Steve Lawler: Testing dance music's boundaries

Joseph Mangga, Contributor, Jakarta

England's Steve Lawler -- a Global Underground DJ artist, a true turntable virtuoso, and the undisputed master of ultra- spacey, percussive Tribal House -- played at the end of March to a capacity crowd of over 3,000 people crammed into every shadowy nook and cranny that Stadium in West Jakarta had to offer.

The promoters -- led by 91.45 Indika FM and Jolt -- did an admirable job of organizing an event for that was eagerly awaited by Jakarta's ever-growing clubber population.

A glowing sign with two shots of tequila above the back bar proclaimed "this could be heaven, or this could be hell". Surveying Stadium's decor -- with it's billowing red torches, demonic flying dragon and balconies lined with wrought-iron cobras -- the statement did not seem too far off track.

Wearing a simple blue T-shirt with white sun-glassed gorilla stencil, it wasn't high fashion, but Steve Lawler seemed right at home within the darkened DJ booth. After a funky version of Brancassio & Asher's Lovely Day, the man settled into a poetic groove that was virtually unstoppable from that moment on.

Carefully layering tracks like a master seamstress of sound, his DJing approach was far more subtle and fluid than the brash and flamboyant style of his predecessor, Dave Seaman, who played Musro in January.

Steve followed with a lengthy spacey track featuring glam-rock vocals by what sounded like a freshly resurrected Marc Bolan (a la T.Rex). More banging and bashing, with relentless jungle percussion and otherworldly phase-shifting, mixed with the occasional acapella drop-in of some sensuous female siren or angry black rapster. The rhythms were at times a bit dark and monotonous, but that's Tribal House, where the beats hypnotically swirl and dance like wild pygmies around a central primal pyre of burning groove.

Lawler, currently ranked ninth in the DJ Magazine reader's poll, is a rising DJ star who's far from reached his high mark. Since the infamous "Tunnel Parties" he first organized under the M42 in his hometown of Birmingham in the early 1990s, Lawler's lightening-quick hands have graced the decks of many famous clubs around the globe including New York's Twilo; Pasha and Space in Ibiza; not to mention Cream, Gatecrasher, Home and Renaissance in the UK.

This is one seriously committed DJ who is uncomfortable playing the easy pop-out commercial Trance anthems, and instead meticulously remixes and personalizes virtually every track he spins. His current 2-CD Global Underground Nubreed release, and Dark Drums 1 & 2 remix collections are already considered bona fide DJ mix classics.

But I'd gladly trade all these for a pristine copy of what Lawler played at Stadium that night. Personally, I thought his set was nothing less than a brilliant and intensely-entertaining display of cutting-edge Tribal-mix wizardry. I exchanged many expressions of sheer disbelief as he conjured-up one sonic surprise after another for a full magical four hours.

After the show, I was equally surprised, and confused, by how many Indonesian clubbers did not fully share in my enthusiasm. Many claimed disappointment, that the music was too dark, too slow, too different; that they much more enjoyed the faster, harder-edged and more up-beat music of other Global Underground DJs who have visited Jakarta, such as Danny Howells and Dave Seaman.

Don't get me wrong -- virtually everyone was happily bouncing away that night, but afterwards many said that Lawler's mellower blend of Tribal Trance was not their favorite cup of dance music tea.

A major factor in the reasons behind this difference in DJ preference seemed to be the amount of previous exposure one had to the many varied styles of Trance and House music. Most of the more mature and musically clued-in clubbers thoroughly enjoyed Lawler's gig; while the fresher, less-fanatical and often younger crew wondered why in the hell the bloody DJ didn't crank-up the BPM's and really start banging away.

Jakarta has to remember that in comparison with the UK and Europe, where House music and Trance have been king on the dance floors for close to 14 years, the club scene here is absolutely embryonic.

It's been a little more than two years since the more sophisticated clubs like Stadium, Musro and Retro have graduated from playing relentless "four-to-the-floor" Hard House, to the richer and more varied rhythms and moods offered by true Progressive Trance.

The more a club scene matures, the more the audience is able to tolerate longer drop-outs of the massive booming bass kick- drum that is the signature feature of most House music. The big bass is often the hook that first attracts a punter to House, but it is far from everything the musical genre and it's many subcategories have to offer.

That's not to say that Lawler's presence in Jakarta was premature, but many were simply not ready to fully appreciate a progressive DJ that is truly pushing, on a global scale, the creative limits of what is considered House or Trance. And as they say, "different beats for different freaks"; this is best illustrated by the UK's current overwhelming cornucopia of dance clubs, each featuring on different nights a specific variety or mutation of what is considered "House Music".

It hasn't happened yet, but someday there will probably be a Jakarta club night totally dedicated to Lawler's percussive- dominated style of dark Tribal House.

And style is what it's all about that distinguishes a DJ. There were no fewer than three tracks that both Lawler and Seaman played, but the songs sounded entirely different. But therein lies the magic of mixing music -- it's not what the DJ plays, but more importantly how he plays and mixes it.

And Lawler's style is unmistakably unique.

After the show, I spied Lawler quietly mulling about the lobby with a few of the Indika crew, before he whizzed past me. And then what happened next raised my respect for the man by an exponential notch or three.

Rather than make a mad dash for the airport, or off to the comfort of some luxury hotel suite overflowing with local lovelies, Lawler strolled back inside, out onto the dance floor, and quietly melded into the throng of clubbers gyrating away to DJ Bobby's early morning mix.

Two hours later, I'd had enough and was heading home, but Lawler was still there, prancing away on stage, thoroughly enjoying the unique atmosphere and energy that the local Jakarta clubbers had to radiate.

For Lawler, the evening wasn't about the fame or fortune, the interviews, magazine articles or buzzing around the world from one exotic location to another in first-class. It was about the music, and more importantly, the emotion and collective feeling the music can bring out in people.