Grievous Angel
Beast of Burden
Big up Mark for being there and such a fair review. Marcus said he'd seen you - I couldn't find you.
Totally agree with you about vocals. There's going to be more soon. Producers are working on it now.
Agree about N-Type - amazing mixing but played too hard too early (and I thought Mark would have criticised him for playing too many monotone tunes - mainly Iron Soul apparently).
I would have liked a lot more reggae to contrast with the heavy dub. Also more funk and soul - dropping Prince showed a way fwd. And more rhythmic variation - again, this is coming.
Related to which -- the tension / release / peaking / orgasming thing -- for me, when Mala played solo in Sheffield, he really showed how dubstep could totally deliver that. It was structured like a house set, far fewer rewinds, much more of a journey - but then he really knows his house music as well as his reggae, he's by no means monocultural, as is Loefah (Nine very obviously is not). At DMZ, the Mala / Loe was like dancehall, relentless micro-orgasms from every tune, hence every tune got a rewind. Massive hype, but I wanted a longer, harder one. I think Skream did a bit more of that (and he had bounce and vocals too).
Finally big up to Mark for recognising the most important aspect of the scene - the beauty of the crowd. I think there is an almost holy relationship between crowd and DJs and their mutual devotion to the music at DMZ-related events (you get it at Bash too).
This is a rare, impermanent, precious scene right now. It won't last forever. Make the most of it while you can.
Totally agree with you about vocals. There's going to be more soon. Producers are working on it now.
Agree about N-Type - amazing mixing but played too hard too early (and I thought Mark would have criticised him for playing too many monotone tunes - mainly Iron Soul apparently).
I would have liked a lot more reggae to contrast with the heavy dub. Also more funk and soul - dropping Prince showed a way fwd. And more rhythmic variation - again, this is coming.
Related to which -- the tension / release / peaking / orgasming thing -- for me, when Mala played solo in Sheffield, he really showed how dubstep could totally deliver that. It was structured like a house set, far fewer rewinds, much more of a journey - but then he really knows his house music as well as his reggae, he's by no means monocultural, as is Loefah (Nine very obviously is not). At DMZ, the Mala / Loe was like dancehall, relentless micro-orgasms from every tune, hence every tune got a rewind. Massive hype, but I wanted a longer, harder one. I think Skream did a bit more of that (and he had bounce and vocals too).
Finally big up to Mark for recognising the most important aspect of the scene - the beauty of the crowd. I think there is an almost holy relationship between crowd and DJs and their mutual devotion to the music at DMZ-related events (you get it at Bash too).
This is a rare, impermanent, precious scene right now. It won't last forever. Make the most of it while you can.
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