Reviewed – Maya Jane Coles in Denver
April 25, 2013 in Events
Afterhours Anonymous (AA) has been synonymous with solid house and techno events the past few years in Denver. Colin Chmielewski and his crew have been busy spreading their love for music and the scene in town has been reaping in the benefits.
They brought in Maya Jane Coles (MJC) this past Saturday, hosting her three hour set at NORAD Dance Bar, which with in a year of opening has become a cornerstone of Denver’s electronic music scene. After these two entities joined forces a few months back for a rammed show featuring Pan Pot , the decision was made to sell pre sale only tickets for MJC, in order to to not max out capacity beyond room for attendeess to enjoy themselves. The upstairs was sold as a pre sale $10.00 ticket, that allowed access only to the lounge upstairs and the smoking patio, with a video stream and audio feed from the main room bumping through the Turbo Sound rig upstairs. Both pre sale options sold out prior to the show.
Upon what seemed to be a reasonably early arrival at 10:30, quickly it was obvious that people were excited to see the English starlette. The lounge and patio were already half full and the main room was almost three quarters full…no small feat for the time of night. Local good guy Hoang was laying down his last moments of a very stellar set, modern deep house with a pinch of techno. His set went down well, as evidenced by the jovial mood in the room. By the time she came on just after 11:00, Coles was playing to a room just about at full capacity. She laid down a load of chugging, sleek house music for the duration of the night, as she kept her little frame locked in a groove from behind the decks. A tad tougher sound then some of her productions, her professionalism was on display, as she mixed tightly through unrecognizable records. Rumors of her being under the weather and possibly not making it all the way through her slated three hour set were dispelled, as the energy in the room clearly helped her carry on through closing time.
From a dancer’s angle, it would have been nice to have more space to bust a move, without busting into someone else while doing so. The musc all night was ass shaking music, not so much heady techno to sway to. Aside from certain moments, one had little real estate to their own to bounce on…also getting from one side of the club to another was a lengthy journey through bodies, that usually take seconds. These however, are good complaints to have. That amount of people indicated to me, new blood in our thriving and growing scene which is vital and is something that AA do phenomenally well at drawing in. Kudos to the gracious staff at NORAD, and for opening the patio bar, that was a great decision. All in all a very fun night and another successful event from the AA/NORAD camps.
In the last year one of the co-founders of Make Mistakes relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, and when he manages to leave the studio and take a break from his life of hermitude, he has met several of the folks that make dance music in the city tick. One of those fine people is DJ/Producer Lomez. Here’s a piece we had passed onto us, talking a little about the changing landscape of a storied city. 
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