Bass Rising @ Cervantes in Denver, Colorado (6/8/17) [Review]

Review By: jdrightright

Photography By: Emma Ceaglske


Thursday nights can be boring, just waiting for the weekend to start, and conserving energy. Not last Thursday, it was Bass Rising an annual event thrown by Rebudz and Reload Productions. This year was maybe the illest addition to the annual throw down. Headlining was Noisia with Dubloadz and a lot of powerful Denver DJs too including Fury, Detrace, TOC, and Finesse. Last Thursday was a ball of energy and the lucky ones in Denver got a huge dose of drum and bass.


For this show Rebudz and Reload put on display an array of lasers and LED panel walls. There were 4 full color lasers and 2 LED walls, one in front of the booth and one behind the booth. The LED panels were mostly used to display the DJ logos for the performers. On the front corners of the booth you could find two lasers, and the other two were hidden on the sides of the big LED wall behind the booth up on stands. Sometimes the lasers would bounce off of the giant disco ball making even more beams to touch. Cervantes was lit proper, but even more so by the talented mixes of all of the performers.

The show got started at 8pm and TOC wasn't going to make it on time, not a problem with all of the talent available in Denver. The homie Finesse tagged in for a killer introduction set. Turns out TOC was in a car accident, nothing major, so he was just running behind. Finesse took the stage and he made it his own. He got into some wonky dub and fired up the people for a night of bass music. Finesse is a badass up and coming producer reppin the Rebudz squad. He is at every show and he knows what is hot, I'm glad he got to showoff a bit for Bass Rising. In the future you will see him get deeper and deeper into the line-up for shows like this.

Around 8:30 TOC made it to Cervantes and he didn't skip a beat. He got into some filthy dub but very smooth on his transitions. A lucky few in the crowd were able to cop his merch, he had fresh shirts and hats to flip. TOC brought his folks out for the show too, and they were some of the coolest people there, I had a conversation with his Dad and he is very supportive of his son. Love to see that, a lot of stigma is placed on the electronic music scene but it is for all ages, and that was definitely a theme for the night. TOC is very high energy on stage he doesn't slow down, steady pace and that was a perfect fit for this night. I like how TOC dances to the drops, he helps you to know when the music is about to change up and when to go ham.

Next up was one of my favorites Detrace, this guy is an exemplary producer with a ton of knowledge. He is rather good at creating a live mix also and always brings some new flame to put on display. Detrace immediately got the place poppin off with melodic builds and inferno drops. His mixes are just brilliant always coming up with a new way to fake you out and that's exciting. He has great dance moves as well, often hopping around to the beat and gently turning the faders because they are hot lava! He changed it up a bit from what I am used to, getting into some dope Trap-step drops. I am always game for a Detrace set, he is awesome and perfectly represents the diversity of Denver electronic music.

It was now time for Fury! He is a master of reading a crowd. Fury has been crushing parties for a minute now, so he always knows exactly what to bust out of the arsenal. Perfect blends of drum and bass with dubstep. Plus he was getting into some video game stuff, coins were coming out of blocks and fireballs were being thrown. Fury is at full mad scientist level when it comes to drum and bass, each performance is completely unique and blunt. Fury just gets right to the point and I love that.

One of the hardest on the Disciple crew came up next, ever heard of Dubloadz? Thought so! He had a busy weekend in Denver also playing Friday night with side project and triple b2b Chode Gang. The trio of Chode Gang consists of three incredible individual producers: Barely Alive, Virtual Riot and Dubloadz. He is so energetic and nutty on stage, not to mention through the decks. He had T-Rex hands, gun fingers, and the hardest bass drops of the night. Cervantes was full of headbangers going hard to the beat provided by Dubloadz for a good hour straight.

To close the night was the highly anticipated Noisia. Definitely enlightening having never seen them before. Martijn van Sonderen was representing the trio and he is remarkable on stage. He did a great job tweaking out the beat making awkward sounds, it was so raunchy. Gotta love a live set with interesting twitches, even with just one of the trio Martijin was quick on the switch and added bonus effects to the beats. For part of the set perfectly catering to the headbangers he got into some metal n bass. The crowd was absolutely riled up by the sounds unleashed by Noisia. Martijin was so happy to be in Denver, and such a nice guy with strong European accent on the mic saying, "I had a really good time, and I hope you did too." To close out Noisia got into a really elite blend of drum and bass, and Prodigy's "Voodoo People." One of the dopest sets I have witnessed in some time, huge love for Junglists.


