Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus spun a few unlikely mashups at their Friday set at Beta. Photos by .
Aimed squarely at Denver’s burgeoning hipster-dance scene, new “Noise” Fridays started with a cheerful bang on Friday. Chicago DJ duo rocked the dance floor for more than two sweaty hours, and for the most part, the gleeful crowd followed their every move.
The bars had tall-boys of Pabst Blue Ribbon on special — a proven tactic to loosen up the skinny-jeans crowd and help them lose their studied cool. During warmup set, a full-on breakdance battle erupted. Two crews taunted each other with headspins, windmills and acrobatics while the early crowd kept watch. The audience cheered on both sides, and the battle ended amicably.
By the time Flosstradamus took over the decks, though, the crowd was starting to shake it, giant beers in hand.
The Floss’s set started out straightforward, with electro-dance cuts that wouldn’t be out of place on a regular night at Beta. J2K and Autobot (together, they are Flosstradamus) were just getting started.
As they fiddled with their laptops and turntables, The Floss-y sense of humor began to emerge. In between the legit tracks, the DJs sprinkled in goofy dust from the late-’90s electronic-music boom.
During a blast of Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” — a song that surely shook loose some addled memories in the crowd — J2K bellowed for the audience to sing along, turning off the song at the choruses to hear them better.
This seems to be one of Flosstradamus’s primary missions: Dredge up memories, no matter how embarrassing, and dare the crowd not to dance. As the set wore on, familiar pop hits kept coming: House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” for example, which sent the dancing mob skyward. Itap a straight-up mess: Imagine DJ Darude’s “Sandstorm” following close on the heels of Dead Prez’s droning “Hip Hop.”
Yes, they also played “Zombie Nation” by Kernkraft 400. And “Back Dat Azz Up” by Juvenile. The mess is a glorious one. When the houselights went up on the red-faced crowd, exhaustion was obvious — their intentionally messy hair was actually messy at last. The club was mostly empty near the end, some possibly driven away by the gut-busting combo of PBR and booty-shaking bass. Or perhaps they bailed when they found themselves freaking to obvious party jams.
For Flosstradamus, there’s no shame in that game, though. If you like it, dance to it. Itap a soothing sentiment to the deeply nerdy hipster heart: Dance your azz off, and forget other people’s opinions of “cool” or “underground” or whatever snooty adjectives might apply. Take a break.
Kathleen St. John is a Denver freelance writer who pens the weekly Clubs and Family Fun columns for The Denver Post and occasionally writes for the Denver/Boulder edition of .
is a Denver freelance photographer and regular contributor to Reverb.
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