Young, hip enjoy fist-pumping good time at Electrocity parties

Photo by Michael Donahue // Buy this photo

Electrocity

Photo by Michael Donahue

A fan gets into the music at Electrocity.

It's 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Nocturnal is hot. The Midtown nightspot is packed with young people — many guys shirtless and young women in summery attire even though it's February. They move to pulsating sounds as laser lights and camera flashes strike their bodies. Others crowd close to the deejay and reach out as if they're grabbing the beats. Outside, a 50-foot line of people wait for their chance to dance before everything stops at 3 a.m.

Welcome to Electrocity. The once-a-month age-18-and-up dance party is the creation of Taylor Dawson, 27. "I came up with the party almost a year ago," he said. "I was really big into the whole French electro scene that was going on at the time."

The music "started getting its way to a lot of American kids' ears and it just started to blow up. I really liked that sound at the time, so I was trying to throw a party with all that type of music being played."

Dawson described the music as "really disco heavy, but really punchy."

Growing up in Minneapolis, he listened to a lot of music, but, he said, "Right now I just want to hear really synth-heavy, crunchy, dirty electro fist-pumping banger music."

The idea for Electrocity was based on a house party Dawson had for his roommate, who was turning 19. He noticed the young people loved what he was playing. "Those were the type of kids I wanted. Young, good-looking kids who know what's going on with music and care about fashion and all kinds of stuff like that. And art."

He enlisted fellow deejays Brandon Thornburg, 35, and Matthew Ladner, 27, who deejayed in New Orleans before moving with his wife to Memphis after Hurricane Katrina. Thornburg has a vast collection of vinyl records that includes underground disco, and Ladner's collection includes African electronic music. But, Thornburg said, "I think all of us are really focused on playing the highest-energy music we have in our collection."

The first Electrocity show at Odessa, a visual and performance arts space on Broad, drew 70 people. About 650 people attended last month's show at Nocturnal.

Photography is a big part of Electrocity. Party goers can have their photos taken prom-style, and videos are made at each party. "This whole electro scene that's been going on for a couple of years now, it's really heavily involved in socialite, nightlife stuff," Dawson said. "You get a bunch of young kids who are kind of trendy and hip and wear fresh clothes (and) there's a lot of parties where there are young celebrities hanging out, too. There are photographers that have become famous through the whole electro scene going on right now."

Electrocity is not a "rave," Thornburg said. A rave is "something that's etched in people's consciousness. I guess when they see a bunch of people bouncing up and down to electronic music, they think of rave. But rave, for me, ended in the '90s."

"Rave has a negative connotation, too, that's associated with heavy drug use and underage kids and things like that," said Ladner.

"I like to call it a party," Dawson said. "This is a club event. This is a club night. None of us use drugs. We're not creating an environment for that at all."

Recalling one of his most memorable Electrocity nights, Ladner said, "Kids were just drenched in sweat and tired. I dropped the original of MGMT's 'Kids.'"

Everyone knew the song. "They were all just collapsing on top of each other and their hands were in the air. It was so beautiful seeing them all in unison, all happy. They're going through a lot in their life right now with the economy. Their parents are losing their jobs. They're getting older. They're going to college.

"A lot of these kids aren't privileged kids. A lot of them are Memphis working-class kids. And to see them lose all that at the drop of a hat. There was no black. There was no white. There was no upper, middle class. There was none of that. They were all singing together."

Electrocity

10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturday at Nocturnal, 1588 Madison Ave. Cover: $7. Call: 726-1548

Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797 or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com

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