Hurts so good.
Come on baby, make it hurt so good.
Sometimes love don’t feel like it should.
You make it hurt so good.
– John Cougar Mellencamp, “Hurts So Good”
Sometimes, you have to rave. However, this isn’t exactly the “happy to be hardcore,” UFO pants wearing, candy necklace glitter rave. No, it’s a lot darker than that. It’s the rave where dubplates are wielded like chainsaws, bringing bass heavy funk rhythms down upon a throng of revelers like trees in a forest. But this forest was nowhere near empty, so, it absolutely made a sound. Jackie O, Udachi, the UK’s Tomb Crew and Trouble and Bass’ Star Eyes and The Captain combined for the first of what will be monthly journeys at the U Street Music Hall that will answer every question from Ludacris’ latest ponderous club smasher “How low can you go?” to is there really a better combination of venue and DJs to best exhibit a love of bass heavy music anywhere in the United States right now?
If you came expecting the event to be a one trick pony, a proclamation of the dominance of Trouble and Bass over all, you would have been sadly mistaken. Jackie O and Udachi did well as openers, hearing the gigantic dub of Udachi’s underground hit with Jess Jubilee “Smoke Rings” on the Temple of Boom’s sound system was a highlight, as well as a set that was a perfect table setter for what was to follow. London’s Tomb Crew bring a legitimacy to the reggae and dub traditions of bass like none other. The crew’s MC Illaman is a hypeman par excellence, his stentorian baritone exhorting a typical reveling DC crowd to fits of massive hysteria, and neither headliner had even approached a turntable. From the hard tropical two-step of Zinc and Ms. Dynamite’s “Wile Out,” Doctor P’s “Sweet Shop,” and a dubplate that briefly turned into a drum and bass styled remix of Pharoah Monche’s “Simon Says'” King Kong intro, as well as a plethora of other bass champions, their set, until the main event was possibly one of the top five sets spun at the venue so far. U Hall’s titanic monstrosity of a sound system rewards the top selector who understands how to work a record and is proficient at getting maximum impact out of a track. That being said, the Tomb Crew were then rewarded like conquering musical warriors.
Moreso than anything, the tag team set by Trouble and Bass’ The Captain and Star Eyes proved that there is such a concept as a unified “bass universe,” one whose roots and development are very easily tracked and recognizable. From Mz Streamz’s Bmore club classic “Don’t Waste My Time,” to 12th Planet’s so funky it’s pungent remix of Dave Nada’s “Apocalype,” a dubstep remix of Ludacris’ “How Low,” and T & B’s Little Jinder’s emo vampire tale “Youth Blood” serving as the musical outposts, incredible experimentation was done last night on the effect of skull rattling and body obliterating bass on lab rats. I’ll call the throng that turned into a moshing, hugging, jumping and attempting to climb into the booth from the floor populace lab rats, because we were. We had no idea what was about to happen, but these DJ scientists did, and, as sing alongs, a vocoded Star Eyes singing, and a gaggle of DJs in the booth became an undulating human EQ meter, jumping in time with the insistent and dance floor ready bass, Trouble and Bass reigned supreme.
Last night was all about love. Bass freaks are a cult of unique people who adore grimy and dirty sounds that jack the body and absorb the pounding of your heartbeat into the rhythm like a sonic sponge. This Trouble and Bass monthly concept is obscenely great. It’s so obscenely great that I’ll use obscenity to describe it. It’s like learning how to fuck instead of having sex. When at it’s most powerful and connective, it’s all based in love, and the next day, you wake up tired, bruised and battered, but with the most wonderful smile, because, well, it hurt so good.
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