Krushed

A near-capacity crowd greeted DJ Krush's midnight set at Studio on K Road on Friday night. I went along with a friend of mine, not exactly sure what to expect, knowing the Tokyo-based DJ and producer more by reputation than by his music. Krush has been around since forever, (along with Massive Attack and EBTG he was a name to conjure with when I was still at school ten years ago). It seems that he's remixed just about everybody. So I was curious and, I hope, open-minded enough to accept whatever Krush dished out.

DJ Krush

Darkness and crushing basslines was what he served up, and very skilfully done, too. This was hip-hop, Jim, but not as we know it in New Zealand. Few vocal tracks, and nary a melody in sight. For about 2 hours, Krush surfed a dangerous wave that threatened to tip over the edge into drum and bass, but was pulled back from the brink at the last moment. It seemed to me that Mr Krush was playing his own little joke on the crowd, seeing how close he could push the jungle barrier without crashing through it. For most of the party people there, it was an exciting ride.

The set ended with Krush getting his photo taken by one of his crew (Japanese culture profers certain obligations), before returning to the decks for a short encore of breaks-oriented soul: providing the most melodic moments of the night.

Like Kid Koala a few weeks earlier, DJ Krush is an ace pilot of his three turntables and effects rack, and he reminded us kiwis that while we have many skilled DJs in this country, there is a yawning gap between the merely skilled and the truly great. What was most satisfying was that his set made great musical sense, from overwhelming passages of cut up breakbeats and scratching to a couple of abstract and ambient moments which flirted with sound-sculpture. DJ Krush-san, arigato gozaimasu!