we're not quite there yet. He also had the bad habit of yelling out "hands up!" or "New York!" very often, which got annoying quickly. I'm not opposed to a well-timed vocal sample or shout to pump up the crowd, but if you use something like that more than twice in your set, it loses its impact.

Soon enough, Mord Fustang took the stage and played a great 2-hour set. He's a mysterious Estonian producer who still hasn't revealed his real name and produces a unique style of music that combines a few genres. Many of his songs have the pronounced kick drum pattern of progressive house combined with the loud, energetic synths of electro house. Others are even harder to classify, mixing in elements of dubstep or even moombahton. No matter what his music is classified as, it's all awesome, and his set on Pacha's excellent speakers really brought that to life. The set even featured a remix of The White Stripes' hit "Seven Nation Army".

From the second floor, good view of the mystery man himself, Mord Fustang.

Blurry, from the second floor.

From the main dance floor, near the stage.

The highlight for me was the heavily featured "Lick The Rainbow", which is my favorite song of his, and has a really unique sound with a cool bass line that was awesome on the speaker system. His remix of LMFAO's "Sexy and I Know It" was a surprising hit, and a good lead-in to a final mashup of many of his other songs to finish the set. All in all, it was a great show and I look forward to hearing what he produces in the future.

I bought a Snickers bar on the way home (because at 3:15 am, I couldn't resist), and didn't get to sleep until a little after 4. Somehow I managed to wake myself up for an eventful Arsenal match that ended with a great result. The rest of the weekend was filled with teaching myself to use Ableton and watching The Masters.

However, the next day I attended a Brooklyn Nets game through Northeastern's Co-op Connections department. The tickets were subsidized heavily, and I am very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to go to a game at the great price of only $15. It's been a long time since I've been to a basketball game, and while the Nets (or the Celtics) can't come close to filling the gaping hole in my heart left by the departure of the Sonics, it was nice to attempt to get back into the NBA, at least for a night.

Walking in.

It's certainly a unique building.

"BROOKLYN PRIDE!" Or something like that.

The Nets, unfortunately, decided that they needed to play music during every one of their offensive possessions, which is blasphemy to me. I went to watch basketball, not hear clips of songs playing. Isn't there enough of that during halftime and timeouts? Besides that, it was a great experience. The Barclays Center is a funny looking building, but it's a very nice arena and the Nets managed to pull through with a comeback win. The end of the game was very exciting, as Nets forward Tyshawn Taylor hit a clutch three-pointer with about 22 seconds left to put the Nets up by 4. That essentially sealed the win for the Nets.

This weekend, I'm hoping to attend day three of the NFL Draft, which shouldn't be as crowded as the first two days and will still be a cool experience for a lifelong football fan. I'll be wearing blue and green that day for sure, 12th man stand up!