Live Review: Standish/Carlyon, Four Door, Horse Macgyver

Perhaps it was by result of the small number of people that made up the audience, but witnessing the amount of concentration with which Horse Macgyver operated his equipment felt almost voyeuristic – it was as if he were performing privately in his bedroom, completely unaware that he was being observed intensely by a small host of people.

The acute attention he paid to his craft was as visually entertaining as it was sonically, though that's certainly not to say that what was being produced was lacking in any way. Starting with sparse and basic arrangements, he applied additional sounds, periodically offering a number of curveballs to create tracks that were anything but predictable, even with the repetitive drum beats and synth lines serving as the backbones for each track.

Four Door's performance wasn't all that varied to what came before, save for a little more predictability and a little less obscurity. By this time, the crowd had increased quite significantly, and the accessibility of Four Door was welcomed with nothing but warmth. What could've easily been a boring set devoid of any variety was actually a mind-melting onslaught of highly danceable hypnotic electronica.

Goodgod's Danceteria isn't exactly a big room. With the increased consumption of alcohol coupled with spiked noise levels and more movement, the illusion of an uncomfortably crowded space becomes that much more prevalent. Standish/Carlyon cut through all of these potential distractions with limited banter replaced for a majority of their set with ambient interludes, demanding the attention of what was mostly a restless crowd. And who couldn't be sucked in by their overwhelmingly cool composure?

Everything from how they handled their instruments to the nonchalant choreography carried off during Nono/Yoyo was as sleek as their refined futuristic sound – a sound that even in a gritty atmosphere remained perfectly polished (save for a few moments when they embraced the rougher sound quality that a live space generally produces by implementing an abrasive wall of noise).

It's not particularly easy to stay completely focused during an entire line-up of experimental acts, but each artist proved themselves worthy of total diligence from the audience.