No Way Back at The Bunker with Derek Plaslaiko, BMG, Mike Servito, Spinoza, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Robert A.A. Lowe aka Lichens, Geoff Mullen, Zero Gravity Thinkers, Carlos Souffront, and Erika at Public Assembly


No Way Back at The Bunker with Derek Plaslaiko, BMG, Mike Servito, Spinoza, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Robert A.A. Lowe aka Lichens, Geoff Mullen, Zero Gravity Thinkers, Carlos Souffront, and Erika at Public Assembly
70 North 6th Street
21+, 10p-6a
$20

Launched in a leaking warehouse somewhere deep in Detroit in 2007, Interdimensional Transmissions' No Way Back has become one of our favorite parties in the world. We love it so much that we jumped on board to co-produce the most recent edition during DEMF 2010, and have now decided to bring the entire party to The Bunker in Brooklyn. Since The Bunker and IT share the same core crew of DJs, and have such similar taste in, well, almost everything, it only makes sense that we're teaming up to throw No Way Back once again. What you're going to get here is an event that focuses on getting the basics just right: a great sound system in a dark room, cheap bar with strong drinks, and some of the best DJs we've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Instead of booking the most hyped flavor of the month DJs, No Way Back focuses on the best that Detroit and Brooklyn have to offer. To get a feeling for the sound of No Way Back, check the most recent two podcasts from The Bunker, Mike Servito and BMG. The IT crew will be driving to Brooklyn with a vehicle full of the same decor they use to transform the Bohemian National Home each year.

Bringing the event to Public Assembly offered a unique challenge: just what to do with a second room with a full soundsystem in place. No Way Back has always been a single soundsystem event and we didn't want to have two competing rooms of dance music. After much debate, we've decided to get deep and weird with it, and offer you an experimental chillout room. This will not be a space to hear the cliche "chill out" sounds of early 90's rave, but rather to listen to relevant artists pushing the boundaries of what's happening right here and now. The chillout room disappeared from electronic music events a long time ago, but there are more artists than ever producing deep space head music, and it's pretty much what we listen to all day at The Bunker headquarters. It seems the time is right to present this music at The Bunker.

Derek Plaslaiko has long been the resident DJ at The Bunker, and was widely considered to be one of the best DJs in New York during his stay here. Derek has a repuation for blowing up The Bunker whenever he appears behind our decks, often outshining the world famous special guests he's supporting. After a very solid 2009, when he continued to heavily tour the United States, and made appearances at Berghain and Club der Visionaire in Berlin, Derek has really taken things to the next level in 2010. In late summer, Derek relocated to Berlin to focus on production and European gigs, and is already taking the city by storm. His debut vinyl EP on Perc Trax came out in September and has been well received on both sides of the Atlantic, selling out at Hard Wax in Berlin and getting a really great review over at Halcyonline. It is totally appropriate that Derek returns to NYC so soon in the proper headlining slot at The Bunker.

BMG, also known as Brendan M. Gillen, has a very unique and interesting perspective on the history of dance music. A real historian, he's the kind of guy who can talk endlessly about pretty much any artist you can think of and offer new information and insights, no matter how nerdy you thought you were about the subject. He is perhaps most well known as one half of Ectomorph and founder of Detroit's Interdimensional Transmissions imprint. He was an early adopter of Ableton Live, and uses it in his DJ sets to quickly mix between classic material and newer sounds, leaving no genre untouched while getting deeply psychedelic in the mix.

Mike Servito is a DJ's DJ – a lifelong music fanatic with a truly unique ability to move a dance floor. Fearless in his seamless transitions from one style to another, Servito has an unpredictability and a deep trust in his music knowledge that has garnered him a cult following and made him an in-demand DJ the world over. Although Servito is an NYC transplant, his DJ style is unmistakably Detroit. Inspired by Detroit radio the '80s and the city's local DJs in the '90s, Servito came of age in a flourishing electronic music scene, making his debut in 1995 and immediately gaining the attention and respect of his peers and local techno heroes. He has played multiple DEMFs and has held court with some of the best talent in the world. In 2008, Servito became the newest addition to Ghostly's DJ roster, and has happily returned to DJing and traveling the world playing his favorite music. Mike is one of the best DJs in New York City, and we never tire of his sets. He has been known to dig extra deep for No Way Back sets in the past.

