SMOG Presents: Joker + Plastician @ The Observatory OC 1/12/13 [Concert Review]

SMOG brought two of the UK’s finest producers to Southern California – Bristol’s Joker and Croydon’s Plastician – for a bass-filled evening at the Observatory in Santa Ana, CA on Saturday, January 12. Newham Generals’ Footsie provided support along with Son of Kick and a back-to-back set from SMOG all-stars Kelly Dean and Pawn.

Badklaat & Coffi at Quality Control @ Beyond The Stars Palace 01/04 [Concert Review]

Photo credit: Nativity

Pickle Productions' Quality Control at Beyond the Stars Palace in Glendale, CA hosted last week the deep, heavy, and dirty sounds of Badklaat, Coffi, Megalodon, Sam XL, and more. With Pure Filth on the sound system, Quality Control was essentially (to me, at least) the dubstep event for those who have been looking for something not too experimental and out there but at the same time, also not too filthy and abrasive.

Hatcha at SMOG Sunday Night Sessions @ Los Globos 12/09 [Concert Review]

Hatcha, one of dubstep’s pioneers responsible for bringing the bass from the club to the airwaves, educated the LA crowd this past Sunday during SMOG’s monthly Sunday Night Sessions at Los Globos in Los Angeles with a selection of tunes that represented the best of yesterday’s and today’s dubstep music. Hogwash and Djunya warmed up the crowd with eclectic selections of bass music that got the crowd’s heads nodding and MC Kemst held it down on the mic for the evening.

Chestplate US Tour [Distance, Tunnidge, District] at SMOG Sunday Night Sessions @ Los Globos 11/18 [Concert Review]

The Chestplate sound took over the SMOG Sunday Night Sessions at Los Globos in Los Angeles on November 18^th, filling the dimly lit and crowded club with the dark and twisted basslines that Chestplate has become notorious for. The cold, dark November evening set the tone and mood for the whole night, reflecting the cold, dark vibes of the Chestplate sound.

Kode9 - SMOG Sunday Night Sessions @ Los Globos 09/16 [Concert Review]

Kode9 on the decks – Photo credit: Regal D

Hyperdub head honcho Kode9 played to a very eager and crowded Los Globos on September 16th for SMOG's monthly Sunday Night Sessions. The man responsible for the success of many artists (i.e. Zomby and Burial) came out to LA to play out a very eclectic selection of bass music across a wide variety of bass music genres/subgenres and tempos.

J:Kenzo - J:Kenzo [Album Release]

Digital: Bleep // Physical (CD): Juno
Preorder 2x12": Rough Trade

J:Kenzo's self-titled album on the pioneering dubstep label Tempa was released this past Monday, September 24 as a CD and digital download (and as far as I know, the double 12" vinyl is available for preorder on Rough Trade).

Truth - Love's Shadow [Stream + Free Download]

New Zealand dubstep production duo Truth released their Love's Shadow album on their Soundcloud that's available for download. They also released the album in lossless WAV format for free as well for audiophiles and DJs (and if you're a DJ, you should be playing out lossless files!).

The album features guests such as Yayne (who they've been collaborating a lot with since their "Dreams / Last Time" release on Tempa), Kromestar, and Datsik. The album also includes J:Kenzo's remix of "Rain Dancer" and Perverse's remix of "Gaza."

Kode 9 - SMOG Sunday Night Sessions @ Los Globos 09/16 [Upcoming Event]

Kode 9, founder of the legendary UK label Hyperdub, will be headlining this month's SMOG Sunday Night Sessions on September 16, 2012 at Los Globos in Los Angeles with support from LA-based producer Salva [Frite Nite] and Vancouver's Kuma [The Konspiracy Group, Immerse Records].

Kode 9 is responsible for starting up the record label responsible for launching Burial's career and releasing some of the pioneering sounds in dubstep and bass music in general. Hyperdub has seen releases from forward-thinking producers like Mala, Flying Lotus, Quarta330, and Ikonika.

