Bass Control @ Summit Music Hall in Denver, Colorado (Review) [11/11/17]

 
Review By: jdrightright

Photos By : Stetsen Colt Mathias


Saturday night was full of astounding performances by a group of elite producers representing the Disciple record label. This was the annual Bass Control show held by Rebudz and Reload Productions. This year the venue was Summit Music Hall in Denver, Colorado. There was a line out the door around the block and almost all the way to Market street before doors opened at 8pm. Everyone came to get rowdy and no one was let down, the place was thumping all night.


The Summit Music Hall is a dope venue with a lot of room to dubstep and a nice open concept, as Randy Marsh would say. There is a small kitchen with pizza and other food for the patrons to purchase during shows. The balcony provides an excellent view of the entire stage from nearly all vantage points. Summit has a powerful sound system which is fine tuned to the specific performances for any kind of music from punk rock to electronic.

The stage production was fairly simple for this show but rather effective. There was one large LED panel wall behind the DJ booth displaying an array of clever visuals. Along with the stage lights were 2 full color lasers installed below the DJ booth in the front and angled upward to hit the gap between the balcony and the main dance floor. This created a nice river of beams above those on the main floor and below the balcony. Much of the night was illuminated by the Disciple label icons, and the logos of the individual performers. One addition to the stage production was a group of go-go dancers, all fashioned in black gear. The girls kept the people on point and danced well to the music for certain segments of the show.

The first producer on stage was Myro and he got it started with an OG set. He got into some classic wobbles, with songs from Circus Records like Doctor P's Big Boss, Roksonix's Music In Me, and some Flux Pavilion too. He ramped up the intensity through out his set and he did a great job to open the night. Myro was a new one for me to see live, but I am pretty sure he will be around for a while with his killer style. Before you knew it a change was being made and Myro did a good job introducing his friend and label mate Dodge & Fuski.















I'm definitely always stoked to see Dodge & Fuski, now just a one man band, but he has built a brand and the name remains the same. Right away when he got on stage he asked Myro, "Have you played this song yet?" When Myro told him he had not played it Dodge goes, "Okay, good. Let's fucking do this!" Dodge & Fuski got into some of his fire tracks like Yeti and Big Riddim Martian and accordingly everyone yelled "Yo Dodge!" Lot of headbangers in the front row did their best to keep pace with the beat by flinging their hair synchronized to the drop, it was fun to watch.


Next a new artist off my bucket list was Oolacile. He has been coming on strong lately for Disciple with a ton of releases and collaborations. He started with a custom introduction made for his set, and the people perked up as he got to the drop. Oolacile goes hard af, lots of people were wide mouthed yelling and screaming to the bass. His set could be described as a riddim video game, but he really has a unique flow to his set. Disciple is adding amazing talent to their squad all the time example, Oolacile.


Probably my favorite producer right now was the next in line to awe the people. That being Virtual Riot, a young guy with immense production talent. He's only 23 years old but he already has 7 years in the game and he has continued to stay on the cutting edge the whole time! Virtual Riot is very versatile with his live sets, I have seen him about 5 times now live and he always comes with the freshest music in multiple sub-genres. He got into some bass house dropping a raunchy Chicken Soup remix, and Joyryde's Hari Kari along with a bunch of sneaky underground bangers. I try to make a point to see Virtual Riot every chance I get, and now that he has been touring the US he has been coming to the Bass Capital a lot.

Next up on stage was Barely Alive, another bass slayer. We are so spoiled with good music in Denver and Barely Alive comes to town every few months. He always brings a very crispy set with a ton of new music to share. Barely Alive had one section where he started with Van Halen's Jump and then, just at the right point, he switched up into the illest dubstep drop. He is great at change up drops and sneaky blends during his live performances. For this show Barely Alive was not rocking his angry eyes TV helmet, just all natural bass face. He has no reason to be shy, we all adore him here in Denver.