I was overwhelmed with the energetic music all night, and it was so exciting. This was the most hype Thursday night I can remember in a while. I need to stop forgetting Thursdays, jokes. Great times with the Rebudz squad and Reload Productions, always bringing out the best talents to Denver. Stay on the ball by following both at those links, they have contests for tickets, also meet and greets, sometimes with pizza! Always so thankful for Emma at Eyediola Photography with such superior images that preserve the sacred visuals of the night. More is coming soon so stay up. Laters.

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Neckbreaker Tour @ Cervantes Other Side (5/21/16) [Review]

Review By: 
jdrightright

Photography By:
Stetson Colt Mathias


The Neckbreaker Tour made a stop at Cervantes Other Side this past Saturday night. Once again Rebudz and Reload Productions came together to bring an awesome display of electronic music. The line-up included local talent Detrace, Coult45, and DJ Fury, as well as Tempest, and Habstrakt, with Dirty Phonics headlining. The moon was full, the Other Side was nearly sold out, and an energetic squad came out to rage.


The room at Cervantes Other Side is super intimate, there is no barricade in the front row so you are right up to the stage. You can basically reach out and touch the artists if you wanted to it's really cool. Rebudz brought out Surreal Laser to add some extra visuals. They had two lasers installed onto pillars on each side of the DJ booth and when the bass dropped the lasers zapped. Out back is a large smoking area with a wooden second stage structure. Early in the night out on the wooden stage, separate from the Neckbreaker Tour show inside, was a group of Christian rappers preach-styling. No one knows why.

Starting off the night was Detrace an up and coming artist representing Denver. He has direct ties to Rebudz and is a resident at Beta Nightclub. Detrace is a smart live DJ and also a very skilled producer, he got things started with some chill and melodic music and throughout his set he ramped up the hype meter slowly. I like how he puts his live sets together, he is very inventive and mixes clever transitions that blend two songs to create a whole new build up. You have to check him out if you haven't already, dude is ahead of the curve.

DJ Fury took the stage next with a special guest MC Dozha and he immediately got the collective heart-rate thumping with drum and bass music. His set also had plenty of dubstep and drumstep drops too, and MC Dozha added a bit of flavor with some freestyles on the mic. Fury always brings a massive arsenal of music, he has been around the electronic music scene for a long time. He is responsible for a lot of the amazing artists that come to Denver. Fury is a pivotal part in the Reload Productions machine, and he never disappoints. This set was extra dirty and dubby, which worked perfect to get the crowd kickin.

Next up was an impressive producer formerly from Colorado but now out in California, Danny Kim aka Tempest. I was able to chat a bit with Tempest and he's a really nice guy, always willing to talk to fans. I thought he might have gotten his DJ name from the old school Nintendo game, but he told me he had never played it. He makes deep dubstep and he put together a bangin live mix. The room started to really fill up during Tempest's set, and he got them all bouncing. Tempest did a lot of sneaky drops, where he would play the build of one song and then drop a much harder track. One drop that was exemplary united Zomboy and Flosstradamus with both drops playing at the same time. Tempest slayed the crowd and they kept coming back for more. 

Coult45 took the controls and layed down a raunchy set with a trapstep, dubstep, and drum and bass. On select Gravity Fridays Coult45 is another DJ you can find at Beta Nightclub. He got his flow started with music from the new Cookie Monsta EP, and the song "Death Wobl." Coult45 used a lot of the new music I love to create this live set, so I stayed right up front. Some of the loudest bass of the whole night came out of Coult45's mix. Lots of finger guns were shot during this set and I was one of the shooters. Coult45 closed out his set with a drum and bass segment which primed the people for Habstrakt.

A special guest headliner Habstrakt from the Never Say Die Records crew joined the Neckbreaker Tour to show Denver how a true house DJ does it. Habstrakt has been pumping out the house beats for years and he is one of the pioneers of the rather popular bass house genre blowing up right now. Habstrakt accidentally cut the music right at the beginning of his set and he said, "Alright, I just made a big mistake, great way to start the night. I've got the biggest headache since 1972!" He is a comical guy on the microphone, and full of dance moves on stage. Habstrakt likes to jump-shift around on stage to the beat, and he makes it look like so much fun to be a DJ. During his set he made a point to shout out some of the producers that created the music he was mixing, producers like Eptic, DJ Snake, and Trampa all got props. Habstrakt spun in between house, dubstep, and bass house mostly but he covered almost everything. One drop in particular cracked me up, he built up to Zomboy's "Like A Bitch" and then right at the drop switched it up to Enya "Only Time." He then yelled out, "Enya!" It was hilarious to see the reaction of the people. To close his set Habstrakt changed gears and spun into some Moombahcore. The whole set was magnetic you had to get up bop around to the beats.







