3612709532_15cdb7da22.jpgHere we are, approaching the dead center of 2009, and last night’s heavyweight double-team line-up of The Field and the Juan Maclean is looking like the best show of the year, thus far, for our Emerald City.

Despite the requirement of a car/bus ride there, Nectar is, most definitely, the perfect concert venue for a cool summer evening. Decibel’s Sean Horton, as Nordic Soul, warmed up the speakers true to form with his impeccable mixing skills and juicy slabs of choice-cut techno goodness of all shapes and sizes. Moderat was played, Field label-mate Gui Boratto made an appearance, Soulwax ground things away, and M.A.N.D.Y remixed the Knife as (unfortunately) everyone was out on the front porch soaking up the setting sun. Horton remains in perfect stride as the biggest champion for electronic music that this city has. Thank God Decibel is still on course this year, amidst scares of lacking funds. Take that economy!

Sun now set, Axel Willner and Co, better known to most as the Field, set things in motion with a sparkling loop that drew the crowd off the porch (’look something shiny!’) and into the main room.  If you haven’t heard the Field, get the scoop from Dave Segal here or from the lime-light casting Pitchfork review here. Needless to say this Swedish minimalist reaps maximal returns through eschewing traditional song structure (and traditional techno/dance song structure for that matter) and using repetitive loops to invoke trance-like higher consciousness. His music is meditative and explosive all at once, and this was on perfect display last night. Washing in the crowd with a track of the Sound of Light EP and totally owning them with the introduction of ‘The Little Heart Beats So Fast’ - all pulsing kicks and stuttered, sexy-time female ‘uhs’, not to mention the wormy 303 acid line that sneaks in a quarter way into the song.  ‘Sun & Ice’ got an extended edit, leaving hearts palpitating by holding the typically 2-bar break down for about two minutes, unchanging, leaving the audience begging (literally) for the switch back to bright, euphoric synth-washes and heavy 4/4 pound.  It worked - building suspence not by slowing gathering back around or adding layers one by one - just by repeating a single loop for an impossibly long time, then letting the whole pack of dogs out of the cage at once.  The crowd went nuts, fists pumping and feet jumping.

Not to be outdone, The Juan Maclean stormed on stage at about 165% and simply brought the house down - on a Monday night, natch.  The band totally hammered though cuts off their new album The Future Will Come, sounding completely full and lush, the way live music should sound.  You know, a techno fan can really get used to this whole live band set-up.  The Field’s live band, as opposed to the laptop set he brought here more than a few months back, really smoothed out the edges that a one channel laptop output can sloppily cut, truly giving the music the sound it deserves.  The Juan Maclean has always been a full a band, and rightfully so given that its funked-out house jams have always teetered closer to the !!!/LCD Soundsystem disco-rock side of the spectrum than the Gui Boratto/Field method of one-man productions.  But man, they brought it last night and they brought it hard.  Maclean is a straight-up superfreak on a Theramin, twittering anxiously but keeping a stern, focused look in his eye as he went nuts howling away on that storied instrument. The vocal interplay between Nancy Whang and Maclean played really well live, though Maclean’s vocal seemed a little low in the mix.   All in all, a wonderful set, then came ‘Happy House’.  What a monster!  Stretched out to about twice it’s already long play time, and seriously peaking about 897 times, eyes were rolling back into heads in the audience as there was no choice left but to submit.  It was seriously a shining moment this year, and probably left a mark or two in the minds of those in attendance.  An unforgetable performance, from both acts and even our local hero.  Encore!