With the death (hiatus?) of Revolver back in October (Riot! Riot! Riot! at Rokbar didn't count as Revolver in my book), there's been a bit of a void in the diversity of Friday night parties. The last few Fridays I've jumped from party to party filled with open format blandness and antiquated house music. Trust me, I was yearning for some electro/indie goodness. I mean these parties are never held in the highest regard by the average clubbers or club owners, but its thanks to them DJs are now playing stuff like Justice, Mylo, Calvin Harris and arguably even Daft Punk, and that DJs like Steve Aoki, Klever and MSTRKRFT are now dance music icons.
Regardless of what you think of Revolver, you've got to admit founder Joshua Menendez can book some pretty progressive DJs every now and then. I mean he's brought LA Riots, Guns 'n' Bombs, Flosstradamus, Le Castle Vania, the Ruff Club DJs and plenty more. They might not be household names now, but they are definitely making waves. So it was good to see Menendez stay true to his formula in booking Hatchmatik on Friday for the exclusive preview of Damaged, his once low-key Wednesday night party at the Mark. Hatchmatik started off pretty passive but built up the beats and tempo. Yes, the beats were dirty, scuzzy and hard -- just how I like them. Of course, he through plenty of curve balls, turning hip-hop hits into electro-house gold. The best part was simply that Hatchmatik always kept it danceable.
Decor-wise, Rehab Bar's look could be described as Pawn Shop-lite -- let's get a bunch of used junk and tack it up on the walls. The only two things that really caught my attention was the mural of celebrity mugshots at the entrance and on the bar (James Brown never looked so good) and the freight elevator turned hallway leading to the bathrooms. The mural kept me wondering, what if Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton walked in (which is a good possibility) and saw their rock-bottom photos plastered on the walls. That's a moment I pray happens and I definitely don't want to miss. Then again, the type of parties Rehab Bar has going on (in addition to Damaged, there is also a Monday morning industry afterhours), I don't think patrons are going to care much about what the place look like. However it does take some cues from Parkwest, located in the next room, such as a roped-off VIP, which I find sort of unnecessary, and bottle service.
Overall, I think the Parkwest/Rehab conglomerate has a potential hit on their hands. However indie crowds tend to be very fickle, so it's up to them to keep the quality of bookings high if they want to keep people coming. Biggest complaint I heard from clubs about indie parties is that they don't make a lot of money at the bar (I mean, how much can you possibly make working at American Apparel?), but Friday night attracted a nice mixed crowd and the bar seemed pretty busy . So I guess we'll all have to wait and see.