Dirty Phonics was the featured act on the Neckbreaker Tour and they showed us why they are so elite. The band started out as four guys all adding a little something different to their live sets. Just last year Thomas left the band so now it's down to three Charlie, Pitchin, and Pho. For this night it was two of the three Charlie and Pitchin, and they came just as hard as when it was four guys. Charlie was hopping all over the stage and built up a sweat, he showered himself and most of the front row with bottled water throughout the mix. Pitchin mostly stayed in the booth and kept the beats going hard. This was a bit of a different set than I would have expected involving a lot of genres other than drum and bass. Charlie and Pitchin blended into some dubstep, drumstep, bass house, and even trap. They played a new song of theirs still unreleased which crushed, it was a bass house and dub hybrid. The headbangers were going off for Dirty Phonics especially the girls in the front row. There wasn't much time for an encore but the guys made the people headbang with a metal-step track to close. After their set Charlie and Pitchin stayed around and autographed items for the fans, it's such a cool gesture for artists to come out after performing to meet the people who support them.

The Neckbreaker Tour came through with a rowdy night of hard bass. Cervantes Other Side hasn't been that vivacious in a long time. Denver very well may be the Bass Capital when we show out like that. Check out more of the ill photography from Stetsen Colt Mathias, and help me thank him for his visual documentation the night. It takes a special kind of promoter to put these events together, much love goes out to Rebudz and Reload Productions for all they do. More awaits Denver bass fam, stay sharp for show announcements, there are big things ahead.

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Bass Station @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom (3/12/16) [Review]

Review By: jdrightright

Photography By: Emma Ceaglske




Saturday was another huge show put on by two of the best promotion companies in Denver, Rebudz and Reload Productions. The line-up had a little something for everybody with Aarbear, Detrace, SQUNTO, Crissy Cris, LAXX, and Eptic all on the docket. The show of course sold out, and for those who didn't have a ticket I feel bad you missed out on such a superb night.



First up was a local Colorado producer Aaron Jackson aka Aarbear, he was the winner of the DJ contest to open the show. He was met with a quickly growing crowd as the people rapidly filled the Masterpiece Ballroom. Aarbear represents Fort Collins with a hard dubstep/trap style. He did a great job getting the place warmed up.

The next producer Detrace is an awesome talent also out of Colorado and representing Denver. He caught my attention recently with a bunch of dope releases on Kill The Copyright. Detrace has collaborated with a bunch of up and coming producers too and with each new song he advances the game a little bit. I am a big fan of Detrace music, he uses a lot of my favorite video game sounds in his productions. Also Detrace is rather versatile with a wide range of electronic genres covered. Keep an eye on this guy he is going to blow up soon, mark my words.


SQUNTO the bass dragon got up on stage and immediately started breathing fire bass. He is an east coast producer coming out of Holliston, Massachusetts. SQUNTO is quite elite when compared to a lot of producers in how he prepares for a live set. I was able to talk with him a bit and he was explaining to me how he blends up to eight tracks for a single drop when he performs live! SQUNTO threw down such a naughty set, completely unpredictable, and extra mean bass pumped into the people's hearts.

The next set was a bit of a switch up with Crissy Criss and his sick jungle beats. I always enjoy having a nice variety of artists in a single show and for the most part the crowd did too. Crissy Criss had a few trick drops up his sleeve, transitioning sometimes into Drumstep and Dubstep to keep the people on point. Drum and bass is such high energy music and it always gets me bopping around the room. This was the first time I have seen Crissy Criss and I thought he layed it down like a boss.

The Never Say Die boys would close out the night starting with LAXX. He has been on top of the scene lately with a bunch of bangers and collaborations with everybody in the industry. LAXX has a hybrid style he goes in between trap, dubstep, and genres not even invented yet. He definitely has killer production skills, and he is also very good on the decks live. I have had the pleasure of hanging out with LAXX in the past and he is a very humble guy, focused on the task at hand; making the people bounce.


Eptic was the finale for this intense line-up at Bass Station and he mixed a brilliant set. It started off with a special fake-out drop that went right into my favorite song, "Spellbound" from his Immortal EP. You could hear everyone yell "I don't give a fuck" as that part of the track played. I love the music Eptic puts out into the world, it's very unique and his sounds are so crisp and clear. Eptic is also a graphic designer, and every monster or alien sort of image that he posts along with each song he created himself. He has been designing graphics of his own to accompany his live sets on the LED boards as well. Eptic is infinitely inventive and I can't wait to see what he has in store for his next release.

Bass Station was an amazing time, and lots of feels were shared with the bass fam. Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom has a mystical way of bringing people together united in bass. Big thanks to Eyediola Photography for providing these excellent concert photos. Coming soon Rebudz and Reload Productions are announcing another show called Bass Rising set for May 7th, again at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom. Stay tuned for more details, and this time get a ticket right away because you know it's gonna be a sell out. 

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