Closing out the night was crowd favorite and audible mad scientist Dubloadz. He came out and immediately asked, "You guys want to hear a brand new one I made with Datsik!?" We all screamed yes. He then said, "You are the first fucking people ever to hear this live!" Got to love that, and my god was this some heavy stuff. Dubloadz proceeded to crush out a very wonky set with nice chunky bass drops. He did a bunch of good video game sounding beats, one was straight up Sonic the Hedgehog theme. Dubloadz seems to always have a great time hanging in Denver for shows. Towards the end of his set he got back on the mic and said, "I fucking love Denver. Let's get really dubsteppy for these last ten minutes." We all agreed, and one last burst of energy went through the crowd. Dubloadz had a very deep outro with some stretchy bass and then he slowed it all the way down and out.

This was a very successful night for Rebudz and Reload Productions. Once again coming through with some of the heaviest hitters in electronic music. The bass fam was famished after a long night of dub steppin. Summit Music Hall was a perfect place to get together and break necks with friends. Coming up soon is another one for Rebudz and Reload productions as they have Monxx and Synoid at Cervantes Other Side on November 25th check the link for tickets. Big ups to my homie and splendid photographer Stetsen Colt Mathias for his dazzling images of the night. Thanks for all the vibes everyone, see you next time.

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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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Megalodon with Twine, Dack Janiels, and Coult45 @ Summit Music Hall (Review) [7/3/16]

Review By: 
jdrightright

Photos By: 
Stetsen Colt Mathias



Summit Music Hall was rowdy this weekend for a big show put on by Amplitude Presents. The line-up was essentially a triple headlined event including Dack Janiels, Twine, and Megalodon. Also Coult45 was in the house to ramp up the hype, and two lucky contest winners were also added to open the doors; Freddie Rule and Coenica.


This was my first time at the Summit Music Hall, and it was impressive. The place maxes out at about 1,400 people including the balcony. The room is set up with excellent vantage points from nearly every position in the building. When you walk in the front door you are in the back of the room next to a long two sided bar island. As you enter the room further towards the stage the floor tiers down so the people in the back of the room can see over top of those closer to the front. To one side there is a small seated kitchen area that serves pizza, burgers and other snacks. At the beginning of the night the balcony was closed and it was mostly used as an area to display the laser fields zapped out by two full color lasers installed on stage. The lasers were mounted high on pillars and angled upward to safely display the powerful beams. Later in the night the balcony was opened and the laser crew made some adjustments so that the people up there would not be in the field of the lasers. Also to add to the visuals a LED graphic wall was assembled in front of the booth in a semi-circle, mostly used to display the logos of the DJs. Summit Music Hall was close to being sold out, but even so, with how the room is layed out there are plenty of spots to view the stage without having to cram into a small space.

Starting out the night were the two DJ mix contest winners, Freddie Rule and Coenica. Freddy Rule got things started off on a chill note, and built up to some melodic dub. Then Coenica took the stage and they started to get things a bit more rowdy getting into some glitch-hop and dubstep beats. Coenica consists of Braydon Drell (The Philosopher), and Alex Williams (Baby). This was a great way to start the night and also get the word out on some fresh up and coming talent.

Denver favorite Coult45 was up next with an extended set going for an hour and a half. Not a problem for a pro like him, he is used to getting the room poppin off at Beta Nightclub right across the street from Summit Music Hall. The room really started to fill up when Coult45 came on, he always has the illest music to drop in his sets. One track he mixed in served as a shout out to the homie !Tyro, another awesome Denver producer. Coult45 has been doing a lot of studio work mixing and mastering new original tracks and remixes too. Definitely keep your eye on Coult45 he always has the club goin up.

Next on the decks was Dack Janiels and he slayed from start to finish. He started out by asking, "Where my fucking stoners at?" This had the whole place screaming right off the bat. Dack Janiels had the headbangers flailing hair and breaking necks to the bass. Dack Janiels has ties to the Never Say Die Black Label, Rottun Recordings, 40oz Cult and a bunch of other hard bass labels. He threw shout outs to a bunch of badass producers including, Habstrakt, Figure, and Dubloadz during his set as he dropped music he made in collaboration with them. Dack Janiels put together a massive bass set with huge energy and it made the room sizzle!

