You gotta hand it to them, it was too packed to let people in by the time I got there. The Paper Box had my companion & I wait for a hot minute for a couple of people to leave because the party was that packed, that early. A drum & bass party at a big boy venue, doing that well? Thank the non-EDM Gods. Semi-deep in Brooklyn, it seems people had come out of the woodwork for this insanity. We don’t get D&B much on this side of the pond, as any resident Junglist would tell you. Certain guardians have been keeping the fire going, whether it’s Konkrete, or the many others like Formation Records across the world. Saturday it was all Grade A & BPSquared. Responsible for this giant pile of talent making it out, I’ve gotta say, I could kiss them. 
We got our drinks and settled in as DJ SS was heating up. This guy was keeping it powerful, but a bit more compact than some of the other DJs were going to later on in the evening.
This kind of technical competence and encyclopedic memory of D&B was exactly what the rowdy but respectful crowd was looking for. I’d only gotten Formation Records, never been to an event of theirs, and boy was that a mistake. The crowd was on the floor and had no plans on leaving even though it wasn’t even midnight yet. That’s right, while most New Yorker party people are taking that last shot or doing that last bump before going out, the tri-state D&B community was already sweating. 
As DJ SS finished out to ridiculous applause, we awaited Drumsound & Bassline Smith. This mini-mix is a rough introduction to the level of dirty that we were witness to. They had set up a 2nd room to give people more room to move and that was taken advantage of. People circled it up, busted moves and respected the space needed to actually get into it. If you wanted to rock you stayed there. If you wanted to cram in near the DJ booth, that option was open to you as well. This was one of the sets where people were begging the DJ for more. As a lot of these pictures illustrate (big ups)
I had no idea what to expect from The Prototypes, but I was so freaking glad I was right up in there. It got neuro-crazy, face-melty & massive. Those don’t really seem like genre specific words, but if you own a piece of clothing that has “junglist” or “Drum & Bass” written on it somewhere, they are. There’s a slightly steeper learning curve when you’re mixing this stuff because if you fuck up you end up sounding like some guy wearing cyber-goth clothes skipping along to a beat. Jungle and Liquid are a little more forgiving, but the heavier & more scattered it seems, the better you have to be. This Fabric mix is just a small taste of what we got, and if you weren’t there, I’ve got a sad trombone sound effect for you.
The night flowed on, with The Prototypes keeping the energy up. Like at Slake before, even by 3 AM, when Crissy Criss was setting up for his set, both rooms were still packed. The outdoors had been shuttered but people were not leaving. The dance floor 2nd room got a little more packed & Crissy Criss roared into action.The number of hours I’ve put in listening to this guy’s radio show would be stunning to most, but I’d imagine I was probably on the lower end of the spectrum when it came to some people in the room. People had waited for years to see this and he wasted no time putting in work. While a couple of people had gone home, all that had done was thin out the dance floor by about 5-10%, leaving just a little more room to rock. Sweat dripped from the dancers and people who hadn’t seen each other for years embraced as old friends would. I could go on about the technical competence of his set, or the cheaper than expected drinks, but really, it was everything. The scene needed it and BP2 & Formation Records came through. A night to remember indeed. See everyone at Slake on Friday the 27th for the last chapter in #marchdnbmadness.
(Photos by Siouxside. Get at his twitter & insta too. Big Ups New England Junglists. Much Respect)
