Ringing Ears

NOTE: This post is me expressing my inner electronic music nerd.  To fully appreciate this piece, you might want to look up some of the songs I mention.  If this doesn't sound like your kinda thing, then I won't feel the slightest bit bad if you choose to ignore this post.  If I were normal, I'd definitely skip it.

If I'll be completely honest, there's really only one major reason why I wanted to study in the United Kingdom this semester... and I got to live out that reason tonight for the first time.

The organizer was called Detonation (in conjunction with Hospital Records' travelling showcase, Hospitality), it was held at The Plug (a major club in Sheffield), and it was a night of extreme Drum & Bass music from some of the top artists in the game.

Those who know me well know that I might be the only individual in the United States (ok, maybe just the only individual in the midwest) who even listens to Drum & Bass music, let alone appreciates it.  My own parents ridicule me for liking music that's so fast and frantic.

And it's true, maybe it's a bit unorthodox to have a bunch of it on you iPod and listen to it everywhere you go, no matter what mood you're in (but to be fair, there are enough sub-genres in Drum & Bass that you can find the right tune for almost any state of mind).  But once you're in the club and your favorite producer is behind the decks giving you one straight hour of non-stop mayhem of his own creation, everything changes.

First up for the night was Logistics.  A great producer (already own two of his albums, "Now More Than Ever" and "Crash, Bang, Wallop"), but as a DJ, I have to admit his music selection was a bit sub-par compared to those who would come after.  Additionally, and this is by no fault of his own (rather, it's Hospital Records' fault), his MC sorta sucked.

Next up was one of my all time favorite producers and an individual who's making a name for himself as an outright electronic artist capable of entertaining the masses rather than just us junglists: Sub Focus.  His music selection was absolutely prime, his manipulation of the decks to rile up the crowd was spot-on, and the MC Ram Records selected for him was definitely on top of his game.  Everyone in attendance went absolutely crazy for him, especially when he dropped his hits "Rock It" and "Could This Be Real".  It was also a good opportunity to see the usual Drum & Bass crowd occasionally dance to some slower, more mainstream electro-oriented beats (but still having that massive bass that is a staple of Drum & Bass music).

The third DJ was, in effect, a sort of interlude: London Elektricity (in reality, just Tony Coleman, CEO of Hospital Records and the main guy behind the band London Elektricity).  Still a great DJ with an awesome selection, but that selection was a bit more jazzy, atmospheric, and a well-deserved calm-down period for the dancers.  The main highlight: his playing of the Apex remix of his band's "Just One Second"... quite possible the most beautiful song I've ever heard (Chris H., you can back me up on that one).

The final DJ (well, the last one I stayed for) was by far the best of the night: Noisia's Martijn Van Sonderen.  With Noisia just coming out with their debut album not even a month ago, most of the set was a self-dedication.  Not that this is a bad thing; quite the contrary, it was epic to say the least.  The Noisia sound was a complete 180 from the previous DJ's as it was dominated by incredibly complex synth patterns, dark atmospherics, and a bass so crazy and deep that no one has ever been able to replicate it (seriously, music production forums are packed with people trying to find the secret to "Noisia Bass").  I have never seen a dance floor rock so hard.  Even though people were visibly getting tired just before he came on (who wouldn't be after some intense dancing to 3 previous hours of DNB?), Martijn's tunes brought out the craziness in everyone, causing some of the most intense dancing of the night.  Highlights would definitely include his playing of Noisia and Foreign Beggars' "Shellshock" and the sudden slowdown/speedup/slowdown-again of Noisia's "Machine Gun".  Making things even better was when the one song encore was 16 Bit's dubstep remix of "Machine Gun", a truly epic and heavy tune.

By this time, it was closing in on 4 AM and I was, for lack of a better term, properly knackered.  There was one more DJ up (Netsky, one of the newest members at Hospital Records), but I simply had to get home.  But it must be said, for the 15 or so minutes that I heard his set, he was quite good for a newbie.

All in all, my experience on the Drum & Bass dance floor was... enlightening.  There are so many things one would expect when they first walk in to such a club, with its fast and loud music and kids dancing like they're high on crack.  And yet when I came in with these preconceptions, they were all quickly destroyed.  Some of the key things that really made me like Drum & Bass parties way way more:

1.) Alcohol is a deterrent to the experience.  Because of Drum & Bass's tempo (175 to 180 BPM in a live setting), dancing requires a great deal of coordination and an even large amount of stamina.  Even the slightest bit of excess alcohol would ruin the experience.

2.) Everyone is super friendly.  When people are packed on a Drum & Bass dance floor dancing to 180 BPM music, people are constantly running into each other or bumping each other.  And yet not a single fight broke out.  In fact, everyone would apologize profusely if they even thought they hit you too hard accidentally.  An even better example was when me and my friend who came with got separated on the dance floor.  The big guy in between us noticed we were trying to get to one another and moved himself and his friends out of the way so I could get back to her (even gave me a pat on the back).  Contrary to all this, at pretty much every other club I've gone to, it seems that dancing to pop music brings out the fight in guys.  At one club, I seriously saw a fight break out during the Macarena.

3.) A sense of community.  Everyone there is there to enjoy the music and help one another become better acquainted with it.  Those who started the night on the sidelines were in the middle of the floor dancing like crazy within one DJ set because of the encouragement of the rest of the attendees.  The more people that got involved, the more fun it became.

In closing: Mad props going out to the Hospital Records crew, Logistics, London Elektricity, big up to the Ram Records crew and Sub Focus, and 'nuff respect to the Noisia crew who tore down Plug with some of the most epic bass ever.

Now, if only I could convert more of my friends here to the religion of the Amen Break...