It’s a Tuesday night in Toronto and you’re in the mood for some heavy electronic music, but you have no idea where to go. Nocturne hosts Twisted Tuesdays every week and features local electronic talent, mostly hard style and dubstep DJ’s. On this particular evening featuring DOFO, the modest venue had both of their rooms open. One played hard style music while the main room played dubstep and electro. The cover was ‘pay-what-you-can’, which was great for students on a budget. The decor included outdoor benches and street lamps, something I’ve never seen before which made Nocturne really unique. The location of the club is convenient as well, on Queen just east of Bathurst.
Upon arrival, the staff and security welcomed us into the club. It’s refreshing to see friendly venue staff at the door of an event. The vibes were very easy going, so I could tell it was going to be a good night. There were 3 or 4 dedicated attendees dancing in the hard style room and a few floating around the heavier bass room. However, come 11 o’clock, the party goers poured in to catch DOFO’s set. I’ve never seen a room go from absolutely still to raging until he began to spin.
The energetic set started with his newest remix of Dis Iz Why I’m Hot by Die Antwoord, starting off the night with some fast-paced dubstep. The crowd was loving it from the get-go. What I really liked about this particular audience, is that they weren’t typical ravers. The dance floor was filled with not only hardcore dubstep fans, but college students looking for a place to dance as hard as they want and feel like they’re a part of something. It was clear a portion of the crowd had not been to many bass events before because of their uncertainty when the music began, but the lively atmosphere that DOFO created on the dance floor was the little push they needed to let loose and go crazy. A couple songs into the set, the crowd had become one entity of passionate and confident movement. There’s nothing I enjoy more than bringing new comers over to the dub-side.
I was quite impressed by DOFO’s ability to mix tracks with a wide variety of BPMs together, which provided the club with different genres and speeds to dance to. He dropped tracks from newer dubstep artists such as Get By by Delta Heavy, as well as from lesser known artists like Bad Baws and Flashback by Savant. I was very pleased and excited to hear Savant’s tracks because I think he’s such a talented producer. I was also pumped to hear some of my current favourite dubstep tracks such as Super Sonic Brain Waves by Figure, Headbanga by Excision, Flosstradamus’s remix of Original Don by Major Lazer, and Crank by Zeds Dead & Omar LinX.
My favourite moment of the evening was when he dropped Flying Spaghetti Monster by Doctor P. Right before the drop in the song, a sample says ‘Spaghetti’ followed by a chaotic assortment of heavy wobbles. Almost simultaneously, everyone on the dance floor began to dance as if they were pieces of spaghetti in a ridiculous fashion. Everyone’s arms wiggled uncontrollably to DOFO’s song choice. These are the kind of moments that really make my night, when the crowd goes wild and no one is trying to act ‘cool’ – just being their extroverted selves.
Knowing his audience, DOFO dropped a few Skrillex tracks into his set for the newbies. I really appreciated how much fun he had mashing Skrillex’s track Right on Time with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song. His timing was perfect and had everyone in the room reminiscing and singing along to the 90’s lyrics. Approaching midnight and the end of his set, he skillfully mixed Skrillex’s Goin Hard remix of Goin In by Birdy Nam Nam into Kill the Noise’s remix of Spitfire by Porter Robinson, which are 2 of my favourite beats to rage hard to; my feet could not stop moving. DOFO ended his set with a dance floor favourite Bonfire by Knife Party, which had all of the party goers dancing and smiling until the DJ left the stage. DOFO’s amount of dedicated fans and the fun-loving atmosphere he created made this week’s Twisted Tuesday the success that it was.
Connect with DOFO online:
www.facebook.com/DOFOmusic
soundcloud.com/jakedofo
twitter.com/DOFOmusic
Alix Nikulka – EDM TOR