#fastforwardfriday T.E.E.D. - Household Goods (Enei Remix)

I decided that #fastforwardfriday is going to be my weekly post for drum & bass or anything of that sort. So check here weekly to see what d&b tracks I'm vibing on at the moment!

Anyways, I came across this awesome d&b remix by Russian producer Enei of T.E.E.D's "Household Goods." The deep vibe of this remix reminds me of Calibre's remix of T.E.E.D's "Garden" released last year. I would definitely love to play this in one on the radio or at a gig.

Pick this tune up at Beatport along with more remixes of the track by DJ Zinc, Lil Silva, and Mano Le Tough!

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#throwbackthursdays Benga & Coki - Night [Music Video]

So I just recently picked up the vinyl 12" single of "Night" with "Emotions" and "Drumz West" on the B-side at Amoeba Music in Hollywood a few weeks ago, and I thought I'd share this just because this was one of the first few dubstep songs I heard when I first got into it a few years ago.

The music video's a bit weird for me, but this anthem is still in rotation in many bass music DJ sets and has become a staple in the scene. The song was released on Benga's debut album Diary of an Afro Warrior on Tempa in 2008 and many of the sounds in that album can still be heard today in many of his more recent tracks and collaborations, especially with Magnetic Man.

Enjoy!

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Emalkay @ SMOG Presents: Turbulence 07/20 [Concert Review]

SMOG has been on fire lately with all the latest events this past summer. From booking the Digital Mystikz [DMZ] (aka Coki & Mala) at the SMOG Sunday Sessions to Emalkay [Dub Police] for this show – in the same month – SMOG's events have just been getting better and more diverse with each upcoming month.

Digital Mystikz - SMOG Sunday Night Sessions @ Los Globos 07/15 [Concert Review]

Digital Mystikz // Photo: Jason 'Oh Dag Yo' Fenmore

 
DMZ. These three letters should ring a bell for anyone who has been following the dubstep scene for a while.

If you have been, then when you heard SMOG was bringing DMZ to Los Angeles for the very first time, you must have been extremely ecstatic (I know I was!).

Digital Mystikz, aka Mala [Deep Medi Musik, DMZ, UK] and Coki [Tempa, DMZ, UK], took to the decks Sunday for SMOG’s completely sold out Sunday Night Sessions at Los Globos. Kahn [Punch Drunk, UK] and Steady [SMOG] set the mood and warmed up the crowd for some good vibes and deep meditation on bassweight for the rest of the evening.

Goth-Trad @ SMOG Sundays - Dim Mak Studios 06/17 [Concert Review]

Flyer for SMOG Sundays 06/17 - SMOG website: smogla.com

Goth-Trad - Photo credit: Dataset

Last Sunday, June 17, Goth-Trad played out a massive set at SMOG Sundays to a very eager and bass-hungry crowd. His performance at SMOG Sundays in Hollywood at Dim Mak Studios was one of his stops for his west coast tour of the US. For those of you who haven’t heard of Goth-Trad, he’s a Japanese dubstep producer who has had several releases out on Mala’s highly respected bass music label Deep Medi Musik. Goth-Trad’s latest release was his LP New Epoch on Deep Medi Musik, which is essentially a very minimalistic yet deep and substantial album that embodies the Deep Medi vibe. He also made an appearance on Bassweight, a documentary about the origins and rise of dubstep that I would highly recommend viewing if you want to know what dubstep is really all about.

Soulection presents: Sango - Da Rocinha EP (New Release)

Sango - Da Rocinha EP (Teaser Video) Forthcoming Soulection from Soulection on Vimeo.

Soulection: Bandcamp

Joe Kay and Soulection are always coming with the goods. This new Sango release is no exception. Press play and let the music speak for itself.

