On Friday March 20th, the 5th annual Bassweek kicked off at The Hoxton. I arrived at the venue at about 11:00pm and there was already a good crowd rockin’ away to the sounds of DJ Everfresh. The positive energy in the room was palpable; there was a smile on everyone’s face and from talking to a couple friendly faces I could tell that it was “Bassweek Fever”. The lot of us were just ready to be blown away. I took the time to drop my things in a booth by the front of the stage and proceeded to carve myself a piece of dancefloor and soak in the good tunes.
Somewhere around midnight DJ SS took the stage and started to get busy. That riddim kicked in and the crowd started screaming…it was that combined release of all the pent-up excitement and anxiousness; it was like a dancefloor orgy in a sense. Not a care if someone bumps into you while you’re getting jiggy because everyone is getting just as buck. He took full advantage of this by pulling it back when we were really feeling a track having us begging for more. He had songs I thought I’d never heard at an event, such as a remix of Jamaican artist Jah Cure’s song Never Find that just blew me away. My mom always used to blast this song and I always thought the meaning was that you’d only find a handful of people that actually care about you while you’re on your own path, and I loved that message and how well the crowd loved the song too. The mix of jungle and liquid allowed us to really get hyped and then simmer down and skank about while still keeping the vibe up in the room. MC Envy was a true champion of the party spitting mad bars and even pausing the music to pass people water bottles down from the stage to keep us hydrated. The party was well underway and I was having unbelievable start to my first Bassweek ever.
When Drumsound & Bassline Smith was announced, I was having a quick smoke-break and ran back inside when I got the word. The crowd was getting thick and raging about from side to side. I was still a bit hot, so I hung back with some friends that I had met up with. From what I could tell, no one was disappointed at all and I even saw a few glovers doling out light shows to some eager volunteers, myself included. After a while the songs starts to get a bit heavier and I couldn’t help but join the massive; at some point MC Envy called for a mosh pit and some of us started going a bit mad. It was really fun just launching myself in and ending up wherever the rhythm and the momentum took me. I figured I might as well since I never get to do this much anymore and I had a ball of it. The songs were a wicked mix of throwbacks of all kinds; some hip-hop, heavy bass lines and crisp drums that I wasn’t really expecting, but then again I had no idea what to expect in the first place. They even played an unreal remix of Steve Angello & Laidback Luke’s Show Me Love that I couldn’t help but try my best to shuffle to. Each song was milked down to the bone and hinted to ever so slightly in the mix earlier on if you took the time to to listen close enough. People were happily singing along where they knew the words and you couldn’t really be unhappy in that kind of environment where a new friend was only a head nod away. The end result was a permanent smile plastered on my face as the dope tunes continued to wash over us all.
Somewhere around around 2:30 or so The Prototypes hit the stage with the crowd roaring happiness in response. This was one set where I knew exactly what was coming next…it was just madness. The high space combined with the signature heavy wobbles were too strong of a pull for anyone in the venue to resist. They played some brand new tunes including Moscow, Humanoid and their remix of Flux Pavillion and Steve Aoki’s Steve French. Everyone was jumping and kicking into overdrive; it seemed like there was a couple people who were saving all their energy just for this part of the show and that probably would have been the best idea. Their mix was clean and beautifully blended together leaving our mouths agape as every climax threatened to kick us into the abyss. My favorite example of this was when they dropped their VIP mix of Just Bounce and at one point I swear all our feet were off the dance floor a once MC Envy would not quit with the rapid fire mini-verses and ended up being a beautiful example of how an MC should be when presiding over a set. He was rockin’ away with the crowd and inviting us into shenanigan after shenanigan; with how intimate the Hoxton is it seemed more like a really wicked basement party than a night at a club. And thats one of my favourite parts about the show in the end; because of the venue I was able to forget where I was and just focus on the music, and that how I feel it should be.
All in all, projek: The World Of Drum and Bass was truly that; a crash course on true microphone skills, machismo, and last but not least some really diverse DnB. As my first Bassweek event ever…my mind was blown to shreds; the music was top notch and the crowd was a perfect mix of polite and rowdy no one was getting in anyone’s face over a simple misunderstanding. It was just good vibes all the way through. I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow night’s show.
LINKS:
The Prototypes
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Drumsound & Bassline Smith
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DJ SS
Formation Records
Keanu Jones – EDM TOR
