Adam Freeland @ Syrup (01/08/03)
Reported by Tristan Saturday, August 2 2003
I’ve only ever bought one breaks record, coincidentally off Adam Freeland’s Marine Parade label, but that was only for the Gabriel and Dresden Mix on the B side. From a personal perspective, break beat lacks a fair degree of emotion and feeling. It’s good party music but always seems forgettable as soon as you walk out the door. But from all reports if there’s one man who could change my opinion, it is the reported instigator of the breakbeat phenomenon, Adam Freeland. So I figure if I’m going to go to a breaks gig it should be at least from the best that breakbeat has to offer. So I do a bit of a research about Mr Freeland, I download his latest tunes and they’re not too shabby, I nod my head to We Want Your Soul while putting the acapella of it high on my shopping list. Maybe the night could actually bearable.
Maybe it would have been without the crowd. Anyone remotely close to Salamanca knew there was a breakbeat gig happening and a big one at that. Partly due to the atmosphere splurging from Syrup but more so because of the stench coming from the breakbeat fans. Perhaps Freshly Breaked might consider lowering the price next time to allow these lepers to afford their annual wash. Syrup isn’t the cleanest of venues you’ll ever come across but the majority of breakbeat fans would be more hygienic if they started living in a rotting corpse. The only way my immaculately groomed self was able to fit in was to rip and shred all my clothing recently purchased fourth hand and marinate myself in burnt flesh.
The only saving factor was that Freeland’s style appeals to a cross section of dance fans including everyone from progressive to tech to trance. Well, what were Trance fans, because they’re now Freeland groupies because they stopped stuffing handfuls of pills down their throats and Adam showed them the light. Adam Freeland wields so much influence over the dance music industry that since he pointed out that trance fans were so fucked up on drugs they didn’t realise how shit trance was, the consumption of ecstasy has decreased globally by 94.2% and nearly all major trance producers have now switched to producing breakbeat. Or more correctly attempting to produce breakbeat. Oh well I know I for one, went to Syrup hoping for a breakbeat epiphany after crying myself to sleep thinking about a life wasted on trance. Thanks for the revelation Adam!!! Though it does seem strange considering breakbeat owes its entire rise to current popularity due its use originally in trance breakdowns.
Luring one of the world’s biggest DJs to Syrup wasn’t enough for Freshly Breaked, and they promised MC’s, extra lighting and an unnamed special guest on the night. I freely admit to knowing nothing about MCs so I’m not going to comment too much about them, except to say they did a good job of drinking and smoking. I actually didn’t even notice there was an MC until I wondered what the fuck the big guy was doing just standing behind SMC for his whole set. I thought Scott was just playing lots of Roots Manuva or something. I’m guessing thought that most of the work done by the MCs was done before I got there and after I left for Gnosis, Turner, the special guest and Jamm.
Personally, Mr Freeland seems a bit of a novelty, with the strange lyrics, the grungy bootlegs, the moody presence, the grandpa clothes and the antagonistic quotes forcing me to wonder where all this angst stems from. I suppose though it doesn’t really matter and judging from the pungent aroma of the dance floor, most of the plebs had more than enough angst to make Adam feel at home.
After opening with IIs - Music complete with huge guitar line, Freeland went on to use the FX well over his set indulging particularly in the warp, and the flange when isolating the mid, though I can’t remember hearing him scratch at all though. A strange fellow, he would work away behind the decks for a few tracks with his moody glum expression then suddenly burst into thirty seconds of fist pumping exhilaration as though his Ritalin had just worn off. As expected his skills were pretty special with the way he rode the pitch just back and forth until in about ten seconds he locked it in a demonstration of this. He used the third deck to play his We Want Your Soul acapella before playing the actual tune much later and then reusing the acapella later on.
His well known attachment to grunge and rock music made the use of the original Smells Like Teen Spirit entirely predictable but did manage send the crowd back to their no doubt tenuous attachment to Seattle and their scungy roots. He worked the CDJs well and his using the cue button as a sampler did allow me enough warning to escape the dance floor before the Killing In The Name turned the dance floor into something reminiscent of the Big Day Out (though unfortunately no-one was crushed to death ). Clearly the crowd enjoyed it and the pleasing thing about it was that none of their enthusiasm was due in anyway to drugs, unlike those ignorant trance gurners. Finishing his three hours with some melodic and some actually really deep breakbeat, it was a welcome change from the ferocious treble laden breaks I’ve been subjected to in the past.
Coming from a small club event one night to supporting one of the biggest internationals currently, Adam Turner would have been forgiven for being somewhat nervous , but I thought he did a pretty good job. Not trying to compete with Freeland, Turner played a more open style of breakbeat complimented by his scratching and complete with the new breaks mix of Underworld – Cowgirl as well as Moguai – Get On.
The lighting for the event was a highlight with a good job done considering the layout of the room. This was a big night for Syrup and for Freshly Breaked and so good I nearly enjoyed it. Seriously though it was a great effort by Freshly Breaked to get such a high profile DJ and producer to Hobart and the large turn out showed the local appreciation. It was a great night for the trainspotters and DJ geeks, and an even better night for anyone who just enjoys a damn good party.
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