BLOOMFIELD, NJ—William “DJ Dyztort” Mullally has for around two years been running a club Friday nights in Bloomfield at a venue called the Oops Lounge, adjacent to the Watsessing train station. Recently, the event moved to the downstairs, so-called “Area 51” of QXT’s famous dance club in Newark. QXT’s is viewed by many as the spiritual heir to the legacy of the legendary Pipeline.
The fare served up has been a delightful sampling of the industrial music genre, whether of the traditional Ministry, Revco and Front 242 variety—or the more up-to-date but lesser known groups favored by DJ Dyztort himself. Other regular and guest DJs filled in the gaps with obscurities, noize and techno.
We had tried several times to crash the party at Insurgence, but on all previous occasions were put off by the dismal lack of attendance and the dangerously-painful decibel levels. No one really wants to be the sole dancer on an otherwise deserted dance floor under a ferocious barrage of punishingly loud industrial noise. Well, not no one. There always seemed to be one or two lonely rivitheads willing to make their stand under the circumstances. Yours truly has done it more than once.
Upon arrival at the dance floor, still empty at 10:30 p.m., we were pleased to hear the industrial classics as well as some B-sides by the masters like Skinny Puppy mixed in with Kraut-rock being spun by DJ Xian Engel. The place was well decorated and illuminated with laser lights, tea-lights and rotating mantle-type pieces. Absurdly tiny shots were sold for $6, but so was ice-cold bottled beer.
By midnight the crowd has swelled to between 30 and 40 spectators, eager to witness the live performance by the Washington, DC-based “ritual ambient noize” solo performer who goes by the name Worms Of The Earth. The youthful crowd, heedless of the 50 years of warnings against smoking, remained congregated outside pursuing their nicotine addictions until the last minute when the performance commenced.
Worms bounced up and down furiously as he manned a panel of soundboards, drumsticks and computer interfaces from a small stage situated a few steps up from the dance floor, delivering a dark symphony of thumping industrial beats with a mystical, cinematic edge, rendered eerie by vocal samples, oriental melodies and bizarre arpeggios. The crowd was more than thrilled despite some technical glitches that resulted in a few bouts of unintended, embarrassing silence. No one seemed to hold it against the show which overcame these momentary issues by the sheer power of the performance.
Anyone who stuck around for the live show and the DJs certainly got their five bucks’ worth and is sure to follow up with Insurgence at its new venue in the downstairs of QXTs in future months.
