join the slam dance

Some quick words about Anz’s two hours closing Mr. Sunday and Avalon Emerson’s three, and Akanbi’s deep afro morning set:

• Anz and Florida breaks, huh — a lot of Miami in her current sound, but also the Fixate record, as well as Clearly Rushing and a whole quasi-dancehall section.
• Avalon Emerson started in “John Digweed vs Nick Warren 2001” territory, and I was deeeelighted — though I think the correct comparison for her for the prog veterans is clearly Sasha.
• Akanbi, on the mic! A really nice run through afrobeats, dancehall, r&b, and the patience to let a a pop track play out at a much lower volume — and keep the dancefloor there through force of personality.

There’s also been this … thing happening, which is interesting: people are dancing. Like, really going for it dancing. There was a moment near the end of Theo Parrish where we had about six people doing fairly formal house dancing, moving in and out of each other’s spaces, and very much not just standing and facing the DJ and doing the standard two-step shuffle. This has also happened at Anz, especially later in the evening when there was a bit more space, and earlier on at Avalon Emerson (I saw a woman doing a half-time candy skip!) — it’s not quite 1976, but it is something. I am, of course, mostly at Nowadays all the time, but I am interested to see if this is happening elsewhere (or at Elsewhere, even).