Dack Janiels introduced Twine and he didn't miss a beat, he just went straight into a monster dubstep mix. Twine is another artist with multiple record label affiliations including OWSLA, Disciple, Monstercat, SMOG, and more. Twine lets the music do the talking, he is very relaxed and technical while creating his live mix on stage. Every now and then Twine would direct the people and dance along to the beat, but for the most part he just stayed on point. Twine closed out his set with an incredibly hard ten minutes of filth, he dropped music from Excision and he had everyone putting their X's up to salute.

The final set of the night was from Megalodon a raunchy dub-stepper representing the one and only Never Say Die Records. He pumped out the loudest bass and the dopest new music of the night. Megalodon is on the cutting edge of hard bass music, and that's why he was trusted to put together the most recent Never Say Die Black Label compilation XL 3. The compilation includes tracks from Dack Janiels, xKore, a few Megalodon songs of course, and much more. On stage Megalodon is very animated, he bounces around and keeps the energy off the charts. He had to shout out the bass house boss Jauz as he dropped a brand new song they did together called "Shark Attack". A mosh-pit accompanied the majority of Megalodon's set right in the center of the dance floor. The bass was pounding so hard that the CDJ's were shifting and nearly falling off the table in the booth! Megalodon crushed it and the people went hard right up until the last wub.

What a night, heavy bass echoed through my head for hours afterwards! Summit Music Hall was a perfect place to rage, I hope to attend many more shows there with the growing posse. Thanks again to Stetsen Colt Mathias for capturing an exciting photo album of the night. Huge props go out to Amplitude Presents for bringing this gargantuan line-up together. They are an elite squadron in the Denver bass family who always brings the heat. Make sure to follow Amplitude Presents on Facebook for show announcements and contests to win free tickets.

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Bass Rising @ Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom [5/7/16] (Review)

Review By:
jdrightright

Photography By: 
Stetsen Colt Mathias


Saturday night was Bass Rising a bash put on by Rebudz and Reload Productions. The setting was Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom a classic venue for a bass family reunion. For this show the electronic label Disciple was showcased with four of their artists: Dodge & Fuski, Barely Alive, Dubloads, and Astronaut. Also one of the bass bosses from Beta, Shank Aaron; and DJ Contest winner LYZ.i were on the ticket. The building was bouncing for this massive display of wub.


The stage was filled with technology strategically arranged to stimulate the eyes. Two side LED panel walls and a large central panel wall behind the booth provided the graphics. Also four lasers in a trapezoid configuration were installed, two were raised and on each side of the inner panel wall, and two more in the front corners of the stage on the far ends of the two side LED walls. The visual display was stunning from all different angles inside.

Rebudz has been running contests where local Denver producers and DJs submit a thirty minute mix for a chance to open a show, and they had a contest for Bass Rising too. The night got started with the DJ mix contest winner LZY.i and he got the mojo going with moombahton, trap, and a little house. Having these contests is such a cool idea to help get the word out on new local talent, and there is so much of it in Denver. The Masterpiece Ballroom had a number of special guests in the house hanging out backstage too like !Tyro, Decadon, DJ Fury, and more.

Shank Aaron was up next and he always shows out. This night was extra special because his brother and fellow producer Wooli was in town. Shank Aaron brought his brother on stage to let him spin some of his new beats. One of the best parts of the whole night was just after this little back to back section with Wooli and Shank Aaron. They were both put on blast by the graphics guy who displayed a picture of the two as young children on the LED panel walls. It was priceless! Shank Aaron dabbled a bit with what he calls his AYOB music folder, it stands for Ask Your Older Brother. He explained to me that it's the OG dirty dub music, and if you don't recognize it then just ask your older brother because he'll know it. Shank Aaron set a strong tone for the rest of the artists to build off of.

