Years ago, Toronto was a city that hosted some of the biggest names in bass music weekend after weekend. Bass-heads all over the GTA could have their thirsts for bass quenched constantly with events like Bassmentality or Destiny’s projek events. As we all know, the game in Toronto has changed. Our beloved dubstep and DNB events fizzled into a distant memory, and at the time, it seemed like we all had to just deal with that sad reality. However, thanks to the passionate individuals that make up Toronto Bass Community, this city has been seeing some unreal events unfold that cater to those whose love for grimy bass never died.
(DJ Yuichi)
On Friday, November 21st, Toronto Bass Community managed to bring big name Never Say Die Records superstar EPTIC to Chroma for a good old fashioned rinse session. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a dubstep party of this scale and it was just as refreshing as I imagined it would be.
Upon entering the venue, I was surrounded by excited faces of pumped up people ready to rage hard. This wasn’t just some casual event where party goers went to play it cool and score some chicks. This was a party full of dubstep lovers and DNB enthusiasts all coming together to celebrate an explosive return of the music they love. DJ Yuichi was on the decks, and the crowd was already going buck wild. This DJ knew his audience and dropped many classic gems including Skrillex’s older tracks. Yuichi had quite the following there to support him and he did not fail to get Chroma warmed up and ready to go.
(DJ Decibel)
Up next was our beloved hometown hero and major TBC contributor, Hydee. This guy always manages to almost outshine the headliner because his passion for the music he throws down bursts through the energy in his sets. He started out his explosive set with a Zomboy remix of When We Were Young by Dillon Francis. The heaviness only continued with Excision & The Frim’s Night Shine ft. Luciana which everyone has been going mental over lately. How could Hydee spin without incorporating more of the always vicious tunes of Zomboy? Throwing in Deadweight, and progressively cruising into TC’s driving Get Down Low, his mix was unstoppable. Diving into a Smooth remix of Camo & Krooked‘s Get Dirty ft. TC, the crowd rinsed unmercifully to the steady stream of drum & bass. All the while, Ruben utilized his bad-ass MC skills to pump up the room to its maximum level of party-mode. After throwing in ShockOne’s Lazerbeam as one of his last tunes, it was time for the man of the hour to take the stage.
(Hydee)
Chroma began to tremble with excitement as dubstep master EPTIC started doing his thing, all the while trippy visuals being displayed behind him featuring his own artwork. His performance took off with a bang when we dropped his tune Space Cats, one of his most loved tracks. The set spiraled into a revisiting of all the wonderfully heavy songs we know & love by EPTIC, resulting in a sea of raging fans. The classic dubstep lovers in the room got excited when he spun Flux Pavilion’s remix of DJ Fresh’s Gold Dust – which personally brings me back to the vibes of WEMF 2011. The party vibes stampeded on with a dubstep remix of Skrillex’s Make It Bun Dem, followed by a wave of driving big room beats. EPTIC’s sense of humour came into play when the graphics changed to an image of Tom Cruise’s head splitting in half and a big fat eel swimming into it. Only a truly amazingly crazy man can think that up! Continuing on with Torro Torro’s remix of Wax Motif & Neoteric’s Go Deep and a series of hard electro beats, EPTIC had everyone’s feet dancing up a storm. The entire room’s Skrillex radar went off when he dropped an intense DNB remix of International which always gets my blood pumping. Suddenly, dancers dressed as Sailor Scouts emerged on stage to uniquely complement EPTIC’s diverse mix. After mixing it up with a little trap session to slow things down, he thanked the entire crowd and announced the next edition of NXT LVL on February 6th. Of course, as I looked around, every face I saw was ecstatic and thankful for what EPTIC brought to the table.
(EPTIC)
Closing the night was DJ Decibel who kept the good ol’ dubstep times going with Doctor P & Flux Pavilion’s remix of Louder by DJ Fresh. The committed bass-heads remained and rinsed out with this local for the rest of the evening. I think it’s safe to say the very first edition of NXT LVL was an enormous success thanks to Toronto Bass Community’s passionate members, and we cannot wait for the announcement of the headliners for the next edition! Judging by the way this group of individuals’ ambitions are snowballing, I know we can expect something big.
LINKS:
Toronto Bass Community
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EPTIC
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Hydee
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DJ Decibel
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DJ Yuichi
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Alix Nikulka – EDM TOR