Beyond Wonderland - Chess Village [Concert Review]

Photo credit: Oh Dag Yo // Beyond Wonderland album

I know it’s pretty late for me to be posting this, but I’ve just been swamped with a lot – school, work, and music stuff. But anyways, even though it’s been almost 2 months since Beyond Wonderland happened, I think it’s safe to say that it was just one of those events that everyone can talk about this whole year, whether you were there for DJ Fei Fei’s controversial dubstep set at the ASOT stage or you watched Steve Aoki’s crazy live visual set. For me, I spent my entire stay at Beyond Wonderland at the Chess Village, which was the bass music stage. It featured the talents of Fury, Crizzly, MistaJam, Ed Rush and Optical, Magnetic Man, Camo & Krooked, High Contrast, Andy C, and Netsky.

SMOG Sundays w/ UFO + Pablo Hassan + Dustmite + Hogwash + Kemst @ Dim Mak Studios [Upcoming Event + Future Dates]

 SMOG Sundays @ Dim Mak Studios | 21+ $5 w/ RSVP here
For the bass hungry look no further. SMOG has your Sundays covered. We here at Dank Radio are frequent attendees to SMOG's Dubtroit event down at The Observatory once a month and have yet to make the trek up to Dim Mak Studios for their SMOG Sunday events. Don't let this discourage your future decisions. The lower level frequencies at that venue will please any audiophile and their steady offering of BASS artists do not disappoint. And plus you can't beat a $5 show w/ RSVP.

Farkas - Meet The Farkas Part 1 [Forthcoming Release]

Pre-order/purchase digital and 12": digital-tunes | redeye | chemical

This massive release by Swedish producer Farkas on Walsh's label Biscuit Factory Records is already out on 12" vinyl, but the digital comes out not too long from now on March 26. "Harmless" and "Tribal Dance" have both received plenty of radio play and DJ support from many of the biggest names in the bass music world. "Harmless" is a dark tune with hard hitting dums as well as a sub-bass line and top bass line that sounds anything but...harmless. "Tribal Dance" is a bouncy 140 BPM bass track that will definitely get the dancefloor groovin' and jumping up and down like some kind of...tribal dance.

Anyways, enough with the lame puns. Don't sleep on this release, these tracks make for dancefloor weapons that will get the crowd going and the room rattling!


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Radiobomb - Taxman + Construct + Subflo 3/23/12 [Live Broadcast + Ticket Giveaway]

Radiobomb : Official | Facebook | Twitter
For our fellow nocturnal post midnight marauders craving a continuous onslaught of all things bass + dubstep + drum & bass + jungle our Aziatik Rhythmz KPFK 90.7FM brethren, Radiobomb will be broadcasting later on tonight/early tomorrow Saturday Early Morning March 10th from 4am-6am on KPFK 90.7FM Los Angeles + www.kpfk.org WorldWideStream. Their guest DJs for tonight will be Taxman, and a b2b set by Construct and resident Radiobomb DJ Subflo.

Nativity

Rx - Orbit [Tour Dates]

Rx : Official | Facebook | Twitter

I've been playing Rx's track "Orbit" over and over for the past 30 min or so. I "discovered" the track through Dubspot's latest video showing a time lapse of their 3rd floor expansion. It took me quite some time to track down the artist online. Rx has been working w/ dubspot professor + dmc champion extraordinaire DJ Shiftee to create some really interesting bass music. The track "Orbit" is from their 2011 release titled, "Space Ace" [Purchase @ Beatport], which was released on Rad Summer.

Dismantle - Detonate / 2 In 1 (Limited 12") [Forthcoming Release - 03/16/12]

Pre-order "Detonate / 2 In 1" on Surus!

If you've been keeping up with current bass music, then you should definitely recognize the name Dismantle (aka Will Knighton). He's a 19-year-old producer from Brighton, UK who's been making a name for himself in the bass music scene with his infectious tracks that sound like the lovechild among dubstep, moombahton, and dutch house.