Bryan Kasenic (aka Spinoza) is known in the electronic music world for throwing many successful parties, playing adventurous DJ sets, launching an influential newsletter, and starting Beyond, his own booking agency. In addition to many sets at The Bunker and House-N-Home in Brooklyn, 2009 saw Spinoza travel for gigs at Watergate in Berlin, Unsound Festival in Krakow, Communikey Festival in Boulder, and Decibel Festival in Seattle. In early 2010, he celebrated the seventh anniversary of his infamous party, The Bunker, and helped to organize the first Unsound Festival New York in February.

Keith Fullerton Whitman has recorded and released music under a number of pseudonyms, most notably Hrvatski. For the past seven years or so, he has laid the Hrvatski project to rest and released many droney hypnotic albums under his own name on Kranky and other fine labels. Although he has been somewhat quiet lately, 2010 has been a monster year for Keith, with a slew of new releases appearing already and FOUR albums coming out soon on Kranky. Keith never really does the same performance twice, taking full advantage of different sonic environments to make something completely new each time he plays.

We first caught a Robert A.A. Lowe aka Lichens performance a few years back at the Kranky 15 Year Anniversary showcase at the Brainwaves Festival in Boston. We immediately became huge fans of his style of looping layering vocals into huge psychedelic dronescapes, and bought every record of his we could find. We've caught a few of his shows since he moved to Brooklyn this year, and he's really developed his sound in new directions, incorporating an array of analog synthesizers. Tonight he promises to extend his set a bit more than usual and really take things out there into the beyond.

Over the past five years, Geoff Mullen has made quite a name for himself in the New England experimental music scene, with a string of small run vinyl and cassette release on various labels. The Type label really helped put him on the wider radar when they reissued his "Bongo Closet" release (previously cassette only) on vinyl and CD earlier this year. We can honestly say it's one of the finest releases we've heard all year, and you can check it out yourself on Soundcloud (link below), or purchase a copy at Other Music or Mimaroglu Music Sales, one of our absoliute favorite mail order record stores, where Geoff works alongside Keith Fullerton Whitman. We've never heard Geoff play live, but have very high hopes for this set.

Zero Gravity Thinkers (ZGT) is an ongoing collaboration of Peter Principle (Tuzedomoon) performing with prepared guitar, bass, and synthesizer; Dok Gregory (Amoeba Technology) performing with theremin, synthesizer, and sampler; and Zemi17 (Gamelatron, The Danger) performing with EWI wind midi contoller, sampler, and tenor saxophone. Outside of their many, many other accomplishments, they've been reinforcing the front room sound at The Bunker for the last year. We saw them play a beautiful psychedelic set at Grand Ferry Park after the sunset early this summer and instantly knew they'd be perfect for this event. They join us fresh off of a seven stop tour of Russia!

Carlos Souffront is one of our favorite DJ's from Detroit whose impeccable taste has manifested one of the best record collections we have ever seen, or heard. Since 1994, his taste, style and integrity have made him one of Detroit's best kept secrets. Anyone he's played for from Koln to Chicago would surely agree, when Carlos plays it's more than simply "DJing". Carlos claims that he just wants "to expose the funk and psychedelia of my favorite records in a new way", and we couldn't agree more. New Yorkers will surely remember the time LEVELED The Bunker at our inaugural 303 acid party back in 2006. Join us as Carlos shows us why Bunker resident Derek Plaslaiko refers to him as "the best DJ in the solar system".

A sci-fi extra, geek music freak, one-half of Ectomorph and co-conspirator of Detroit's Interdimensional Transmissions, Erika is also a DJ and runs the freeform radio internet radio station, erika.net. From 1993 through 1999, Erika was very involved in WCBN in Ann Arbor, working her way up from enthusiastic young DJ to general manager. In 1996 she was handed a TR-606 and asked to join Ectomorph. She's since become an electronic musician of the highest order, focusing on synthesis over sampling. Needless to say, Erika is a music geek of the highest order, and we're thrilled to have her play a special experimental set for the front room.