This was an annual
event put together by Ultraworld (http://www.ultraworld.net), one of the
most successful promoters on the East Coast. Part of the reason I drove
6 hours was exactly that, Ultraworld has a reputation for throwing good
parties - I had the good fortune to attend last year's "Energize" and I
had a blast. The other reason I drove so long was for the Jungle Room,
with headliners Decoder, Jonny L, Perfect Combination, and others.The line to get
in was pretty long, so I didn't get to catch the opening act. When I got
in, DC's own DJ Slant was getting ready to start. Slant, along with the
2 Tuff crew, has been an important part of the DC scene for years, and
I finally got to see why. Slant rocked the place, spinning one of the better
sets of the evening. It was nice to hear someone who doesn't play all the
"top 40" tunes, and his mixing was on-point as well. Definitely one of
the high points of the night... For booking contact Andy Cerutti at TUFFDC@aol.com.
Next up was Perfect
Combination. I'm sorry but I didn't enjoy this guys set at all. He did
play a few tunes which were great, probably material from his upcoming
album. The rest of his set consisted entirely of old anthems...poorly mixed
old anthems at that! Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people who
believes that you have to play only the newest songs..DnB isn't disposable
music. But come on.. Acid Track, Funktion, Locust RMX, etc,etc with lotsa
escape mixes and trainwrecks. Sorry, you’ll have to do better than that.
After Perfect
Combination, Decoder was up. He was defintly one of the reasons I had drove
so far. As a producer, he's been putting out amazing stuff for years; and
he's not a bad DJ either. And on a side note, I've actually had the pleasure
of having a beer with him and he's a pretty nice guy as well! Of course,
he didn't disappoint. Nice selection, tight mixing. Thanks Darren for getting
the crowd moving again! For booking contact Clive at Ever After Management
(ever.after@virgin.net).
At this point
Jonny L was supposed to be going on, and I was psyched. Unfortunately,
someone got on the mic to announce the Jonny L wouldn't be showing up.
Apparently the promoter got screwed by the booking agent.. But, they had
managed to get a last minute replacement...Bad Company! "Alright," I thought,
"I can live with that."
Bad Company was
about what I had expected. Sick, sick, tunes; terrible mixing. These guys
are definitely the producers of the moment, and they dropped dubplate after
dubplate of madness. I still found it a bit hard to get into..I wasn't
sure they were even taking the thing very seriously. I mean, they were
jumping around behind the decks in front of a camera with their sunglasses
on. Oh yes, the "rock-star" DJs were in full effect. Maybe it's just me,
but I think a DJ's set needs to be more than just a collection of good
songs...the music needs to flow smoothly, it needs to take you somewhere...doesn't
mixing matter anymore?
After Bad Company
finished, I wandered off the check out the rest of the party. The venue
was overcrowded, and seemed to be lacking in the usual vibe that makes
Ultraworld parties great. I was definitely disappointed overall, but I'm
still going to check out the next Ultraworld party, "Engage"...maybe the
best US DnB lineup ever: Grooverider, Fabio, Storm, Ed Rush, Andy C, Baily,
Bryan Gee and Slant. Expect another review then!
Peace out
Mikey
