Son Raw would like to thank DJ Vilify and Bass Drive for having him last night.
My brain is currently ground into a fine alcoholic paste after headlining last night’s Bass Drive Wednesday. While Jeff enjoys the stoned magnificence of Low End Theory, Montreal’s reader poll-winning mid-week Dubstep showcase is better known for highlighting the more aggressive side of Bass music, a side I’m beginning to feel is getting the short end of the critical stick. I generally opt out of the great “Brostep” debate but I will say this: yeah the worst of it is unbearable but on the other hand, some of the prim-n-proper 130 stuff can feel like musical nyquil: the trick is to find interesting artists and DJs on both sides of the spectrum and to leave preconceptions at the door. In an ironic twist however, I’ve found Dubstep’s younger crowd to be far more open to new sounds and ideas than critically minded purists. Those body shattering bass drops and massive screeches can be a hell of a lot more extreme than warmed up House music when you get down to it.
Case in point: P-Money’s Bass Cannon. I wouldn’t want to hear a whole night of this stuff but I’ll gladly rock out to an hour of it in the right context. Just as importantly, after building up a set for an hour and going through Grime, Acid House, Jungle and more, it felt like the perfect way to give the crowd a bit of musical candy last night. Of course, it’s a testament to how warped the UK Urban scene is that a track this intense would be considered candy: P-Money raps at high speed over a track so aggressive that it threatens to rip open a track in the space-time continuum every time the hook hits. I’m always down for rap music that makes Onyx sound like A Tribe Called Quest.
Download:
MP3: P-Money – Bass Cannon (Prod. Flux Pavillion)
MP3: P-Money – Beat the Tune Mixtape (Bandcamp)
