Data Breaker

So, Broken Disco is coming back to Chop Suey with an artful
bang, as the well-
curated monthly hosts Berlin/Vancouver DIY
producer Frivolous (Daniel Gardner), San Francisco tech-house
savants the Martin Brothers, and a grip of hungry local
DJs.

Brought to you by the promotional experts of Decibel,
Fourthcity, Shameless, and Sensory Effect, Broken
Disco returns after an unfortunate hiatus, but whatever friction
existed before seems to have been vanquished for now.

Alison S., the Shameless crew’s copromoter and managing
director, relates that BD 2.0 will be “essentially the same as Broken
Disco’s first run: take four different music/event production crews,
select and book electronic dance music artists based on their talents
and music—not necessarily the sound, trend, genre, or scene it
may be affiliated with, and focus on branding the night as a community
dance party.”

Broken Disco’s principal organizers—Sean Horton/Nordic
Soul (Decibel), Matt Moroni/Introcut (Fourthcity),
Patrick Haenelt/Electrosect (Sensory Effect), and
Recess (Shameless)—all brainstorm and collaborate on
booking ideas while Alison (who also DJs under the name Menami)
attempts, as she says, “to keep things in check and moving forward as
the managing director. With so many crews involved, it’s a dynamic
process putting together the lineup for a two-room monthly party, but
we all understand that the end result is something that couldn’t be
accomplished alone. We’ll also continue to be open to the inclusion of
other promoters as we have done in the past (e.g., SunTzu Sound teamed up with us to present King Britt and John Arnold in August 2007 and Innerflight jumped on board for our one-year
anniversary party with Tittsworth and Starkey in March of
2008).”

Broken Disco has shows booked through April, but its members prefer
to withhold the specifics for now. Regardless, Alison promises some
“serious dance-your-pants-off bookings.”

Speaking of which, Frivolous’s performance at Decibel’s Hedfuk
showcase in 2007 was a highlight for many of the festival’s attendees.
His strain of techno and house boing-boings away from the usual rigid
grid of those genres, thanks largely to his homemade contraptions,
which include an electromagnetic knife (used to manipulate tones not
unlike a hand does with a theremin), a bicycle-powered reverb unit, the
“broken-ruler music box,” and the double “cable-tub” bass. Frivolous
sprinkles distorted, often-goofy vocals over pumping tracks adorned
with a loony tapestry of tones and textures. He’s also not above
interpolating Hot Butter‘s 1972 novelty hit “Popcorn” into his
own tracks. The result is sort of like Matthew Herbert,
but without the earnest political messages. Along with the Martin
Brothers’ patented Dirtybird Records levity and lubricity, Broken Disco
is seriously—and Frivolous-ly—getting back on the good
foot.