STEPHAN BODZIN
event: REVOLVER
venue: SCALA, LONDON UK
what we think: 'BROKE MY CHIN ON THE FLOOR' IMPRESSIVE
September 26 ,2008
by Kid Dub
Event: Revolver
Venue: Scala, London
written by Faris Armstrong
One can only describe Stephan Bodzin as the mad scientist of techno. His music speaks the part and he certainly looks it. This maniacal petite man with a bald head , glasses and white gloves come to the stage and starts tweaking everything – making his last minute adjustments. Deepgroove end their set on a high and get an applause from Bodzin and look humbled by it.
The mad scientist grabs his ‘wand’ generating a a growl-like blurt of a stab masturbating it almost creating varied pulses that get the crowd into excitement. Beats kick in and crowd is totally at his mercy. This is an awesome show and its only 10 seconds into it. Bodzin puts a much needed visual injection into his show let me rephrase that – he literally stabs this visual injection right into you and without knowing almost taunting every producer out there saying ‘this is how I do it – I’m showing it to you!!’.
His visual aid is very simple a small video camera placed right above his main weapon in this live show – his Jazz Mutant Lemur controller. Right behind him is his display of everything he is doing live. What makes this show different is that he is not hiding behind his laptop but rather displaying most of what he is doing – bridging that gap between the live performer and the audience.
His first unrecognizable track plays out and builds and you can see Bodzin generating a noisy hiss that builds on top of his track and the crowd are going into a frenzy. The mad scientist then throws his hands in the air , the floodlights are fully on and all I can see are hands in the air right across the room. The drop. The room is now one.
All you can hear is a massive roar from the audience & Bodzin knows he owns the night.
For the next 1& half hours we are treated to a total sonic-haemorrhaging. Most of the tracks played are totally unrecognizable - perhaps an indication of future Bodzin releases? Its not long until his most recent release Bremen OST makes an appearance.
A much needed calm is injected into his set after hammering it out for half the duration. Things turn interesting here as some problems become apparent but he demonstrates patience. It soon becomes apparent though that after a few glitches and split second gaps of silence that something bad is happening and it is only getting worse.
And it does. Bremen hangs in the middle its build and Bodzin surrenders to the fact that the show must come to halt. There is no silence though – just a low hum as Bremen hangs on a single note –I do have to add; it sounds pretty cool.
Despite what is going in the audience is strong on Bodzin’s side and hands come into the air again and cheers right across the room when all of a sudden the Bremen kicks back in Loud and strong and a frenzy erupts!!!
Our mad scientist then makes up for this ‘flaw’ by indulging in some totally improvised moments playing with everything on his table – showing us everything he is capable of. Even with this little mid-set ‘event’, this is a flawless show. I am totally entertained. I am actually annoyed with the plethora of dj’s who want to impress us with their ‘live’ sets and don't deliver any standard. Bodzin creates a standard of live performance unmatched by most in the techno industry.
Bodzin’s latest Rekorder release marks the end of his show. He carries it up and away builds and builds and builds. I have just endured 1 and a half hours of sheer madness and loved every second of it.
The mad scientist walks off stage with the audience demanding an encore which never comes. And I thank god there isn’t one. It was a special set which needn’t carry on a second more.
