14th November
Odder Bar
7/10
As I walk into Odder Bar my ears are immediately treated to a slick mix of three certified bangers: ‘Renegade Master (Special Request remix)’, Nu-Birth’s garage classic ‘Anytime’ and Armand Van Helden’s take on ‘Sugar Is Sweeter’. Quite a start to the night. Odder Bar dances accordingly as the resident DJ continues his all killer, no filler set right up until it’s time for headline act of the night, Jacques Greene.
Whilst billed as a ‘Live Audio Visual Set’, this doesn’t appear to be the case. There’s nothing unusually special about the visuals, and as Jacques Greene drops the likes of Drake’s ‘The Language’ into the mix it’s evident that this isn’t a live set – unless the rapper, and fellow countryman of Greene, is well hidden away in the booth. This doesn’t prove of detriment to the night however, and as Drake’s line “She just want to smoke and fuck I said ‘Girl, that’s all that we do’” fills the room it perfectly represents the hedonistic atmosphere Greene’s eclectic mix of tracks creates. A DJ set was the preferable outcome.
Yet Greene’s own tracks do prove to be high points of the set. His remix of one of the best pop songs of the year, Ciara’s ‘Body Party’, is a particular highlight with its euphoric synth chords and reverb soaked vocal loops. The latter also features heavily in the excellent How To Dress Well collaboration ‘On Your Side’, which sounds better than ever on Odder Bar’s Funktion One sound system. Greene proves himself to be as adept a DJ as he is a producer.
