New links to download recordings of Stewart Walker's performances:

(photo by Zoe in Seattle)

Two Identities

Today I'm posting two live recordings from two different eras of my performance history. The first is from my live performance in 2002 at the underground stage of Hart Plaza, during the then-named Detroit Electronic Music Festival.
Stewart Walker at DEMF2002

and the second is from last year's show in Montreal at Fricoti @ Le Salon Daome

Stewart Walker_Fricoti_2008

I consider each of shows to be career highlights, though the music I played, the audience, and the venue were completely different.

Both shows stand out in my memory because my low expectations were completely flipped into rapture by the end. In Detroit, I was given the sucky 1PM timeslot, and aside from the 10 people waiting for me at the very beginning, I didn't expect to see much more action. So I pretty much buried my head and got to work*. By the time I looked up at the audience 15 minutes later, I was shaken to hear an entirely full hall screaming for me. As you can hear from the audio quality, I was fully invested in loopy techno, and judging from the screams of the audience, I wasn't the only one.

The Fricoti show was another surprise, primarily for the same reason as the Detroit show, but everything was happening in a much more subdued way. It wasn't golf claps, but the vibe was definitely more adult. When I began, I had low expectations because 90% of the people at the club were corralled around the bar, rather than on the dancefloor. So, I started off as slowly as I could, and in this situation, I pretty much left the tempo alone during the show.** Over the course of two hours, I felt myself settling into a groove, locking into it, and then riding it for the duration. Normally I'm the one pushing it, but this time, I was being moved by the music, and I could feel that the audience was simultaneously being pulled along with me.

Stewart

*For me, if a show looks like it's going to be slow, with a small audience, that's a good time to really practice perfecting my transitions. I can't concentrate so scientifically during a manic show, because the energy causes me to just slam my tracks in and out.

**In times of eagerness, I'll start to push the tempo up quickly, responding as I do to the voice in my head shouting, "C'mon! C'mon!"

Special thanks to Jim Grindle for the audio recording of my DEMF set.