A few days ago, it was the 2014 Polaris Prize awards. Arcade Fire’s album Reflektor was nominated and was even considered a favorite to win (even by members of Live in Limbo’s staff). Tanya Tagaq went on to win the prize for her album Animism, and a day later (while he was in Toronto, anyways), Arcade Fire’s Win Butler was to perform a DJ set on Bloor and Bathurst’s Coda club. He arrived at twenty minutes to eleven and set up while many camera flashes went off. His set finally started, and you could tell that Polaris win or not, Butler wouldn’t have let the outcome change his evening either way. Butler showed his love for music as a whole, and that’s why he’s in the industry in the first place. After two songs, he spoke (something he barely did this evening) and suggested that people went out and danced and didn’t just crowd the stage to see him. Butler was there to have a good time, not be an icon.
So, what does Win Butler, or DJ Windows 98 as he goes by, play when he’s behind a laptop? Will there be a lot of hip hop or indie mixes? Not really, actually. I’m not sure if his research during Reflektor’s conception or James Murphy’s influence affected him, but Butler played mostly remixes of world music. We had some afrobeat (Zombie by Fela Kuti), the 60’s New Orleans-roots infused Iko Iko by The Dixie Cups and more. Songs were strewn together by a congo drum player, percussive instruments used like cowbells and more. It was a culture clash as blatant as having the moniker DJ Windows 98 pasted onto a MacBook. None of the songs Butler played had obnoxious bass lines, cheap sounds or annoying lead ins. Every song melted into the next, and all of the tracks played (well known or not) were joyful and united everyone on a national level for a short while.
Butler is such a showman that he can both fully interact with the crowd and not focus solely on babysitting us. While he mixed songs, Butler would occasionally talk to people standing in the area behind him. He acknowledged people directly as well (including myself, who botched up the opportunity to get a good shot that Butler posed for, unfortunately). He would grab the beer bottles of fans and play them as percussive instruments. He also had his own giant bottle of alcohol that he passed around and took swigs from (so dozens of us can safely say that we have shared a drink with one of Canada’s greatest musicians, as well as random strangers, too). He sprayed the crowd with water (people asked him to do it again; he responded quickly), and while no one was suffering from heat or exhaust, people were honored to be blessed by this indie priest: We drank from his chalice and we got anointed by him. With a very dark set where barely any light was visible, Butler was a mirage that was clearly there but was also hard to truly understand was there. That’s probably how he wanted it, too. DJ Windows 98 feels like Win Butler’s way to connect with fans in a way he did before his celebrity and accolade-donned status: By music and glee. This exclusive set was fun, and it was a rare moment were we got to see such an acclaimed musician in such a personal and stripped down way.
