THE DEVIL SMILED
WOW! I am so happy with the turnout of our Devil’s Night edition of ESP Friday night. It was great to have so many friends come thru and get down with us at The Bench. I would say 90% of the party people there were decked out in some really cool costumes. Some of the best were Katie & Inferno pairing up as Al & Peggy Bundy, Mite dressed as the Travelocity Gnome, Focal as Napoleon Dynamite, Distal’s King of the Castle, and my lady’s Hot Tamale outfit. Now, onto the music.
Whoa. Such amazing music all night long. Beat Baby got the ball rollin’ with some grimey dubstep, then Distal came on with a blend of 2-step/garage, some deeeeep bass-heavy ghetto-tech bizness, some of his own brilliant originals, and some harder dubstep. Then Quadrant took to the stage with a stunning selection of creamy-smooth melodic funk that kept the drum & bass tempo but little else in comparison to earlier Renegade Hardware releases. He kept a clean flow from the chilled rhythms straight thru to the harder end of his set, leaving plenty of room for Mayhem to come in and really take over the sound. Never one to disappoint, Mayhem straight killed that shit with a seamless mix of hard drum & bass beats, solid rap selections, and a healthy dose of funky dubstep.
Kid Kryptic came on at 1:00am and played for 120 minutes. I couldn’t have asked for a more varied and dynamic set. I didn’t know what to expect from him, as I’ve heard many different sides of his music. He shared a vast selection of glitch-hop, dubstep, and sinister drum & bass tracks. Like a chameleon, he changed moods and shades with clean mixing and transitions and kept a mindful pace throughout. The first part of his performance featured celestial pads and arpeggios coupled with thunderous bass, chunky riffs, and sharp drums. Though the music was open and clear, it wasn’t without a consistent funk and drive, dropping heavy and hard with beats galore. Really fucking cool. The intensity of his tracks kept building and building, getting harder and harder with every new groove, layering drums into complex rhythms cutting through full, warm bass. The second hour of his set was littered with nasty dubstep and drum & bass madness as he manipulated the decks into organized chaos, characterized by snappy snares and chest-rattling kicks behind raspy synths and reeces. Though Kid Kryptic covered vast musical ground, his performance never stretched too thin.
I was in such a great fucking mood when it came my turn to play that I just donned my monk’s hood and went to work. I blazed through a searing selection of the hottest shit I’ve got. Tons of exclusives and unreleased bits. From the set opener I let loose with some uncompromising shit, stitching together all kinds of madness. After about 50 minutes I asked Beat Baby to have another go at the decks. This being her first performance with Ghost Industries, she had to shine for the crew. She did so well, rocking some bad-ass dubstep, keeping everybody on the floor moving and hype. Rock that shit, baby!!
Big up all my friends who came out to show some love. Big up all the talent for providing such a great soundtrack for the party people in the place, representing their love for the music and playing without boundaries. Big up The Bench for hosting us. Big up Proppa MC for keepin’ it low-key and focused.
