The Karizma Effect
When darkness is fully realized and the moon is only left to guide you. The humidity registering at 65% sticks to your shirt. Ewww. A truck is parked the wrong way on a one-way alley street. The driver, a woman is passed out at the steering wheel. Across the street is a lanky man perched on the sidewalk. Sleeping. His face covered with a black hoodie skull. This is just another Friday night in these streets of Atlanta.
“The city whose (soulful) house music scene is dead.”
“I’ve avoided using the word “dead.” But I agree.”
You overhear two dancers declaring as you arrive front door the venue walking by the bar.
Enter the main room. Aphotic. Feel the pulse that echos from white walls to glass windows. Emptiness straddles the air. That feels albeit depressing. A face of longing appears, then retreats into the abyss. A body appears over here and disappears over there. A lone dancer spins around. Entertainment for the few souls inhibiting the benches seated alongside the windows. Their faces appear weathered by life. The AARP crowd at their finest.
“Let me show you love…” the late Romanthony tune pulls bodies onto the hardwood. Sleepy house heads awaken. “What’s up?” and “Dab me up” are heard over beats. In the house, yes, over there is Nubian vocalist Dezaray Dawn head bopping to her most recent collaboration “The Real Deal” with famed music producer Kai Alcé. Who, thus far, holds back. No particular hardcore anthems are played, instead the NDATL founder delivers floor warmers.
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Then Karizma steps to the music’s control center. The Baltimore favorite’s playlist forges into Afrofuturism. Where Caiiro’s “The Akan” bleeds into OVEOUS featuring Mike Kearney’s “Legacy.” The latter causing ear aches as the volume is jacked to unappreciated decimals. Karizma delivers a punch. Nouveau X Vintage. His trademark. His voice. A perspective of codes at play. Simultaneously paying reverence to the classics. As experienced when playing his Nicholas Ryan Gant’s “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless).” The crowd salivating to the Coflo Remix.
“The Power” producer’s soundtrack never plays linear, nor lateral. Where playing Wipe the Needle Featuring Josh Milan’s “Tenderly” cranks the thermostat, playing Rihanna’s “James Joint” (K2 Retouch) falls flat. Karizma’s nonlinear approach of broken lines are three dimensional. There is much going on. Acapellas. From the late Loleatta Holloway’s “Hit and Run” to Sinnamon’s “I Need You Now.” Beats that slap. George Clinton and P Funk’s “Atomic Dog” (Karizma Rework). Finger snaps on the groovy Natalie Cole’s “Tell Me All About It” (White Label Dub). To handclaps and hollers courtesy Ron Hall’s “Tell God ‘Bout It” (DJ Spen Sunday Service Re-Edit).
The mixologist plays something for everyone. Disco burners from Chaka Khan’s “Live In Me,” (DJ Spen Edit) to the funk and soul of the late genius Prince’s “Erotic City.” Both songs juxtaposed with neo Natureboy Flako’s “Lonely Town (Karizma Rework).
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Familiar faces exit and vacant space appears as a minute dance circle meanders left to right before the Distinctive Party’s founder, Kai Alcé returns to music duties with a throwback. Maxwell’s “No One” is perfect to dance out of Apache XLR’s front door and back into those streets of Atlanta.
wrds: aj dance
Karizma grphc: aj art
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Tags: #dancefloormagic #housemusicexcellence, apachecafexlr, Atlanta, Atlanta Georgia, ATLANTA WEEKENDer, Baltimore House Music, deep house music, Distinctive, house music, Kai Alce, Karizma, Karizma Kaytronik, NDATL, soulful house music