Dixon, Matthew Dear: House/Techno all-nighter @Haoman 17

Sometimes, you time things just right.

It certainly didn't seem that way at first. After having flown in from abroad the previous day, and having only found out about the party hours later, I was really just in the mood to relax and do nothing -- particularly on a Thursday evening. But who could pass up this pairing?

I saw Dixon only briefly at this year's MUTEK. Yet another case of bad timing. It felt as though his set was taking a bit of time to really get going, but after thirteen hours on my feet, most of it spent listening to music, having already gotten drunk and sobered up hours before, I didn't have any patience or energy left. It's 4 AM, don't ease into the set, hit me with your best shot or I'm out of here. That's how I ended up capping my night with Konque and their spaceman helmets.

The timing couldn't have been better this time. I arrived maybe 45 minutes into Dixon's set and the club was right on the verge of filling up. Within minutes, the dancefloor went from mostly empty to nearly full, the volume level rose and the music became more intense. Dixon straddles the lines between techno and hard house with ease, and by the time Matthew Dear hit the decks past 3:30 AM, there was already a sense of finality to the night, as if the afterparty was set to begin.

Matthew Dear sent the early birds home with an hour and a half of techno was nearly too hard and too relentless. Few people could keep up with him, and there wasn't enough variation to engage the people who might have otherwise taken a short break. The energy seeped slowly from the room. But in the last hour and a half, once it was down to the hundred or so diehards who absolutely refused to go home, the music became slower, deeper, and more euphoric. The nerve of the guy, saving his best stuff for well after 5 AM! I figured I'd be out until five at the latest, but yet again, the timing was perfect -- Matthew Dear dragged me back at exactly the moment when I thought I'd had enough.

Was this the best party so far in 2010? I'm hard pressed to think of a better one ...