Villa Nightclub
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Three internationals at the top of their games joined us for the launch of what looks sure to become a staple in the Perth bass music scene. Syndicate is the result of Inhibit Promotions turning their attentions briefly away from drum & bass in order to curate a feast of trap and dubstep music, pulling in three internationals and pulling out all the stops to provide a huge night for bass heads. All of the internationals were joining forces for the Perth leg of extensive A&NZ tours. Gent & Jawns from the US, signed to Dim Mak records, were touring for the first time since their anthem Turn Up had put them on the map from the early days of the modern trap genre. Despite a relatively reclusive existence with regards to both production and performance, their club sets still carry a fierce reputation. Snails from Canada has experienced a rapid rise to fame in the last couple of years, as one of the pioneers of the new trap-dubstep mashup genre called ‘hybrid’, or as he likes to term it, ‘vomitstep’. Signed to Kannibalen records, the place to be for such a brand of music, his first Australian shows grew excitement further. Last but not least was US-based Dubstep giant Megalodon, coming fresh off a Never Say Die tour of the US celebrating the release of his Danger Zone VIP on the new Never Say Die Black Label.
Inhibit lined up the archetypal support for such a fiesta, Casuel and Killafoe laying down their own monstrous trap and dubstep sets either side of the headliners. Gent & Jawns brought the strain of dirty southern trap they promise, calling on Loudpvck & Gladiator’s Tony, the expected Turn Up and the track currently doing the rounds as the best song you can’t buy, Flosstradamus’ unreleased collaboration with GTA, Prison Riot. Also thrown into the mix was Jack U’s remix of Beyonce’s 7/11 and the Skrillex & Trollphace’s remix of Yogi’s Burial. The set pumped out energy and was the perfect opener on such a bill.
Picking the next song in a Snails set is close to impossible when he draws on such an arsenal of unreleased material including collaborations with LAXX, VIP’s and fresh originals. In amongst the bass-face inducing guessing though there was Snails’ remix of Crazy with Brillz, gigantic original Stomp and collaboration with Bawdy, RDM. The set jumped between genres with ease and delivered bass that slayed the dancefloor. Megalodon stepped up to ensure anybody not quite rinsed wouldn’t have to worry about that for long, throwing down a huge dubstep set that bought home the filth and the bass in style, featuring Head Crush by Badklaat, Barely Alive’s new track Zombie Hunter in amongst a sea of unreleased and original material that had the ground shaking without fail. The artist procession was perfectly thought out and the night came together to deliver exactly what it’d promised, a filthy adventure to the depths of fantastic bass music. With Syndicate number 2 hosting Ookay, Must Die! & Apashe, it seems a sure bet that there’s more of the same to come.
JOSH LLOYD