To start the quad dose of Disciple artists was Astronaut and this time both of the guys were in town. Astronaut is made up of Dan and Rossy, two very talented fellas out of the United Kingdom. On stage they keep it proper hype and for this set they got into a lot of bass house. Their set was really energetic, it was impossible not to jump around too. Astronaut does a good job with the switch up drops, setting up one song then dropping another, and then switching back to the prior for the second drop. To conclude they mixed together a trap and dubstep outro leading into their label mate Dubloadz' set.

Never have I seen so many finger guns of bass as I saw Dubloadz shoot. His stage presence was incredible, it was rather entertaining to watch his reactions to the drops. For some parts Dubloadz was reminiscent of a mad scientist holding his hands in weird positions as if to gesture, "It's Alive!" On top of his amazing vibe Dubloadz put together a merciless set, just blasted the room with bass cannons. He got a big reaction to his shout out to Virtual Riot, and then he dropped a collaboration track of theirs just recently released called "Juices." Another memorable part of his set was a mega dope remix of the old Metroid theme. Dubloadz was in rare form, or maybe he's always that spunky, regardless he completely crushed it.

Barely Alive was accompanied by the homies Astronaut and Dubloadz to keep the crowd ablaze to start off. This was such a crisp set, every song sounded intense and three dimensional. Barely Alive has a hard, loud, and mean sound that bullies you into dancing. For the majority of the mix I couldn't smile, it wasn't time for smiling, it was time to rage face. Barely Alive dropped some fresh new music, one track was a collaboration with Habstrakt that is still unreleased. This track was a triple hybrid of styles with a trap build, a dub drop, and a house bridge, I can't wait for it to be released. To close out the set Barely Alive got into more of an electro mode which transitioned nicely into Dodge & Fuski.

For this show it was Rob Talbott from the duo Dodge & Fuski going solo. His mix was the perfect closing blend because he had a little bit of everything to throw at you. The very first thing he did was have the crowd prepare for Dan from Astronaut to stage dive for the first time ever. Right at the first drop Dan dove in the hands of the people and he was carried all the way around the room and neatly placed back on the stage. The whole Disciple crew stayed out around the stage for Dodge & Fuski's set. Since the squad was all chilling a bunch of the people in the crowd got signatures from the Disciple guys and free merch too. Rob was hilarious with little commentary on the mic saying things like "Dubstep is too dry," then mixing right into "International Anthem" by Flux Pavilion. He was laughing as he pounded a hardstyle drop that included samples of what sounded like the character Bricktop from the film Snatch yelling, "Put your hands up cunts!" At the end all the guys from Disciple went out for a curtain call and took a fam photo with all the crowd. Rob went right up until 2:00 AM so when the people screamed for one more song he made a compromise. He said, "I'll give you one more sound." Then Rob just scratched the CDJ pad for a split second and cut it. He is a really funny guy and that was a fitting way to give the people just a little more.

The record label Disciple is fairly new going into it's third year, and everyone affiliated is rapidly advancing the game. Founded by Rob Talbott (Half of Dodge & Fuski) and Rossy Burr (Half of Astronaut) back in 2013. Having sprung off the label Never Say Die there was already a solid foundation from which to grow. Ever since conception they have been making music that is consistently topping the charts.











Twas huge for Rebudz and Reload Productions to bring four of the Disciple artists out for a single show! Much love also goes to Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom for accommodating the ever growing Denver bass fam. Big thanks to Stetsen Colt Mathias for providing excellent images of the night. Next up is a stop from the Neckbreaker Tour with Dirty Phonics, Habstrakt, and many more on May 21st at Cervantes Other Side. Stay tuned for future show announcements too, there is a doozy coming just around the corner!

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Rebudz & Reload Return To Cervantes Ballroom For Bass Rising!

This Saturday we return to Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom for another get together with Rebudz & Reload Productions! If you missed out on Bass Station in March, you're sure to be blown away. Bringing some of the heaviest in the game, Bass Rising features a special Desciple showcase with Barely Alive, Dodge & Fuski, Dubloadz, Astronaut & Shank Aaron! Get your tickets before it's too late! 

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