If you live in the USA, for the low, low cost of $6 you get a physical copy of The HARD DATA mailed to you for a year (at least 6 issues). Overseas, the cost is $12 (because of the increased shipping cost). This will also sign you up for our email list. At the end of the year, your subscription will renew at the same price. You can cancel at any time, of course… not that you’d want to, just sayin’!
It was such a refreshing morning back at THD headquarters knowing that we get to experience another night of Hardstyle and Hardcore. Daybreaker and Murdock practiced their footwork and loosened up with a little pregame warm-up while Deadly Buda unsuccessfully begged Insomniac for a couple more comps to the sold out show. If you didn’t get a ticket to Saturday night a week earlier, basically you were S.O.L. and we felt lucky we had at least secured our entry for the night.
Day 2 started slightly earlier than Day 1 to accommodate the welcome of Adrenalize to the states! Although we didn’t get to experience much of his set, the California crowd definitely didn’t leave him with an empty Palladium, they were chanting already at 8:45! It was jam packed as we made our way in during the first hour. Malthe Mehlskov, from Denmark, is only 16 years old and is quickly taking the mainstream Hardstyle scene by storm. No matter if you caught his set or not, it’s pretty evident that this kids deserves all of our support.
We didn’t mention the visuals much last field report. The lasers, well they weren’t really lasers, they were sort of like lasers but better… they were INSANE. At times it was like a spider web of color pulsating to the music. There were mixed feelings about the shark’s head DJ booth, but thank goodness it was real and not just an LED screen. We saw Brandon Adams from SDK events and he gave two thumbs up to the shark’s head. The LED screens that were used were tastefully relegated to the background to amplify the talent on stage.
Saturday also brought the return of DJ Stephanie to Los Angeles, playing all of her top tracks including all the dance floor bangers that we are all familiar with and sung along to, she even previewed a new track of her own. At about 10:00pm, our man Deadly Buda rushed over to the QSA meet-up to see what was happening and lucked into photobombing their group photo.
Seeing Da Tweekaz for the first time was a little different than anticipated, but they can certainly put on a show (more gimmicks!). They had all of their mainstream hits lined up (even though we expected more rubber duck samples) and offered the biggest surprise of the night by introducing their remix of Jumpstyle legend Mark with a K’s track “See Me Now” which was beautifully crafted into the Hardstyle sound design. After their set, Da Tweekaz caused a few mini-riots in the crowd when they walked out of the backstage and met with their fans right at the soundboard by the dancefloor. Just a few yards away, we bumped into the maestro of Florentine Gardens, Cesar Mendoza, who was rocking out with his posse.
Code Black was next. Even though his set with Bioweapon was the highlight of the entire event, nobody can deny the anticipation and excitement that surrounded Code Black’s solo set. His timing and mixing were perfectly executed, playing some very emotional and nostalgic tracks that even had some die hard Hardcore fans paying close attention (here’s looking at you Kim!) which says a lot about the impact he had on the crowd.
But this wasn’t even the best part! The majority of the night was waiting in anticipation for the rawest act of the show: Digital Punk! Although he played a lot more aggressive on the Trauma Tour, his set list was perfectly tailored to the city of Los Angeles, keeping it nice and raw, with the highlights being “Brutal 5.0” by Radical Redemption being played along with “My God”, DP’s track together with E-Force. At this point the crowd went absolutely f’n’ bananas. From wall-to-wall Angelenos engaged in some sort of hyper-mutated floor shuffle. Navigating through the crowd at this point was more challenging than Call of Duty Modern Warfare. Both nights it seemed like the crowd craved the raw sound, but Basscon struck the right balance this show by showcasing raw and euphoric together. If its all raw, or all euphoric, the sound gets boring. Having that contrast all night really made both styles pop.
Basscon must have known it was hometown legend and happy hardcore DJ, Lostboy’s birthday, because the night was closed out by UK/Happy Hardcore hero Gammer who has a ridiculous amount of skill and precision when it comes to DJ’ing, which allowed him to put on one hell of a performance. I thought the crowd would be too tired, but… no. Gammer cranked up the BPM and the crowd was jumping like jelly beans. He also kicked down some half speed madness and it’s a tribute to the SoCal faithful that they amazingly appreciated all the harder styles together as one.
Before we sign off, we want to give a special thanks to Cornelio “Atari” Cedillo for his amazing pictures, most of which can be found on our Facebook page (http://facebook.com/theharddata/). Enjoy!
Word of Hardstyle’s imminent demise was brutally thumped to the ground and drowned in the Pacific last night as 4000+ squeezed into Los Angeles’ Hollywood Palladium for day 1 of Basscon’s Wasteland. A battery of lasers that would make Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Forces proud, combined with a sound system louder than Thor’s hammer lit up Sunset Boulevard and screamed the news.
The night started with Max Enforcer. As some of you may know, Max Enforcer is Evil Activities’ Hardstyle alias, so it’s no wonder that his set in particular was heavy hitting right off the bat, even if he played, and we guiltily sung along to, “Lost in Paradise.”
Audiotricz followed this up by maintaining the euphoria with all of their biggest tracks that are known to tug at the heartstrings, including the implementation of the very popular “Release” by Atmozfears, a track that even the raw kids can’t ignore.
D-Block & S-Te-Fan was a particular highlight of the night because they were playing a lot of their older tracks which might feature their best sound design (Sound of the Thunder, Music Made Addict etc.). Opening with their track “Higher” set the mood for one the most emotional sets that could be remembered in recent memory.
Isaac got the crowd in a frenzy, veering from euphoric to raw in a perfect balance. He started out his set with some crazy Zelda samples that sounded absolutely insane on the massive Basscon sound system. Every track that followed seemed to be instilled in the minds of the crowd. Then, he even brought out every promoter’s best friend, Leo Corson, to grab the mic and remind the Southern California faithful why we love all bitches!
