Rob Sanheim (left) and Adam Mandelman, seen here at Burning Man in 2014, have played national and regional party circuits.
It’s an early Saturday morning in Madison, and the streets near the historic train depot on West Washington Avenue are quiet.
But inside a refurbished train car, a party hosted by the up-and-coming dance DJ duo Surf ’n’ Turf is in full swing. A full spectrum of authentic, often absurd, human behavior is on display, including a howling, hulking bearded man in a peacock print lycra bodysuit, boa and Viking/deer antler helmet. A first-timer should resist the urge to cut and run. Sticking around means getting lost in the sonic and visual barrage that is a part of every Surf ’n’ Turf performance.
The Madison-based DJ combo features Adam Mandelman and Rob Sanheim, who have played national and regional party circuits from the Burning Man in the Nevada desert to Madison’s Olbrich Botanical Gardens (where they return on Friday, Jan. 29, for Cocktails in the Conservatory).
The collaboration began in 2013 after Mandelman met Sanheim at a coffee house and invited him to join in on a few of his solo sets around Madison. The two began regularly booking tandem shows as Surf ’n’ Turf, a name inspired by Mandelman’s DJ sobriquet “Dr. Lobster” and Sanheim’s “Bobby Beefcake.”
Dance music — an umbrella term for a cluster of related sounds including techno and house — can be a polarizing genre. But for Sanheim, it is a return to the relationship humans and music have shared for the majority of our time on this planet: “The repetitive nature and getting lost in the music goes back to the way people used to beat on drums and lose their minds. We’re doing that now, just with better technology.”
Shows are bass-heavy and energetic, and songs transition seamlessly, rarely hitting a definite stopping point. Sets can last anywhere from a few hours to all night, depending on the venue’s guidelines. “In the right place, this type of music encompasses you in a way other genres may not,” says Mandelman. “It’s grandiose in nature and envelops you.”
Mandelman and Sanheim recently played a capacity show at Gib’s Bar on Williamson Street. “We do a good job of getting people not normally into this kind of music to feel welcomed in a comfortable atmosphere,” says Mandelman.
This goes beyond simple questions of musical taste. The DJs understand that dance music is historically rooted in queer communities of color and that venues were often behind closed doors. “It’s important to remember that these genres are tied to oppressed identities and rebellion,” says Mandelman. Sanheim says the duo’s performances should create a “safe space where people can dance and lose their minds and not feel like someone is just there to get as drunk as possible, looking to hook up.”
