SMOG | GetDarker | The Observatory
Eccentric, Fabricated, G1ockz, and I headed back down to Santa Ana's The Observatory to experience another wonderful SMOG event [many thanks to Drew and the whole SMOG crew for their continued support + hospitality]. This time they partnered up with the one and only GetDarker. It was the first website I ever went to see Nero do a Drum & Bass dj set as well as Skream spin a set on a pair of Technics 1200s. GetDarker was celebrating the release of their compilation This Is Dubstep 2012 [purchase at iTunes | Amazon] and decided to join us here in Southern California for a proper party. Speaking of parties, after an extremely fun and eventful time with Skream + 12th Planet + Flinch we were really looking forward to seeing Skream's other half Benga. In addition to Benga's beats we were in store for the vocally stunning Katy B, multiple DMC champion turntablist and Slow Roast Records head honcho DJ Craze, and the creator of GetDarker himself, Darkside. Fabricated will take it from here and take you through that night's festivities. - Nativity
Darkside, head honcho of GetDarker ,(probably one of the most recognized online dubstep magazines in the world right now) laid down a very deep and heavy set of tunes that could not be ignored by those who bore witness to his clean mixing and excellent choice of tracks. Although Darkside’s set wasn’t, for a lack of a better term, as “filthy” as the rest of the other DJs who played this evening (and I don’t mean this in a bad way at all!), he held the bass weight down with those low frequency bangers that you don’t usually hear in a club in LA or the OC. I wish there were more events and clubs that had DJs like Darkside playing, mixing it up with a wide spectrum of dubstep: from those “dirty” bangers that the mainstream has grown accustomed to the past few years to those deep, sub-heavy tracks that satisfy even the most underground and hardcore bass heads.
DJ Craze : Official | Facebook | Twitter [Slow Roast Records]
The legendary turntablist DJ Craze definitely switched things up right away with his eclectic mix of tracks from all ends of the bass music spectrum [download DJ Craze's DRT DWG LOC’D OUT VOLUME. 1 mix here]. From 140BPM dubstep bangers all the way down to hard hitting 100BPM tracks, Craze played enough tracks to satisfy everyone from the hip hop heads to the dance music heads. His scratch routines in between tracks also brought an element of excitement to his set, which was probably the sickest and most unique part of his set.
Up after Craze was a breathtaking live performance with Rinse FM’s poster child Katy B, featuring MC Tippa and LA’s Dim Mak Tuesdays resident DJ Dan Oh. Anyone who’s religiously followed the bass music scene for the past few years will most likely have heard of Katy B through her UK chart topping single “Katy On A Mission” (produced by Benga who headlined the event, and who I’ll be getting to in a little bit), as well as “Perfect Stranger”, which was produced by Magnetic Man (Benga, Skream, and Artwork). Her performance was simply awesome. No auto-tune, no lip syncing, just a raw performance that got all the ladies in the room dancing and all the guys in the room looking for one of those ladies to dance with. Katy B was just all over the stage, gracing the audience with her presence and her beautiful voice. Tippa hyped up the crowd for each song and Dan Oh held it down on the decks. One of the highlights for me was during “Katy On A Mission”, when during the bridge, out of nowhere the track went into a drum and bass mix that got the whole crowd screaming and jumping up and down.
Benga : Official | Facebook | Twitter - Image by Regal D [Radiobomb]
Katy B’s set definitely prepared the crowd for the headliner – the one and only Benga. For those of you who don’t know, Benga is widely seen as one of the founding fathers of modern dubstep. He is responsible for “Night” off his Diary of an Afro Warrior LP [purchase @ iTunes | amazon], which is arguably one of the most recognized dubstep anthems. He shares a radio show with Skream on BBC Radio 1’s In New DJs We Trust, where they play the hottest dubplates and tracks currently in the bass scene. Benga started off his set right away with Shy FX’s smooth and sexy “Feelings” and dove into a plethora of bangers - from drum and bass,to (once again, for lack of a better term) “filthy” dubstep bangers, and even into some moombahton. Benga essentially got the crowd moving and kept them moving until the very end. He even asked all the ladies to get on stage to dance in front of him! The best part of his set was the end when he got a good part of the audience to crowd surf him out of the venue to the front entrance. Being the awesome guy that he is, Benga stayed outside as long as he could to take pictures and meet his fans from all over the world until he was escorted back into the building when the venue began to close.
Overall, the album launch party for This Is Dubstep 2012 presented by SMOG and GetDarker was definitely a memorable event for everyone in attendance. I encourage those who were unable to attend to request the evening off and get tickets early for any future SMOG functions and/or any event(s) this huge. The beauty of having an event in a venue like The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA was that, despite the size of the crowd and venue, the performances all felt intimate. No matter how intense the crowd and performers got, it was easy for anyone to get to the front of the stage and get up close to the performers, take pictures, and even shake their hands or give them a high five. - fabricated
Image by Regal D [Radiobomb]
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