Gig Review: Daniel Steinberg at The White Owl, Mumbai

It’s always heartening to know that along with your everyday commercial acts, this city also plays host to a plethora of talented musicians and producers as well. That’s where local talent scouts Regenerate come in. After a stellar gig by way of Nils Hoffman the last time around, they’ve more than aptly followed suit with the recent, and absolutely breath-taking, Daniel Steinberg India tour.

For those who aren’t aware, Daniel Steinberg is a well respected Tech House veteran. Having been raised and influenced by the genre-defining Berlin underground movement, Steinberg has shaped his musical terrain over the past two decades and earned his place as a visionary DJ and producer. His label, Arms & Legs with compatriot and visionary Nils Ohrmann, showcase their distinct and inventive take on tech house sounds free of any commercial pressures.  Releasing a string of successful solo EPs such as ‘Joy & Happiness‘ and ‘Can’t Find My Baby‘ both of which received “Beatport track of the day” honors.

His music is laden with crispy tech bass-lines, super-infectious hooks and oodles of his very own personality to add that extra pizzazz, making his special brand of productions vibrant, colourful and filled to the brim with soul. Steinberg‘s presence in the Tech house scene is one of an undisputed champion as his productions and DJ sets take listeners on a trip through the artist’s kaleidoscopic musical consciousness.

Believe us when we say, a kaleidoscope was exactly what we got to witness that Saturday night!

We entered to a warm, comfortable almost familial vibe at The White Owl, the quaint little venue at Parel. As we walked in, we were enveloped by a really groovy bassline courtesy Bombay boys Nicky Ramnani and Ajay Makhija. Also known as Orbs & Zen, these guys set up a perfect mood for what was too follow. From just mellow, groovy tracks that had the audience move from side-to-side, they gradually and very adeptly picked up the tempo to a point where everyone was literally bouncing off walls. Having hooked us all with the bass-lines to the Betoko Remix of Sonic Future’s Move Your Hips,  followed by Maceo Plex’s unbelievably delicious Going Back. The groove hadn’t stopped with tune after tune after hip moving, leg shaking tune. By the time they’d dropped Relative Moods’ A Night Like This, the dance-floor was filled with people who had already surrendered themselves to the music. The disembodied vocals on the track served as a puppet master for us all.

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Obviously no Deep/Underground gig would be complete without at last one Guy J track. Orbs & Zen chose probably one of the best of the lot and sent all of us to a state of utter euphoria with the surreal breakdown to Guy J’s Fixation. From this point on, we were all hooked. We were all just junkies for music, and we’d already gotten so much of our fix, but it still wasn’t enough to fill our greedy little appetites.

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From then on, the sound had gotten really dark and gritty, just perfect enough to tease us as much as they could, before they made way for Daniel Steinberg, and finally, at around 1 am, the German Tech wizard took to the decks.

At this point, everything we thought we knew, or everything we’d expected from him, was instantly blown away. From this point on, it was purely a musical journey of an eclectic mix of deep grooves, blissful melodies, pulsing rhythms, throbbing bass-lines, and some good ol’ funk. It was a journey fueled by nothing but energetic feet, shiney, happy faces, and delectable, cutting edge sounds with the Steinberg signature stamp.

He started off with some insatiably perky and vibrant deep house and eased us in with tracks like Sirxam’s Talk The Talk, setting the mood for a perfect underground vibe as we went along. For most of us who hadn’t had the opportunity of partaking in a German underground party, one would imagine this is the closest we could’ve ever gotten. After dropping the Claptone Remix of George Morel’s Let’s Groove, it became evident that he was gradually switching up the tempo and subtly transitioning to a more funk-filled section of his set by switching between tracks that varied in intensity of swing/jazz and basically any kind of frisky funk elements. After a point, Daniel surprised us all as we could hear samples of a very familiar song, more specifically, a very familiar bollywood classic. We couldn’t be sure, maybe it was just in our heads? But then it dropped, and the wonderful female vocals from one of the most iconic bollywood classics of all time could be heard, Geeta Dutt’s fabulous voclas from Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu delicately chopped up and layered over Steinberg’s  hard-hitting beats. It was such a blast from the past, the crowd went almost psychotic with an equal mix of jubilation and stupefaction. It was phenomenal.

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With each change, the track cued next was funkier than before. By the time we had heard the thumping bass from Stereo Express’ Shadoorack blare from the speakers, we figured we were so deep into his set, we couldn’t find our way out even if we wanted to. But then again, I doubt anyone present really even wanted to. We were lost amongst his superfluous sound, and we couldn’t be happier.

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After a fun cocktail of funk-filled, electro-swingish music, Mr. Steinberg decided to flip things around, and really get down to business. From here on out, he dished out nothing but no-nonsense, no-frills driving tech house. This section was bench-marked by the gritty sounds of Carsten Rausch‘s Elevator, and it just got even more grittier and more groovier. The atmosphere around switched over from bouncy, laidback and happy grooving, to sweaty, messy, face down, fist bumping, feet stomping, dancing. Just the way it’s supposed to be. The hard bass thumping from the system, the dim lighting, and a swarm of people just feeding off Daniel Steinberg’s energy, like zombies jacked up on bass-juice, all added to the amazing vibe of the night. He further fed our appetites for those delicious sounds, with Audiojack’s cover of Jaydee’s remarkably symbolic classic Plastic Dreams.

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I say “Zombies” here because even though our feet were tired, and our bodies, exhausted, we just could not stop dancing. It was as though the music took hold of our bodies. It was beautiful. At that moment,  it seemed like the night just wouldn’t end, and none of us wanted it to, even. We could’ve continued dancing, grooving, bouncing and just really really loving the music all night long, especially when Daniel dropped a special edit of his super production Can’t Find My Baby. 

But alas, sometimes we just can’t get what we want. All good things do come to an end, and I really don’t think there are more prudent enforcers of that phrase than the Mumbai Police. Mr. Steinberg had to end his set abruptly due to the intervention of the local authorities, just at probably one of its ripest moments.

After being disheartening at first, we realized it was futile to even feel so. It was already a stellar night, with fabulous, luxurious and phenomenal music and we’d already been treated to a whole lot more than we could’ve asked for.

What a sensational night, and all our gratitude goes to the good people at Regenerate for putting it all together!