We took a little break and sauntered out to the smoking area where we even spotted controversial man-of-the-hour Kari Lambou holding court on the smoking patio! And not far away, Fresh Entertainment’s Sherief Zakher was showing off his new tattoos to DJ Mindcontroller and his posse.
We also spotted Kriss Erickson of Lucky Rabbit Photography who came down from NorCal to witness the spectacle. West coast party regular Giovanny Garcia made his requisite appearance (even though he was spotted at the last minute). He literally has been spotted at every Hard Dance show on the west coast! And of course Las Vegas true-believer Matthew Levin deserves a mention because no one has the amount of dedication to this scene that this man does and he is THE man that everyone looks forward to seeing when they attend harder events. Our photographer Marvelous Mike Ortiz was making the rounds snapping most of the flix you see on this page. Watch out for some of his upcoming video productions by-the-way!
Finally rested, we witnessed possibly the best set of the night: Audiofreq and Code Black’s reunion of Bioweapon. They played a lot of tracks from what is considered by many to be the golden era of hardstyle (2008-2010). They had a perfect blend of old and new, and they also incorporated some raw tracks. Finally getting to hear E-Force’s “Seven” in a live setting was a defining moment for our man DJ Daybreaker who could be seen bopping in the crowd. Even more evidence of this, there was a moment were these two really got the crowd bouncing off the walls when they dropped a slowed-down Hardcore track, DJ Mad Dog & Tommyknocker’s DJ Tool 1.
The night culminated with the reveal of who exactly were the “Notorious Two.” It is Lady Faith and the Pitcher’s new raw-oriented project. The response from the crowd at their tougher sounding tracks was strong and evidence that the SoCal hardstyle junkies are currently looking for more aggressive tracks, and that seemed pretty evident the entire night.
Night two is on the horizon and if the crowd wanted it hard, they are gonna get it. After witnessing Digital Punk in his USA debut on the Trauma Tour, the thought of him crushing on the Basscon system has us giddy like school girls riding unicorns. So get yourself sorted tonight and get ready!
While you’re out tonight, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of The HARD DATA as you exit the Palladium! We, along with faithful Utah hardstyle trooper Jesse Murdock will be at the ready to pass them to you! To those that don’t know, The HARD DATA is the only physical magazine in America dedicated to the harder styles of EDM. Not only is it great to read on the ride home, but when you want to remember this time, do you really think you’re going to peruse your saved web browser bookmarks from like 10 phones forward in time… or break out a shoe box hidden in your closet full of kandi, flyers, accessories, and The Hard Data? ‘Nuff said! Until next time, this is Deadly Buda and Daybreaker reminding you: The rhythm is life and death!
If you live in the USA, for the low, low cost of $6 you get a physical copy of The HARD DATA mailed to you for a year (at least 6 issues). Overseas, the cost is $12 (because of the increased shipping cost). This will also sign you up for our email list. At the end of the year, your subscription will renew at the same price. You can cancel at any time, of course… not that you’d want to, just sayin’!
The final stop of Trauma’s Harder Styles Tour touched down in Brooklyn Saturday night. As anticipated, the venue was packed with attendees bouncing off the walls. Right off the bat is was amazing to see Lenny Dee and Rob Gee on their home turf, in the borough that made them worldwide names. Rob Gee played his greatest set on the entire tour, and frankly it might have been the single most uplifting and inspiring set –of all sets—on the tour. Rob Gee has always had something special with audiences, but Saturday night in particular he hit a resonant melody with the audience who were 100% in sync with his hardcore vibe.
But, I’m getting ahead of myself, literally. Yours truly got to open up the night, and thankfully the sound-system was 100% on point, and there was already a crowd ready to rock. I got a chance to bust out some of my favorite tracks from the Next Cyclone label, which are rarely played, and the crowd was well into it. I also got to spin on 4 decks at once, an infrequent pleasure at hardcore shows where oftentimes we are lucky to even be using modern CD-Js!
After I did my stuff, Reactor and Pulsators hit the decks and rocked the crowd with some hardstyle, leading up to the night’s headliner, DJ Stefanie. Basically, she tore it up, showing the USA why she is a big favorite in Europe and even showcased one of her latest tracks. I had the pleasure of filming her live feed on Facebook for the first half hour too. Most of her set it could be seen worldwide!
Next up was Lenny Dee. As always, it’s a pleasure to see Lenny Dee rocking it in his own backyard. The tough industrial sounds had the ravers rocking to and fro. Hardcore historians know that Lenny Dee might be considered the original hardcore DJ of which we know in the modern era, and to see him in his element, where the sounds were heard that would later inspire the world, was truly moving. He was followed by his frequent partner-in-cacophony, Rob Gee.
Satronica then hit the decks and continued the holiday of hardcore that had taken over Brooklyn’s legendary club Verboten, leading to up-and-coming, Tim Shopp, who did double duty on the main stage and the second room, keeping the crowd busy the entire night. Tim tore the cap off a shaken pop-bottle of speedcore madness that drove the crowd wild, giving a sneak preview of the coming wave of American Hardcore.
Initially looking back on the tour at this early stage of reflection, I think there were tremendous gains made for the American hardcore EDM/Techno scene. Whereas the crowds were not sell-outs, they were decent and more importantly, everyone had a great, and sometimes life changing time. Dealing with music so much on an everyday basis, we music insiders often lose track of how important finding that new sound is to the concert goer… as we count the beans and talk the numbers. Sure, it’s an aspect that cannot be ignored, but ultimately life is remembered in experiences, and Trauma Live made sure to give people an experience they’ll never forget, and I can’t wait to see what happens to this scene next.
